Yup. It’s official — breaking now.
Fox News bobblehead and occasional Rush Limbaugh substitute host Tony Snow has agreed to take Scotty McClellan’s position as White House spokesman. CNN has the full story.
I like this part:
GOP sources said that before agreeing to take the post Snow had sought and received assurances from Bolten and other senior White House officials that he would be an active participant in major policy debates and would have a significant say in hiring in the press and communications operations.
Yeah, right. You’re in for a big surprise, Tony, if you think they’re going to let you buck the system.
REACTIONS: Sully wonders how Snow is going to reconcile his new position with Snow’s recent attacks on Bush (i.e., huge deficit-running government spending).
Powerline is happy because Tony Snow reasds their blog.
And Media Matters scrutinizes Snow’s disregard for things like, oh, facts.
I thought this notion that Tony Snow might be made White House press secretary was, you know, a joke. A joke about Fox News being a GOP propaganda outlet, about Snow’s lack of ethics, etc. Apparently, no one was kidding. It’s honestly pretty surreal.
As a professional journalist, Tony Snow understands the importance of the relationship between government and those whose job it is to cover the government.
Yes, I’m sure having worked at Fox, he’s well aware of the special relationship between government and the media who “cover” the government.