Snow Report: Tony Confuses African American Congresswomen, Calls Iraq Death Toll Just ‘a Number’

While I was off the grid traveling on the East Coast last week, the White House Press Secretary Tony Snow made (at least) two gaffes:

1. They all look alike:

It turns out Capitol police officers aren’t the only ones who need a face book to recognize members of Congress. White House press secretary Tony Snow last week apologized from the lectern for misidentifying Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) as Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.).

McKinney, of course, is the legislator accused of accosting a Capitol police officer after he stopped her when she tried to bypass a security checkpoint. The officer said he didn’t recognize her as a member and that she was not wearing her member’s pin. Jackson Lee, however, was the congresswoman at a meeting with the president talking about Iraq on June 7, not McKinney as Snow said the next day.

2. From Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: Snow says military death toll is just a number:

In the Senate yesterday, we had a moment of silence because we lost our 2,500th troop in Iraq. It was a solemn milestone which we observed in this Chamber.

Over at the White House, I guess they have a different feeling. In all the news around the country today, there’s a quote from Tony Snow, the President’s Press Secretary, who said in response to the news, “it’s a number.”

“It’s a number.”

I say to the White House, it’s more than a number. It’s somebody’s son or daughter, someone’s father or mother, a neighbor, an uncle, or an aunt.

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