SCOTTY McCLELLAN STARTS SPENDING MORE TIME WITH HIS FAMILY GANNON/GUCKERT; TONY SNOW LEAVES ONE RIGHT WING PROPAGANDA OP FOR ANOTHER

When the rumors were just whispers I had to assure DWT readers that I wasn't making a late April Fools Joke when I said Tony Snow had been felt out by Josh Bolten to play Scotty McClellan's role in a reshuffling of the deck chairs on the Titanic. Well, today it becomes official.

I guess Bush and President Bolten don't mind that Snow referred to Bush as "an embarrassment" and the most "impotent" president ever. Snow, an extreme right wing propagandist masquerading as a "fair and balanced" tv journalist went from lock-step Bush rah-rah, fruit-cake to someone forced by the obvious to mention that Bush "doesn't seem to mean what he says." In fact last September Snow wrote in his column that Bush "has given the impression that [he] is more eager to please than lead, and that political opponents can get their way if they simply dig in their heels and behave like petulant trust-fund brats, demanding money and favor-- now!" That isn't the image he will be expected to help portray-- the carefully crafted, bogus Rovean image of Bush as a "leader"-- in his new position inside the White House. No more staying from the Party Line with remarks and digs-- just one month ago-- like "George W. Bush and his colleagues have become not merely the custodians of the largest government in the history of humankind, but also exponents of its vigorous expansion."

Fact of the matter is much of Snow's criticism of Bush and his disastrous Regime has come from an even further right-wing perspective, which should surprise no one who has looked into ex-socialist hippie-turned right-wing fanatic and nut-case, Snow. (The far, far right, which finds Snow one of their own easily embraces nutty statements like "On the policy side, he has become a classical dime-store Democrat. He gladly will shovel money into programs that enjoy undeserved prestige, such as Head Start. He seems to consider it mean-spirited to shut down programs that rip-off taxpayers and mislead supposed beneficiaries.") Of course, even normal Americans agree with some of Snow's criticism of Bush, like "When it comes to federal spending, George W. Bush is the boy who can't say no. In each of his three years at the helm, the president has warned Congress to restrain its spending appetites, but so far nobody has pushed away from the table mainly because the president doesn't seem to mean what he says."

I wonder if any of his colleagues will bring any of this embarrassing stuff up when he starts spouting the Bush Regime malarkey on a day-to-day basis. (Oh, and thanks Sean Paul from the Agonist for the nice photo.)