Tammy Bruce: Tony Snow Has Died

Tony Snow Has Died

I met him once, briefly, at Fox News. You know how you can generally tell most about someone in the first few moments of meeting them? Well, Tony was a nice guy, genuine and a real pro. When someone dies so young (53!) of cancer, I just think, if we put as much energy and passion into eliminating that horrid disease as we do other crap not worthy of our time, like studies and commissions on "climate change," perhaps we could finally end this scourge. No one in the modern age should be dying of cancer. No one.

Tony Snow, Former White House Press Secretary and FOX News Anchor, Dies at 53

Tony Snow, the former White House press secretary and conservative pundit who bedeviled the press corps and charmed millions as a FOX News television and radio host, died Saturday after a long bout with cancer. He was 53.

A syndicated columnist, editor, TV anchor, radio show host and musician, Snow worked in nearly every medium in a career that spanned more than 30 years. "Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of our dear friend Tony Snow," President Bush said in a written statement. "The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character."

Snow died at 2 a.m. Saturday at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C...As a TV pundit and commentator for FOX News, Snow often was critical of Bush before he became the president's third press secretary, following Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan. He was an instant study in the job, mastering the position — and the White House press corps — with apparent ease.

"One of the reasons I took this job is not only to work with the president, but, believe it or not, to work with all of you," Snow told reporters when he stepped into the post in 2006. "These are times that are going to be very challenging."

Indeed they are. More so when we lose a man like him. May he rest in peace.

Posted by Tammy · July 12, 2008 03:28 PM · Permalink
Tragedy

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Tony Snow was just a fine, honest, intelligent man. From the moment I found FOX News and later on the radio, I enjoyed watching and listening to him. I will greatly miss him and I pray for his family.

Posted by: marleed at July 12, 2008 04:52 PM

I could not believe the news when I read it at first! My God! Tony Snow was considered a "Renaissance Man" by many! May his soul rest in peace. My heart and prayers go out to his family.

Posted by: Condignity at July 12, 2008 05:48 PM

I may not have agreed with him on ANYTHING, but my prayers are with his family and friends. I only hope that other liberals don't chime in with hateful comments.

Posted by: BigDaddy978 at July 12, 2008 06:29 PM

Back when Tony started up his radio show, there was a period of time when the outfit I work for distributed the program. Naturally, any time you start up a new network, there are going to be issues, and from time to time we'd have to work with Tony's people about refining certain things.

During one of these times I mentioned that something Tony had said on the previous day's show made me laugh uncontrollably for the rest of the day. It was suggested that I send Tony an e-mail and tell him this, which I did, never expecting an actual answer.

Not only did Tony e-mail me back, but we struck up a friendly e-mail correspondence for the next several years….snarky little stream-of-consciousness things about the events of the day and whatnot, always good fun. We were both addicted to Smarties, so when he got the White House Press Secretary job, I sent him a congratulatory package of them that would have probably lasted for the next decade. I always meant to see Tony’s band play down in DC, but never got around to it (of course).

The last time I saw Tony, he was up at my place of business, doing some news commentary. He looked and sounded great, still just a genuine, fun guy to be around. We talked shop over some Chinese food and had some laughs, hoping to see one another again soon. That was the last time I talked to him.

I’m sure he’s somewhere right now, laughing at the insanity of it all. RIP.

Posted by: PeteRFNY at July 12, 2008 09:15 PM

Just a class act. Three kids....damn.

Posted by: wilson at July 13, 2008 04:45 AM

Tony Snow a nice man who I will never forget on 9/11/01 asking Colin Powell what he thought about the Palestinians celebrating the murders that day - something nobody else in the media would ever ask since the Palis are a protected species.

I agree with you about cancer - there should be nobody dying of cancer any more (I just read that former Yankee Bobby Murcer just succumbed to brain cancer at age 62) in this day and age. Having lost my mother to cancer (ovarian), and my sister being a cancer survivor I am extremely cancer phobic and I wish we would spend as much time trying to cure it as we did trying to prevent the mythical heterosexual AIDS outbreak that never happened. Don't expect any cures to come form the Islamic or Communist world.

Posted by: Ripper at July 13, 2008 05:54 AM

Some (most) of the comments on liberal minded sites, regarding Tony's passing, are shocking and repulsive.

I'm pleased to be in more compassionate company.

God bless Tony's family.

Posted by: syd at July 13, 2008 06:46 AM

Tony Snow had the intelligence and nerve that no other news person, besides Tammy, seems to have...I actually enjoyed watching the news conferences when he was at the White House...I haven't watched since he left.

Cancer is a big business. The pharmaceutical companies will never let a cure be found. My husband died of melanoma in 1993 and they were making 'break through' treatment discoveries back then and they still have not made much progress. The cost of chemotherapy was astronomical, thousands of dollars per treatment, and more costly now than ever.

Rest In Peace Tony, you were an exceptional human being.

Posted by: Marie at July 13, 2008 09:47 AM

With all due respect, Tammy, Ripper, and Marie, the horrible collection of diseases that collectively fall under the umbrella of "cancer" aren't that simple. There's a very good capsule summary of what "cancer" is here. The bottom line, unfortunately, is that "cancer" means that something has gone horribly wrong at the level of our DNA, whether due to congenital circumstances, environmental ones, viral ones, or some combination of these. At the moment, our understanding of how to treat such conditions is extremely poor, let alone how to cure them. For example, it's sobering to recall that we have yet to cure any viral infection. We just don't yet know enough about how DNA works. We know that a process colloquially called protein folding is critical to the expression of the proper function of the protein—if it folds wrong, bad things happen—. With that thought in mind, I encourage all readers to run the Folding@Home software on their computers whenever their computers are running but not being used. This project at Stanford University aggregates the spare computing power available on the Internet, turning the Internet into the largest supercomputer the world has ever seen, devoted to solving the protein folding problem.

Finally, if I may address Marie personally: how dare you? Like you, I have lost friends and family members to the ravages of cancer, but never has my imagination been fevered enough to suppose that the committed, brilliant people in the medical profession, including pharamceutical companies, some of whom have also lost loved ones to cancer and other degenerative diseases, would in any way hold back results in the search for treatments and, God willing, cures for these horrifying diseases. I sincerely hope that you are ashamed.

Posted by: Paul Snively at July 13, 2008 10:45 AM

Gee Paul, ashamed, no not at all...I never said anything about the exceptional care and understanding that was given to me and my family during three grueling years of continous treatment...I never said anything about that...or how brillant the medical professionals are or their commitment...but you would think that in the 16 years since my husband death, of study, test etc. that they would come up with something to at least stop this horrendous disease, at least stop it, maybe not 'cure' it...yes I know that there has been some advancement in treatment with results but Paul, you should know that pharmaceuticals is big business...you can see by the commercials on TV...you can tell what season it is by what drug their advertising...and amazing that they have come up with so many drugs to help a man with his erectial dysfunction, but can't cure the common cold...oh Paul, how dare you.

Posted by: Marie at July 13, 2008 01:13 PM

As a former liberal, I am ashamed that anyone would take delight in Tony Snow's passing. Those are people I would never want to be around.

I didn't really know much about him, but I am saddened by his passing. My uncle recently passed away from cancer.

What's odd is that you couldn't turn the TV on without seeing coverage regarding Tim Russert's death for weeks. But where's the coverage for Tony Snow? This is the only second time I've seen it.

God bless.

Posted by: Valerie at July 13, 2008 02:27 PM

Heartbreaking.

Posted by: pat_s at July 13, 2008 04:46 PM

> Paul, you should know that pharmaceuticals is big business...you can see by the commercials on TV...

Indeed I do know. I'm from Indiana, home of Eli Lilly, one of the biggest of "big pharma."

> you can tell what season it is by what drug their advertising...

Of course you can! Many conditions that are amenable to drug therapy, e.g. allergies, are seasonal!

> and amazing that they have come up with so many drugs to help a man with his erectial dysfunction, but can't cure the common cold...

That's right. Because, unlike erectile dysfunction, the "common cold" is caused by over 100 different viri, and as I already pointed out, we've never come up with a single cure for any viral infection. The science simply isn't there yet.

> oh Paul, how dare you.

I dare because I'm familiar with the science behind the pharmacological research. Now, I am horribly sorry for your loss, just as I am horribly sorry for the Snow family's loss. But that still doesn't translate to the accuracy of the conspiracy theory you offered in your original post. That is what I dare say you are in error about.

Posted by: Paul Snively at July 13, 2008 07:35 PM

Rest in Peace, Mr. Snow. You will be missed I loved your radio show and your Fox show and your time as the Press Secretary you gave better than you ever got and it was fun to watch and listen to.

On the cancer conspiracy thing it's just nuts. The company or people who figure out how to cure cancer are going to be wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice. The statistical fact is there are two diseases that every human being is going to contract if they live long enough one is cancer and the other is type 2 diabetes. Cancer because the longer you live the more likely there will be one of those horrible protein folding errors, basically a replication error that causes cancer. And type 2 diabetes because our cell walls develop a resistance to our natural insulin so ultimately we can't produce enough to regulate our blood sugar. So who ever comes up with a cure for either disease is going to walk away very very very rich.

Posted by: maldain at July 15, 2008 01:46 PM

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