BUSY DAY

TONY SNOW


More catchup on my part, this time focusing on a very busy Tony Snow. Let's see, John Kerry (who is running for no elected office this year) apparently said something that offended people. Tony Snow used the White House press room as his bully pulpit to chastise Kerry and demand an apology. Except Kerry apologized hours before. Nice research, Tony. Either that, or you're trying to continue to beat a horse that Kerry smartly shot already. See, that's how most controversies go away, by having the offending party issue an apology - not a qualified one with "ifs" sprinkled throughout, just a mea culpa. It deflates the enemy. It's a lesson that the GOP hasn't embraced yet.
Next up, Snow recently attempted to pass his boss off as a pioneer in the world of stem cell research. Snow's three claims include:

1. “Any stem cell research that takes place in the United States today is a result of a decision the president made in 2001.”
2. “No president who has stepped up and made possible more research and encouraged more research than George W. Bush.”
3. Snow, added that “adult and blood cord stem cells” have “demonstrated far more promise” than embryonic stem cells.

Nice try, dingleberry, but the facts speak for themselves (via Think Progress):

1. Bush’s decision did not begin embryonic stem cell research in the U.S. Embryonic stem cell research funded by the Geron Corporation began in the late 1990s at the University of Wisconson and Johns Hopkins University. [Congressional Research Service, pg. 3]

2. President Clinton proposed broader federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Bush suspended the Clinton rules and replaced them with his own that restrict federal funding to lines derived prior to August 2001. Clinton did not propose federal funding for embryonic stem cell research earlier because it didn’t exist. [Congressional Research Service, pgs. 5-6]

3. Adult and umbilical cord stem cells do not show “more promise” than embryonic stem cells. An article in the New England Journal of Medicine called the White House source for this claim “patently false” and “pure hokum.” [9/21/06]

And finally, Snow again attempts to paint Bush as a trailblazer, this time in the field of climate change. Again, from the fine folks at Think Progress:

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow stated that “contrary to stereotype,” President Bush has been “actively engaged in trying to fight climate change.” He also took issue with a reporter’s comment that the United States has been absent from a global emissions and cap trade program, arguing that the Bush administration has “actually taken the lead on those kinds of innovations.”

President Bush has taken very little real action to fight climate change and even refuses to admit that it is manmade. He broke his promise to cap carbon emissions and insists that global warming can be fought through individual “voluntary” programs.

Despite being the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, the United States has refused to participate in the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement that assigns mandatory targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases. Between 1990 and 2004, emissions of all industrialized countries decreased by 3.3 percent, but in U.S. emissions grew by almost 16 percent in that same period and now accounts for
approximately two-fifths of the industrialized world’s greenhouse gases.

I tell ya, it's like we're living in opposite world, where Bush does one thing, then takes credit for the exact opposite. His very first (and only) presidential veto banned federal funding for stem cell research, but his mouthpiece claims Bush to be the one true vanguard for stem cell research. Bush refuses to participate in the Kyoto Protocol knowing it might potentially hurt some of his biggest contributors in the oil industry, yet now he's a champion of the environment. He was against the 9/11 Commission but then played it up as if he was 100% behind it from the start. These are strange times we live in.

OH, SO WE DO HAVE A PLAN!

TONY SNOW


I blogged about this a couple of days ago. At the time, I was flabbergasted that White House Press Secretary Tony Snow had no answer for a simple question posed to him:

QUESTION: Just a simple question: Are we winning?

SNOW: We’re making progress. I don’t know. How do you define winning?

Luckily, he clarified his position on Wednesday when he said that the strategy is to win. Yes, that's what he said. Let me repeat that in case you didn't catch the nuance of that detailed plan to win in Iraq; Bush's strategy is to win.

Do you think that anyone took Tony aside and told him that "to win" is not a strategy. "To win" is a goal and a strategy is implemented to achieve that goal. I hate to harp on this (okay, I don't hate it) but think about it:

Question: "Tony, what is Bush's strategy to win?"

Snow: "Our strategy is to win."

Question: "So, what you're saying is his strategy to win is to win? Is that what you're trying to sell us?"

Snow: "That would be correct."

And the hard-charging White House press corps lets these crooks get away with stuff like this.

WHAT, DON'T YOU KNOW?

TONY SNOW

I know it seems like today is Tony Snow day, but when someone says something as painful as what Snow said today during his daily press conference, I just have to stand up and yell foul. The offense (via Think Progress):

During today’s White House press conference, Tony Snow was asked a simple question about Iraq: “Are we winning?” Here was Snow’s response:

QUESTION: Just a simple question: Are we winning?

SNOW: We’re making progress. I don’t know. How do you define winning?
The fact is, in taking on the war on terror — no, let me put it this way: The president’s made it obvious we’re going to win. And that means ultimately providing an Iraq that is safe, secure and an ally in the war on terror. And at any given time, as you’ve seen in previous wars, there are going to be spikes in violence.

'How do you defining winning?' What the hell kind of question is that? I mean, aren't you the ones who are supposed to have the answers to that all-important question. Of course, it's been quite obvious over the last 40+ months that this administration really has no idea what it's doing as the only plan they seem comfortable with its disastrous "Stay the Course" policy.

Further, how exactly has Bush "made it obvious we're going to win"? What exactly has he done that should fill the American public with warm feelings in regards to the stupendous disaster that is Iraq? Let me share with you something that is obvious - at around 5pm I am going to sit down and have dinner with my wife and daughter. Why is this obvious? Because steps have already been put in place to have dinner ready at that time. What steps have this administration taken to make it obvious that we are going to win in Iraq and in the larger "War on Terrah"?

All this nonsense is indicative of much of what is wrong with Bush and his gang; they'll talk a good game but when it comes to a substantive understanding of the challenges facing this nation, they're completely clueless. This nation deserves better than this collection of stuffed shirts who spin the most dire of issues into cute little soundbytes.

IT IS TO LAUGH

TONY SNOW


Recently, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow was out doing some fundraising. He commented on a number of topics but one of his remarks made me spit out my cornflakes all over my monitor. (And before anyone continues reading, I suggest that if you do in fact have cornflakes or any other food substance in your mouth while reading this that you take the time to fully chew and swallow before continuing.)
On the subject of the intellectual acumen of Bush (from the NYT via Atrios): “He reminds me of one of those guys at the gym who plays about 40 chessboards at once.”

Anyone who has spent even the slightest amount of time following our bumbler-in-chief is well aware that Bush has never been known for his "intellectual acumen." In fact, I believe that the only time that "Bush" and "intellectual acumen" should appear in a sentence is when the verb "lacks" is smack dab in the middle. Stories range far and wide about how Bush seems to be without basic intellectual curiosity. And of course there's the fact that he will proudly proclaim what a great "C" student he was during his time at Yale. To make the claim that Bush is capable of handling multiple tasks, as a person capable of playing 40 chessboards must perform, stretches any and all bounds of credibility; one need look no further than his failures in foreign policy to see that he is incapable of juggling even one ball in the air, let alone three, or forty for that matter.

On the other hand, I think that we as Bush's opponents have often stumbled against him because of our collective impulse to assume that he is nothing more than a cat playing with a ball of yarn in the corner while Cheney and Rove do all the heavy lifting. He possesses some level of intelligence and insight that often goes unnoticed by those blinded by their disdain and hatred for the man who has done so much to damage this nation. That being said, I would never go so far as to make a statement like Snow did. 40 chessboards? No chance in hell. 40 tic-tac-toe games? That's probably more his speed.

QUICK UPDATE: As the lone commenter noted, I should point out that I don't know if Bush would win all 40 tic-tac-toe games, just that he could semi-competently participate in 40 games.

SILLY?

TONY SNOW


Did you know that it is the constitutional duty of every American to give the president of the United States the benefit of the doubt in matters of national security, regardless of how said president has failed time and again in this area. At least, that's what White House Press Secretary Tony Snow is pushing today. (See video and a transcript over at Think Progress.)

On Tuesday, a reporter had the following exchange with Snow:

QUESTION: Looking back, is there anything that the president would have done differently? Does he believe he has made any mistakes in this region?
SNOW: Oh, my goodness.
QUESTION: It’s a fair question.
SNOW: No, it’s a silly question.

Snow later said...

What you do as president of the United States — and I have said this repeatedly from this podium, and you need to give presidents the benefit of the doubt when national security is involved — is the very best, in their judgment, of what they can do.

So, here we have a president that screwed up Afghanistan by not staying and finishing the job of destroying the Taliban and capturing/killing Osama bin Laden AND has turned Iraq into a terrorist recruitment center and has made the country outside of the vaunted green zone in Bahgdad into one of the most dangerous places on the face of the earth. Yet we're supposed to give Bush the benefit of the doubt when national security is involved. This is a president that throughout the 2004 presidential campaign regularly raised and lowered the terrorist warning levels in a successful effort to tweak his occasional sagging polling numbers, yet we're supposed to give him the benefit of the doubt when national security is involved.

Honestly, the only thing that is silly about this entire exchange is that the reporter actually expected Bush/Snow to actually admit that their failure of diplomacy has led us to where we are now in regards to North Korea. Silly reporter...

NO BIG DEAL

TONY SNOW

Attention! Attention!! The new GOP talking points are out! Hot of the presses!

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow was the first to introduce them as the Republicans try desperately to put the cat back in the bag in regards to the Mark Foley controversy/coverup. Knowing full well that a scandal of this nature could potentially keep turnout down among evangelicals (the bread-and-butter of the GOP base), the Republican apparatus kicked into high gear in a transparent effort to minimize the political fallout that could end up costing some high-ranking House members their jobs.

Bearing in mind that the best talking points are the simplest talking points (cut-and-run Democrat, Kerry is a flip flopper, tax-and-spend liberals), Snow began the effort to downplay the entire controversy by calling the whole thing "simply naughty emails". He implied that this scandal was minor in the grand scheme of things when he said, "I hate to tell you but it's not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill and there have been other scandals as you know that have been more than simply naughty emails." So, emails and explicit instant messenging exchanges between a member of Congress and underage boys is no biggie in Snow's (and one would assume by extension, the White House's) world. The fact that the GOP House leadership has been aware of Foley's predatory ways for over five years yet did nothing about them is barely a blip on the radar according to Snow.

To Republicans, power is everything. They would rather coddle and protect a sexual predator than risk potentially losing control of the house. Since they like talking points so much, how about if we start referring to the GOP as the party that protects pedophiles. Or the party with no soul.