Liveblogging Tony Snow's First Televised Press Briefing
Did anyone ever find a copy of this?
1: 13 -- Well, that's it. He was pretty comfortable up there, didn't fuck up too badly and caught himself when he did. The Sally Field thing was the first unexpected and unscripted White House Briefing Room event in god knows how long, at least. He should cry every week. Tony Snow: Not as testy and acidic and hatable as Ari, not as easy a target as Scott. BUT HE HAD CANCER.
1: 10 -- So we got 2 minutes of emotional dramatic monologue, not back to fucking immigration. Why won't Bush convince hardcore conservatives on the guest-working program? Aren't they the guys who want an army of cheap brown labor? Kinsolving with a weird contraception question that seems to throw Tony off. Tony says "Thank you" then tries to call on someone else. Jesus christ this immigration thing is boring. "Mexico is not our enemy," in case you were wondering. That's what they said in 1846, right?
1: 00 -- A Rove question leads straight back to the foreign press. Malveaux want to know what Bush meant when he said we won't "discriminate" against Mexicans. Tough one. Will the briefings continue to be televised? No answer yet.
OH NO DID THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH LEAD TO THOUSANDS OF SALVADORIANS HEADING OUR WAY?
Why the yellow bracelet?
"I HAD CANCER LAST YEAR."
OH SHIT TEARS.
"My Ed Muskie moment." Wow. Weirdest White House Press Briefing EVER.
12: 55 -- What's in the cup? And we have the India Globe with the first foreign press question. See, we'd like to hear more dodging on the NSA thing. A Goss question might be nice. Maybe get into some CIA stuff, you know. "I can't tell you exactly how we're gonna deal with Roy Blount," says Tony. And now the economy. "Are you suggesting that we havetoo much prosperity?"
12: 50 -- As of yet, he hasn't called on, say, the Pravda reporter in the back. Axelrod, Thomas, Gregory, he's actually engaging with reporters! Path to citizenship, blah blah blah. Carl Cameron gets him to to back off his guarantee that the Senate'll pass the immigration proposal. And now Snow's on to lame McClellan-esque "Nation of Immigrants" talking points. Someone's cell phone screwing something up.
12: 40 -- First Helen Thomas question. NSA, wiretapping, etc. He's letting Helen get her followups in. The Administration has no comment on the USA Today story, but Tony's... commenting on the USA Today story. "It's not wiretapping." "You are jumping to conclusions about a program the existence of which has neither been confirmed nor denied." HAH! "Let me remind you -- it's a war on terror."
"AL-QAEDA DOES NOT BELIEVE IN TRANSPARENCY. WHAT AL-QAEDA BELIEVES IN IS CHAOS." Brilliant. First "War on Terror" ref: 12:42.
12: 40 -- Tony delivers the talking points with much more flair and moxie than Scott. Tony can wing it without repeating the same canned phrase. But it does make it seem like he might accidentally say something original.
12: 36 -- Immigration. Getting bugged by David Gregory, who has ALREADY mastered the most condescending way of saying "Tony" possible.
"I don't leap to conclusions, David," etc. Amnesty amnesty. Boring.
12: 34PM -- C-SPAN CLAIMED IT WOULD BE ON C-SPAN2 BUT IT'S ON C-SPAN3! FUCK WE MISSED THE BEGINNING.