Tony Snow, American Optomist

I haven't written in a while because I have been busy working my four jobs, etc., and I just haven't wanted to write much about politics. I heard about Tony Snow today and it seems like his passing has affected me very strongly.

I remember Tony Snow first from guest hosting on Rush Limbaugh. He seemed to be a man with great, conservative ideas and a funny voice for radio. But his ideas were challenging and thought-provoking. It was interesting to me to see him take the position of presidential press secretary because it was obvious that he did not agree with President Bush on everything and had even been somewhat outspoken in criticizing the President. I think it says a lot about both men, President Bush was courageous in bringing in a public spokesman whose record showed his independence of mind, and Tony Snow, whose love of his country motivated him to want to help the president elucidate the conservative ideas that he believed the president held.

I only heard Tony Snow lie one time. Sean Hannity played an interview with Tony Snow and asked him about his health. He replied something to the effect that after his doctors told him that they had it under control he quit worrying about it. You'd have thought he was talking about an ingrown toenail. This was after they had removed his cancerous colon and then found a new tumor attached to his small intestine and growing into his liver. He said "it's not like it is liver cancer." He was a brave man with a wonderful sense of history.

Rush Limbaugh said this about him, "...the great thing about Tony Snow was his faith. Tony Snow believed in himself; he believed in his family; he believed in God, and he believed in America, and he looked at death as a promotion. He said that when he was told the first time that he had colon cancer, he said, "You know, it squares you up pretty fast. You face the future with an entirely different perspective." And he never whined about it, he never complained, and no matter where you saw him -- smiling, infectiously smiling."
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_071408/content/01125106.guest.html

Juan Williams, his friend and fellow Fox News journalist, told this story, "...he loved to take time with kids. He had met my youngest son a few times at FOX’s Washington bureau and at a ball game.
One day while riding in the car the news came on and from the White House came the voice of the Press Secretary. My son, Raffi, and I were talking when he held up a hand and said: “That sounds like Tony Snow.” I told (him) it was Tony. He said “Our Tony Snow is the Press Secretary.” I said that was right but in my mind I was wondering how many people felt that they were not listening to the press secretary but to “our” Tony Snow. http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/07/12/a-man-who-loved-people-the-gritty-nature-of-life-and-all-of-the-human-comedy/