White House Press Secretary Tony Snow became emotional during his first on-camera press briefing Tuesday when the topic turned to his battle with colon cancer, which also claimed his mother’s life.
“I had cancer last year,” Snow said when asked why he was wearing a yellow bracelet from fellow cancer survivor Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong Foundation.
“It’s going to sound stupid and I’ll be personal here, but having gone through this last year was the best thing that ever happened to me.” The former Fox News anchor choked up and fell silent in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, which was packed with more than 100 journalists, or twice the usual audience.
At length, Snow cracked one of several self-deprecating jokes to break the tension.
“It’s my Ed Muskie moment,” he said, referring to former Sen. Edmund Muskie, D-Maine, whose 1972 presidential campaign fizzled after he appeared to cry in front of the press in New Hampshire.
“I lost a mother to cancer when I was 17: same type, colon cancer,” Snow said.”And I feel every day’s a blessing.”
