
 |
|
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
|
| |
Jewish World Review
July 16, 2008
/ 13 Tamuz 5768
Tony Snow: A remembrance
By
Paul Greenberg
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
We were hoping he could speak at our editorial writers' convention here in Little Rock this coming September. We had him down tentatively and what mortal can make plans that aren't tentative? as the speaker for our final dinner. He'd have been perfect. Having been commentator andnewsmaker at different times in his career, he knew both sides of the street.
Tony Snow had worked his way through various editorial writing slots from the Greensboro (N.C.) Record to the Detroit News to the Washington Times before becoming a fixture on the nightly news as White House press secretary. You wouldn't have known it by his ever-boyish manner, but he'd been around.
Tony said he'd try to make it to Little Rock, even though we both knew the chances were iffy; he'd already taken a couple of leaves of absence to fight his cancer. But you could tell he meant it. No one ever heard Tony say anything he didn't mean, except perhaps in wry jest.
Recalling his last appearance here, he added that Little Rock would always hold a special place in his affections. Years ago he'd agreed to take part in an event at Wildwood, our local arts center in the woods. It was another one of those seminars on the Fourth Estate and Its Role in American Society. I can barely remember what was said (it was all duly eloquent) but I'll never forget Tony's standing there alongside Arkansas' own Richard S. Arnold, the greatest jurist never to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court since Learned Hand.
What a contrast: Judge Arnold, who had the demeanor, learning and moderation of a wise old man even when he was a young one all of which he carried with a light grace was standing there next to Tony, who would remain the very picture of Young America even while the cancer and chemo took their toll on his appearance but never on his spirit.
Game was the word for Tony, whether he was playing with his band or taking on his next gig in the news business. Editorials, syndicated columns, Fox News, the White House ... he'd done it all.
Tony almost didn't make it to Wildwood that day. His flight was late (of course) and we were afraid we'd have to start with our star attraction stuck somewhere in traffic on I-630. The audience was already filling the place and the sound checks had begun. This was going to be embarrassing.
But a call to Little Rock's finest got him a police escort and so our guest arrived, siren wailing, with whole seconds to spare. When he loped up to the mike with that DiMaggio stride, his face was brimming with the smile of a little boy who'd just gotten a ride on the biggest, brightest, reddest fire truck you'd ever seen. That was Tony never fazed, always Happy to Be Here, wherever Here happened to be at the moment. I was sweating; he wasn't.
Now he's gone. At 53. Colon cancer. The news, however expected, still shocks. For his name brings back one youthful image after another. It's like going through a family album or watching a homemade film taken long ago and marveling at how young the subjects were. The difference with Tony was that he stayed young.
The first picture of him is one of the faces around a conference table at the Poynter Institute, a journalistic think tank in St. Petersburg. It was a conference for young editorial writers, and Tony didn't have much to say. But there was an unmistakable something in his eyes that let you know he was sizing you up, taking everything in, and when it came time to write a few sample editorials, his were clearly the best of the crop. By far. He'd got it.
His pieces were bright, sharp, focused opinion, unmarred by the superfluous. He used facts the way a swimmer uses a diving board. He didn't confuse writing an editorial with delivering a lecture. Cant would have been as alien to him as pomp or prudery. Or ill will.
The next image of him is running along the beach at St. Petersburg, slowing his pace to let an older guy keep up but not making a point of it. His long, elegant stride was matched by an understated elegance in his manner. I must have chugged along behind him on early-morning runs through half a dozen cities wherever the editorial writers were meeting that year.
Tony Snow was one of those people you could count on. In good times and times not so good. He added to the joy of life, but he was there to share your grief, too, when the inevitable struck. As he wrote to me after a great loss, getting it just right, as Tony had a way of doing: "I will miss her, but with a smile."
Adept was the word for Tony. Writers usually make clumsy speakers, worse anchormen, and impossible spokesmen for politicians. Tony was adept at it all. He made whatever he touched human, and his was a humanness of a particular, upbeat, American kind. When he signed on to be George W. Bush's press secretary, I feared for him. I knew he could never be a flack.
As it turned out, he wasn't. He humanized even the most political spot in the world, taking on a Washington press corps that needed taking on. What a contrast with his bumbling predecessor, one Scott McClellan. When Tony Snow took over the White House briefing room, it was the difference between murky night and shining day, intelligent loyalty and whatever its opposite is. (No-talent opportunism?)
A polemicist himself, Tony knew all the little tricks of a low trade, and wouldn't let the usual suspects get away with any of them. Most impressive of all, he made friends of those he was refuting. The untouchable press, it turned out, was touched. For who wouldn't be charmed by Tony? Or recognize the substance under the charm?
Now he is gone. Much too early. But whenever we'd lost him, it would have been too early. Tony said it: We will miss him, but with a smile.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Send your comments by clicking here.
Paul Greenberg Archives
© 2006 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Tony Blankley
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Alan Douglas
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
Marybeth Hicks
David Horowitz
Jeff Jacoby
Renee James
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Ben Wattenberg
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters

Mr. Know-It-All
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
Tech Maven
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|