Seems there was a Republican who was not happy about Tony Snow getting the White House Press Secretary job...so he leaked a memo written by Snow. Tony talks about the need to "re-humanize" the president and make everyone remember why they liked the guy so much (o-kay). He says that the president needs to talk to the press more, because after all:
I know you realize the dirty little secret: Truly nasty questions, ones the President can't defuse with his quick wit, are rare. And when we DO get asked them, we get brownie points for openness. So these free-for-alls are almost can't-lose propositions.
And how about that clever threat to remove the TV cameras from the briefing room?
As far as the podium: Josh, that was sheer genius of you to float the idea of cutting back on on-camera briefings. Obviously, we can't do that, because it would make the White House look like it was going backwards instead of forwards, and like we had something to hide...
Sheer genius...and now, will the press pretend they haven't been played for, and called fools?
What will Tony's pals in the press think about this?
Similarly, the President should take questions from the pool all the time. For him, this is just batting practice. With all due respect, all press corps are predictable. And when we give them two questions, I'll go back to my radio show if I can't usually predict what they're going to be. But it makes it harder for the press to rag on the President when they're in close touch with him, and it's an opportunity for us to remind people of our message. When we don't answer questions, it looks like we believe the critics. We want to be out there at every opportunity, like my uncle at Thanksgiving dinner, saying: And ANOTHER thing. . .
Snow is right of course...the press is predictable and spineless for the most part. Perhaps having one of their own say so will inspire someone to be that intrepid reporter Stephen Colbert talked about.
Not surprisingly, neither the White House nor Snow were available for comment.
Update: It is now being reported that the memo was a fake, so I will either delete or suggest everyone unreccomend...I'm open to suggestions.