Tony Snowisms
The Wit and Wisdom of White House Press Secretary Tony Snow
By Daniel Kurtzman, About.com Guide
"Oh, my goodness, it's a silly question." --White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, asked if President Bush
should have done differently with respect to North Korea
"I hate to tell you, but it's not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill and there have been other scandals as you know that have been more than simply naughty e-mails." --White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, downplaying the
Mark Foley pedophilia scandal
"Well, thank you for the Hezbollah view." –-White House Press Secretary Tony Snow to Helen Thomas, after the longtime White House reporter asked why the U.S. had vetoed an Arab-backed U.N. resolution
"We think it's important that, in doing that, they try to limit as much as possible the so-called collateral damage, not only on civilians but also on human lives." –-White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, on Israel's conflict with Lebanon
"Helen, will you stop heckling and let me conduct a press conference... Well no, I'm making an argument, and you're, you're pestering the teacher." --White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, to veteran reporter Helen Thomas (
Watch video clip)
"Because he wanted to." –White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, after being asked why Transportation Secretary Norm Minetta resigned
"It's a number." --White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, on the U.S. military death toll in Iraq reaching the 2,500 milestone
"I need to get a more precise definition." --White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, asked to define civil rights after he said banning gay marriage was a civil rights issue
"Having said that, I don't want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program." --White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, on the NSA phone database, in his first White House briefing (
Watch video clip)