Another high-ranking Bush loyalist will be packing his desk soon: Press Secretary Tony Snow will be standing down, effective September 14. He’ll be replaced by his deputy and regular fill-in, Dana Perino
Unlike with many recent exits, there’s less likely to be something suspicious about his exit. With the return of his colon cancer, the flack has looked increasingly strained and drained in recent months. More intriguingly, he recently told right-wing talkshow host Hugh Hewitt that he may have to stand down for financial reasons.
Perino becomes the fourth press secretary to the Bush administration. First there was Ari Fleischer, that rarity in the Bush era in that he wasn’t just a loyal Bushy. Although he’d served as deputy communications director for George H.W. Bush‘s 1992 reelection campaign, he’d decided to become a Beltway Warrior and run press matters for Libby Dole‘s failed presidential primary run. He was also knee-deep, let no-one forget, in Plamegate.
Then there was Austinite Scott McClellan: a man referred to by an acquaintance of Chronic’s (who knew him from his days on his mother Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s early campaigns) as “pretty unimpressive … and not that bright.” When Snow replaced McClellan, there was a sigh of comparative relief. While the press corps expected to be fed the same lines, at least the former Fox News man understood the rules of the game.
Now there’s Perino, who has already become a YouTube dream. See here or here or here for evidence. To think, watching these, that once press secretaries were among the smartest members of the cabinet. President Kennedy used his press man, Pierre Salinger, to mount quiet discussions with Russia over nuclear policies. Plus ca change … plus ca change.
This article appears in August 31 • 2007.
