|
INTERVIEW WITH TONY SNOW
 Fox News anchor/pundit Tony Snow has been named
the new White House Press Secretary. Snow has been a rather outspoken
conservative/Libertarian/critic of the president - a trait that
is likely to disappear soon as he takes his new job. Our columnist,
Bill Steigerwald recently did an interview
with Snow, before he was approached about the Press Secretary
job; the interview suddenly makes much more interesting reading.
E-mail us with your comments.
When Tony Snow Was a Pundit
By Cagle Cartoons Columnist, Bill Steigerwald
When President Bush named Fox News Radio
talk host Tony Snow as his new press secretary on Wednesday,
the president noted that the now former radio/TV pundit and commentator
"has sometimes disagreed with me." Examples of that
disagreement as well as Snow's disappointment with incumbency-worshipping,
big-spending Republican congressmen -- can be found in a freshly
edited version of a December 2005 phone interview with Snow,
50, who is replacing the always loyal Scott McClellan.
Q: A few years ago when I talked to
you, you called yourself more libertarian than Republican. Is
that still true?
A: Yeah, I think so. I learned a long time ago that if you sit
around and pledge your fealty to politicians, you're going to
get burnt. So what I like to do is maintain my independence.
I'm clearly conservative. But this week I've been bashing conservatives
on various forms of corruption, including spending money on stuff
that's completely idiotic, like, oh, the fact that they are now
going to have subsidies for people to have digital signals on
their TVs. It's unbelievable. They are actually setting up a
subsidy for people who still have analog televisions as of 2009
or something. They'll give them $40 or $60 per TV to digitize
them. Give me a break!
Q: You recently wrote that Republicans
are cowards because they have forsaken their core beliefs and
betrayed the Republican Revolution of 1994. How so?
A: What happened is when Republicans came in 1994, what did they
say? They said we're going to make government smaller and we're
going to make it more responsive. Instead, what has happened
-- and it's typical, it's natural, it's something that happens
all the time -- is that they decided, "You know what, I'd
rather just stay in office." So they decided to worship
incumbency rather than principle. Well, what happens over time
is that you end up with a government that spends like crazy on
stuff that is not of vital national importance. You find members
of Congress suddenly fudging on things that they had promised
to do. And over time, what happens is that they lose their credibility
with voters. It's exactly the same thing that happened to Democrats
in the run-up to the 1994 congressional elections.
 Q:
Is there anything that President Bush has done that you are completely
jazzed about -- happy about?
A: Completely jazzed about? I get jazzed when my son brings home
a report card full of A's. I don't get jazzed when presidents
do their jobs, so the answer would be "no."
Q: What's the worst or most egregious
mistake the president has made?
A: The lack of spending discipline on the part of Republicans
has been disappointing and frankly so has George W. Bush's inability
to understand the importance of using a veto. Washington is like
a dog pound. You have to have an alpha male. You've got a scent,
mark your territory -- and the way you do that is using the veto.
I know the war is important, but being the lead dog in Washington
is also important and I don't think the president has quite figured
that out yet and I don't think the people closest to him have
either.
Q: Did you have any qualms about going
to Iraq?
A: Of course I did. And I said on "Fox News Sunday,"
when I was still hosting there, and I said it in print elsewhere,
that I wished before he'd gone to war that we'd have seen some
pictures of sites with weapons of mass destruction. Having said
that, I don't have any qualms about it because frankly what you
do have, contrary to the way it is reported in many places, is
a nation that was not only a haven for terrorists but was an
active participant in it. Saddam Hussein was somebody who was
paying bounties on Israeli citizens, was setting up meetings
with al-Qaida, and was trying to do whatever he could to foment
terror around the world. Why? Because it was good for him.
(Click here to read the rest of the column.)
Cartoons above by Daryl
Cagle and Sandy
Huffaker.
 Mike Lester,
Rome News-Tribune, Rome, GA
E-mail Mike. Visit
an archive of the artist's most recent cartoons in the drop menu
at the right. Click on the cartoon to e-mail it to a friend.
Want Mike's cartoons
in your publication? E-mail cari@cagle.com |
|
| All
cartoons are displayed here with the permission of the artists.
Many thanks to each of you for allowing us to feature your cartoons.
Artwork © each artist. The Professional Cartoonists Index
is ©Daryl Cagle. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction
prohibited. |
|
