Heartbreaking sad news this morning. Tony Snow has died. He was 53.
This is what I wrote on this blog one year ago today, July 12, 2007:
For the last two days I have seen President Bush's press secretary hit the TV news show circuit defending the Presidents policy in Iraq with good humor and passion. The Tony Snow I have seen shows the ravages of his battle with cancer. He no longer looks like the Tony Snow of the above picture. His hair is thinner and now mostly gray and his face is no longer rosy but has the tired thin look of a warrior. He is definitely a warrior and a patriot. At this time he could be spending his time with his family and saving his energy for the battle of his life. Instead, he has answered the the call of his President and Country. Every time I get tired of the political battle to keep fighting for whats right I only need to look at Tony Snow and it gives me the courage to keep fighting! God bless you Tony
My condolences to the Snow family...... thanks for sharing him with us all these years.
Four years ago this summer I saw Tony Snow in person at the Republican Convention in New York. Our daughter invited me to go to the convention with her and we were walking though the convention hall, Madison Square Garden, and there was a big room where there were many radio talk shows being broadcast across the nation. I saw G. Gordon Liddy, of Watergate fame, broadcasting his show and then there was Tony Snow interviewing then White House Chief of Staff, Andy Card, on Tony's radio show. I have the picture in my scrap book of the trip. Less than four years ago!
President Bush's Statement on Tony's Death:
Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of our dear friend, Tony Snow. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Jill, and their children, Kendall, Robbie, and Kristi. The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character.
Tony was one of our Nation's finest writers and commentators. He earned a loyal following with incisive radio and television broadcasts. He was a gifted speechwriter who served in my father's Administration. And I was thrilled when he agreed to return to the White House to serve as my Press Secretary. It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace, and a great love of country to his work. His colleagues will cherish memories of his energetic personality and relentless good humor.
All of us here at the White House will miss Tony, as will the millions of Americans he inspired with his brave struggle against cancer. One of the things that sustained Tony Snow was his faith - and Laura and I join people across our country in praying that this good man has now found comfort in the arms of his Creator.
Byron York on National Review Online this morning:
"When I heard the news this morning, I thought about something he wrote back in 1998, when Brit Hume's son Sandy died. Like everyone else, Tony was badly shaken; why had such an awful thing happened? A few days later, he wrote:
"The day I heard of his death, I raced home and hugged my wife and kids with a ferocity that startled them. Since then, I have clung to them a little tighter, lingered with them a little longer, relished their company a bit more. Suddenly, jarringly, I came to understand: Loved ones are fragile, precious gifts from God. Tragedy, villainy or caprice someday may snatch them away."
Before he went to the White House as Press Secretary Tony Snow reread part of a column Rich Galen had written before he had gone to Iraq as a press secretary for the Defense Department and it helped him to decided to leave his lucrative radio show and work for President Bush. Galen wrote:
"I am not being heroic. If you believe, as I do, that we are at war and if you believe, as I do, that if your country asks you to use your skills in the waging of that war, then there is only one answer: "When do I leave?"
Tony Snow's last televised press briefing as White House Press Secretary.
Tony Snow was an American Patriot!
