Tony Snow, who died Saturday morning at the age of 53, was that rare individual in Washington, a big shot who didn’t act like a big shot. He succeeded brilliantly in both journalism and politics, yet barely changed at all in the nearly quarter century I knew him. The reason, I suspect, was that Tony’s life was grounded firmly in his family and in his Christian faith. His humility never wavered.
I first met Tony at the Republican convention in Dallas in 1984 when he was an editorial writer for the Detroit News. He struck me as smart, quite conservative, and amiable–but not someone soon to reach the highest levels of journalism and politics. Obviously I underestimated him.
Tony mastered the job of writing editorials before he came to Washington to work at the Washington Times. When he began writing a syndicated column, he quickly succeeded at that too. The fact is Tony was a very good writer. He knew how to make a point succinctly but powerfully.
Handsome and notably well spoken, Tony went where most ink-stained wretches don’t even dream of going. He was an anchor at Fox News Channel. He was the first host of Fox News Sunday. Later, he hosted a talk radio show. He was extremely popular on the speaking circuit.
But I think Tony will be especially remembered for something else: his time as White House press secretary for President Bush. Tony did the job differently. Most press secretaries are uninformative and defensive, none more so than Tony’s predecessor, Scott McClellan. Reporters grow to dislike them, at least at a professional level.
During some of the toughest days of the Bush presidency, Tony was on offense. He not only could articulate and explain Bush’s foreign and domestic policies, he could promote them. At the pressroom podium, Tony was an ardent and effective polemicist. When reporters argued with him, they usually lost. Yet Tony was so nice and civil and informative that the press hounds generally liked him while loathing his boss.
After 20-plus years of writing columns and yapping on TV, Tony knew a lot. He knew much more about policy and politics and the ideological wars in Washington than the vast majority of the reporters covering the White House. He had thought through and come to (mostly conservative) conclusions about nearly everything on the agenda. This gave him a distinct advantage. More often than not, he was a step ahead of the reporters.
Tony was press secretary during the darkest days of the Bush presidency. The Iraq war had turned into a sectarian bloodbath in 2006, but Tony understood how critical Iraq was to winning the war on terror and transforming the Middle East. He defended the president’s Iraq policy before and after the surge, never blinking or backing down. He was better at this than the president was.
In his professional life, Tony was sometimes disorganized, and sheepish when that caused a problem. When several of us in journalism started a bi-weekly Bible study, Tony signed up but came, as I best I can recall, only once. It turned out the Bible study had to go to him.
Jerry Leachman, who taught a lesson at each session, would meet one-on-one with Tony at his office or talk to him on the phone whether Tony was in Washington or off somewhere to give a speech. Tony was always accessible and eager to talk about his faith, just not at regularly scheduled times.
When Tony left the White House, I thought he might be ready to leave journalism behind and join the world of elective politics. A good place to start, I suggested to him, would be to run for the U.S. Senate seat in Virginia being vacated by Republican John Warner. He would have made a terrific candidate. He had all the right traits. And he was bound to be more likeable and knowledgeable than his opponent.
Tony seemed flattered, but he wasn’t interested. There were his wife and three kids to think of. He needed to make up for time lost with them while he worked at the White House. He needed to build up the family nest egg. He must have known his days might be numbered, and there were far more important things for him to do than run for office.
Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
