Snowfall

New York Times:

Tony Snow Resigns

As Tony Snow, the White House press secretary had indicated earlier, he has decided to resign his post with the Bush administration, effective Sept. 14.

Mr. Snow, who has been battling a recurrence of colon cancer and just finished a lengthy set of chemotherapy treatments, had said that he intended to leave before the end of President Bush’s second term. In recent interviews, he said he would depart for financial, not health reasons.

The former journalist with Fox News who had a nationally syndicated talk show received a salary of nearly $170,000 as White House press secretary, far less than his cable show earnings.

He recently told Hugh Hewitt: “I’m not going to be able to go the distance, but that’s primarily for financial reasons,” Mr. Snow said. “I’ve told people when my money runs out, then I’ve got to go.”

Mr. Snow, 52, is one of several Bush administration officials who have decided to leave the White House. His resignation follows those of Karl Rove and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, both of whom decided to leave earlier this month.

It looks like Tony Snow isn’t doing too good. A growth near his abdominal area was discovered to be cancerous, and spread to his liver.

Too bad, huh?

What?

Do I sound cruel? Insensitive? Yeah, I know I do, but I can’t help it. No, I'm not proud of it, but I can't feel much sympathy for Mr. Snow.

Besides, bad as it is for Tony Snow right now, he still has it better than most of us. He’s wealthy (which we’re not), so he can afford to take the time off from his job as long as he needs to (which we can’t), and get the best doctors and medical treatment available to him (which we can't afford). Being Bush’s hand puppet was a well-paying gig, and Tony was great at it. Cancer doesn’t discriminate, but you don’t want to be in the ER with a tin cup either.

Maybe to his rich white Republican friends sending him “Get Well” cards Tony Snow was a good guy, but he hated the rest of America, and he let us know it. As a newspaper columnist, a talking head on Fox, or press secretary for the President, he was always the same: a smug, narrow-minded bigot. But because Tony Snow was articulate, and handsome and had a nice smile, it was O.K. Hey, if you’re not parading a Confederate flag or wearing a swastika, you can’t be racist, right? Just ask Ann, or Rush, or Sean.

He didn’t build the GOP’s Pretty Hate Machine, but he certainly kept it running and well-oiled. And Tony Snow never met a queer, tofu-eating, dope-smoking, Bible-burning, terrorist sand nigger he couldn’t beat up on.

And he liked it.

I'm not enough of a bastard to wish him dead, but only because of his wife and children. Nobody deserves to be a widow. Nobody deserves to be a orphan.

But say a prayer for him?

I’m sorry, but I don’t have the time. I’m busy.

I’m saying prayers for the soldiers fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Walter Reed. I’m saying prayers for hundreds of thousands of Iraqis trying not to get shot, raped, tortured or blown up. I’m saying prayers for the people of New Orleans who helplessly watched their friends, family, jobs, homes, neighborhoods, culture, and future drown. I’m saying prayers for all the besieged working-class heroes in America who are one paycheck away from bankruptcy, unemployment, and homelessness.

So, you expect me to waste a prayer on Tony Snow, one of the grinning cheerleaders who helped get us into Dubya’s incompetent, blood-soaked obscenity of an administration in the first place?

May God forgive me, I can’t.

I can't.