Tony Snow left his job as a mid-profile but extravagantly paid GOP propagandist for Fox “News” radio to take an extremely high-profile job with a salary in the measly $150,000 range as a GOP propagandist for the White House.
Now he says he has warned his betters at the White House that he will only stay on as press secretary until his government salary no longer supports the lifestyle he became accustomed to as a media elite:
HUGH HEWITT: Your intention to go the distance, Tony Snow?
TS: No, I’m not going to be…I’ve already made it clear I’m not going to be able to go the distance, but that’s primarily for financial reasons. I’ve told people when my money runs out, then I’ve got to go.
HH: How long will that be?
TS: I’m not going to tell you.
HH: Well, come on, make some news.
TS: No.
HH: All right.
It is shocking to hear a top White House official say he’s quitting because the pay is lousy. It not only reveals a lack of class, it shows that the man who speaks for George Bush appears to hold him in contempt. Normally, a White House official making this sort of statement would hasten to add that it is an honor and a privilege to serve the president and so forth, even if he didn’t mean it. Snow didn’t bother.
He’s probably dying — he’s being treated for cancer.
I thought he might have started to say, “No, I’m not going to be…alive that long.”
If you’re picking your battles, this might be a good one to look into further before firing.
Dying of cancer? That WOULD be news. If that were the case, I’d expect him to have resigned long ago to focus on his health.
It sounds far more likely that Snow, like Rove, is seeing the writing on the wall and planning his exit before they throw the rest of the neocons up against the wall. As a former Faux News star, he’s got a safe bet that the masses will forget him when the lynchings begin.
Note: “press secretary Scott McClellan earns $157,000,” (July 13, 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45237-2004Jul12.html
Thanks, Mike. I updated the article to be more specific about salary. And Fuzzy, I am fully aware that Tony Snow has cancer, and I am glad he is healthy enough to take on one of the most stressful jobs in government. I take him at his word that he plans to quit “primarily for financial reasons.”
GO TONY!!!!