Bauer Suggests Snow Job Unlikely From New White House Press Secretary
by Chad Groening and Jody Brown
April 27, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A pro-family activist and former presidential candidate is praising President Bush for his selection of a Fox News commentator and talk-show host to be his new press secretary. Gary Bauer says he would be "hard-pressed to think of anyone better suited" for the position than Tony Snow. Snow will be taking over for the vacancy created last week when Scott McClellan announced he was stepping down after almost three years of dealing face-to-face with the White House press corps. And while Snow will be taking on a new role, he is not new to working at the White House. He served as chief speechwriter for this president's father, George H.W. Bush, as well as in the media affairs office for the 41st president.
Snow, who during the past ten years served as host of "Fox News Sunday" and as a talk-show host on the Fox Radio Network, is known as one not to pull punches -- regardless if the target is Republican or Democrat. For example, Associated Press notes he has referred to Democratic leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi as "wheezy prophets of the Defeatocrat Party" and has faulted other Democrats for their "righteous ignorance." Even his new boss has not gone unscathed, having been compared by Snow to "the boy who can't say no" when it comes to federal spending.
Yet Snow has also been a strong defender of President Bush. For example, he has written that "on the seminal issues of national security and global destiny, [Bush] positively dwarfs the political opposition" -- and has taken note of the president's "delicious disdain for the Beltway culture."
One of those applauding the president's choice is Gary Bauer of American Values, who thinks Snow is more than capable of handling problematic liberal members of the media. "First of all I think he knows how to deal with the media, since he's been in that world himself for a long time," notes Bauer. "He [also] knows how the White House works, he has a keen grasp of the issues, and he understands politics."
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According to Bauer, Snow is a "Reagan Republican" in many ways. The late president, in whose administration Bauer served, "knew that the best way to deal with snarly people is to give them that great Irish smile and never retreat from your principles." Says Bauer. "So I think Tony Snow will be a pretty good answer for the likes of Helen Thomas." The American Values president acknowledges that Snow has been a critic of the Bush administration when it has "drifted away" from conservative ideas -- but Bauer sees that as a positive. "I'm hoping that by this selection Tony will be at the table and have a chance to remind the president why the administration needs to stay loyal to those conservative values," he says.
AP says Capitol Hill Republicans are hopeful Snow's "fresh voice" and "star quality" will reinvigorate an administration that has seen its approval ratings reach historic lows over the last several months. But Bauer suggests that while Snow may be able to do a better job explaining the White House's positions and priorities, the policies themselves are more important.
"I don't think the selection [of Snow] itself will cause the poll numbers to go up, but I believe that the president's troubles right now can be dealt with by simply getting back to conservative ideas," Bauer says. "So if the president and Republicans get back to those conservative concepts, the poll numbers will take care of themselves."
The White House and its supporters on Capitol Hill need to pursue an aggressive agenda, says Bauer, that "confronts our enemies, keeps our economy going forward, and protects our values." He believes Americans will respond positively to such leadership.
