Tony Snow vs Old Media

Here's a clip of White House speaker Tony Snow at a press conference discussing the recent medical reports on First Lady Laura Bush. It seems she had a small, cancerous skin lesion on her leg removed in a routine operation. Despite the fact that she seems to be healing just fine, the press caught the scent of blood and swooped in for the kill. No matter the benign procedure, or the fact that she is entitled to complete medical privacy, the press mercilessly drilled Snow with question after question, not so much about her recovery, but about the apparent secrecy of the Bush administration in yet another 'cover-up.' If any more proof was needed that the media is still locked in Watergate mode, here it is. Everything is a secret, dark operatives lurk everywhere, spooks on the inside, spooks on the outside. Little wonder so many people buy into so many conspiracy theories, they have to go no further than popular media to cite their proofs.

As White House speaker, I could get to like Tony Snow as much as I liked Ari Fleischer (2001 to 2003). Like Fleischer, Snow is witty and quick on his feet. His past as a media veteran gives him an advantage Fleischer or previous speaker Scott McClellan never had. He'll need this to deal with a pack of reporters more interested in political spin than the transmission of information. Hard to believe that White House reporters, one would think among the best of their craft, behave in such a debasing and tabloid manner. Considering the overall decline in old media revenue, perhaps this is the best the talent pool has to offer.