Posted by: ST on July 12, 2008 at 8:26 am
I can’t believe it. I woke up this morning, turned on the TV and they were talking about his death.  I was hoping I was still asleep and having a dream/nightmare but I wasn’t. Tony Snow is dead at the age of 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, has died 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.
“The White House has lost a great friend and a great colleague,” said President Bush’s press secretary Dana Perino. “We all loved watching him at the podium, but most of all we learned how to love our families and treat each other.”
Snow joined FOX in 1996 as the original anchor of “FOX News Sunday” and hosted “Weekend Live” and a radio program, “The Tony Snow Show,” before departing in 2006. A sometime fill-in host for Rush Limbaugh, Snow said he loved the intimacy of his radio audience.
“It’s a tremendous loss for us who knew him, but it’s also a loss for the country,” Roger Ailes, chairman of FOX News, said Saturday morning about Snow, calling him a “renaissance man.”
As a TV pundit and commentator for FOX News, Snow was often critical of President Bush before he became Bush’s third press secretary in 2006, 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.
During a tenure marked by friendly jousting with journalists, Snow often danced around the press corps, occasionally correcting their grammar and speech even as he responded to their questions.
“Tony did his job with more flair than almost any press secretary before him,” said William McGurn, Bush’s former chief speechwriter. “He loved the give-and-take. But that was possible only because Tony was a man of substance who had real beliefs and principles that he was more than able to defend.”
The tributes are pouring in at NRO’s Corner blog, including this beautiful one from Shannen Coffin:
The day of Tony Snow’s hiring at the White House was electric. To call him a “rock star” was an understatement. He brought substance to every meeting he was in and every subject he covered. He was unwaveringly conservative at the Principals table, but like all good servants of the government and the President, when a decision was made, he fell in line and became an advocate for the President, not for Tony Snow. It isn’t hard to conclude that he was one of the best Presidential Press Secretaries of all time, if not the best.Â
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But what struck me most about him was his ceaseless optimism. Even when he was leaving his post, when his prognosis could not have been good, he was always in good cheer with his colleagues. He had a smile that lit up a room and could put a friend at ease in an instant, even when that sense of unease was brought about by concern for his illness. When he left, he likely knew that he had a short time left to provide for his family, but the smile never died, and it hasn’t today either.  He was always touched to know that friends and those he didn’t even know were praying for him. I still am, friend. God bless you and your family, Tony. RIP.Â
He was the best.Â
My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.  RIP, Tony, and God bless you.
Read more reax via Memeorandum.
Previous Tony Snow blogging:
Too young to go, much too young .. RIP, Tony Snow.
Tears when I heard the news. A wonderful human being. Put in a good word for me, Snowman.
He was an incredible incredible man. He is the reason I started to watch Fox News Sunday. I remember one Easter Morn Tony giving the Salvation Message during his commentary time, it truly did make me misty. The courage that this man had, may it be found in many now that he has blazed the trail. God Bless You Tony, and may God be with your family, my heart and prayers go out to all that loved him. – Lorica
Very sad…he leaves us way too young. I used to love watching him at the press conferences, giving it right back to the Helen Thomases and others who were used to punching-bag press secretaries. God Bless and RIP, Tony.
I’m the same age, and I’ll think about him as I toil on this Earth. He couldn’t stop the cancer getting to his body, but it never got to his spirit. R.I.P. Tony, God Bless!
Ditto what GWR said. It was great fun to watch the MSM “journalists” stew in their own juices after Tony calmly and logically shot down their biased questions. R.I.P., Tony, and may God comfort his family.
He was an inspiration to all and will continue to be for many , especially for those who’s lives he touched personally. Having the strength to remain as tough as he did and knowing what he knew, is awesome indeed!
I salute you sir!
RIP my brother……….Semper Fi
And, of course, the usual vermin are coming out from under their rocks to slime Tony Snow. Just from the first few comments at the execrable Democratic Underground:
Sounded like a giant cosmic fart. That you on the way to hell, Tony?
Followed by this:
I didn’t like him when he was alive, why should I feel differently not that he’s dead? Sympathy for his family??? How much sympathy do think they felt for all the sons and daughters that returned from Iraq in body bags? This man’s lies helped to perpetuate this shameful, illegal war and I think it’s high time those on the conservative side get to experience a little grief. I don’t fell any sympathy for them because they don’t give a tinker’s damn for us.
Classy. There’s your renowned compassionate “liberal” at work.
It’s no better at dKos. Some charming examples:
Sadly, there are other thug Snow replacement haters lining up to fill his hateful boots.
Which led to this response:
And we should deal with them the same way….derision in death and life.
And this remark -
If it’s any comfort to you, colon cancer is a horrendous, painful way to die. The suffering he went through is a pretty thorough kind of karma for his past misdeeds.
- generated this exhibition of good will:
Perhaps he can relive it 100,000x
And this –
There’s a new Snowball in Hell today.
And probably the worst:
My compassion is not for Snow. I salute him in the same way as I diaried Helms. I will pour a beer on your grave, Snow, but not before it has been filtered through my kidneys.
And Kos (judging by the way their annual convention was a “must-do” for Dem presidential candidates) is arguably the mainstream of their party. Sickening.
HuffingtonPost isn’t even allowing comments. They know the kind of digital diarrhea their usual audience would be posting.
I can’t wait for Dan, from the Satullo thread, to drop by and enlighten us again about how this isn’t really happening, as he did last time. Oughta make for some fascinating dissembling.
And yet GWR, we are not surprised.
What I find unbelievable is the left is constantly saying that the conservative/right is filled with hate. I guess hate is ok as long as you are directing it towards Republicans.
Disgraceful. I’ve never seen such a collection of lowlifes and cowards…..except in Congress.
Godspeed Tony Snow and thank you.