Tony Snow, 1955-2008

Tony Snow, former White House Press Secretary, radio talk show host and Fox News pundit, has died of colon cancer at the young age of 53: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,381250,00.html. Snow always seemed like a good and decent man, an impression of mine that seems to have been echoed by everyone who knew and met him. He had a tough job as the White House Press Secretary, but he did it with zeal and a twinkle in his eye.

Rest in peace, Tony, and cue the inevitable hatefest at the Daily Kos and Huffington Post.......

Some early morning examples of the love from the Daily Kos:

"Yes, let us all be hypocrites, and speak well of Snow. The man was an unapologetic liar, and helped send American troops to die in a war that should never have been fought. No matter what else he did. Cancer is kinder than what he gave to so many."

"if you know that in life your role was an alienating character on the world stage to half the listeners, wouldn't you kind of expect not to be remembered well when you left the stage?
And I don't think Tony really cares at the moment, nor did he when he was at the microphone."

"Hard to reconcile the two, can sit in church all day and then go to your job where you spread deceit and disinformation. Make me think one of these lives was a lie.
Sorry, I hope his family and friends get past this as smoothly as possible, but I had a real problem with this guy."

"Just saying, to me your diary made him seem like a real scumbag - i.e., spreading death and destruction at the behest of the Bush Cabal, not because he actually believed in it, instead, it was just his job.

I will leave it to the reader to do their own search on "the banality of evil" . . .

And of course somebody's friends will find good in them - for crying out loud, that's why they're their friends!"

"Yes, he was a hatemonger. Everytime anyone of of any notoriety dies we must weep the tragedy of death. Thousands of people die every hour, I would rather salute those who have lived the truth and lived wiht honor rather than this vile hate merchant. I listened to his Friday O'Reilly substitute on the radio and he was all hate. Just a month ago he was trying to argue that every thug should be calling Barack with his middle name. He was doing the Wright rehash, and mocking Obama's patriotism and bringing up every thug talking point. Sadly, there are other thug Snow replacement haters lining up to fill his hateful boots."

"Jesse Helms gets no compassion. Neither does Snow. No difference. I always remind myself of how different America would be today if Snow and co were doing their hateful thing during the civil rights and jim crow era in the 40's, 50's and 60's. Would we have had the same change, or would it have been suppressed and codified into our laws instead?

My compassion is not for Snow. I salute him in the same way as I diaried Helms. I will pour a beer on your grave, Snow, but not before it has been filtered through my kidneys."

"If it's any comfort to you, colon cancer is a horrendous, painful way to die. The suffering he went through is a pretty thorough kind of karma for his past misdeeds."

"I had an uncle who died 20 years ago. He trained his german sheperd to attack blacks and hippies in the 60's. he would bring up klan and other hate filled derogatory racist lies at the drop of a hat. He loved me. He died. I felt nothing, as I could never reconcile his terrible beliefs. My mother and father understood my indifference and respected it. After all these years, I still feel he was a wrongful hate merchant whose passing I did not dwell on. Same with Snow."

"On the one hand, I appreciate the reminder that even Bush cronies have friends who will mourn their deaths.

On the other hand, we do choose our work in this country. And our employers."

"You know, maybe he didn't even know what he was doing.
Consider for example, a locomotive engineer who drove a train from Berlin to Auschwitz a couple times a week.

In the evenings, he'd have a beer with his friends, on Sunday he'd take his family to church, where everyone loved him because of his wonderful singing in the choir.

The next day, it'd be back to driving the train to Auschwitz. It was just his job to keep the coal shoveled into the boiler and the steam pressure up, heck, he didn't even know what the train's cargo was. That was not his concern.

He couldn't possibly have been a bad person, could he?"

"We did know him because people are judged on their deeds and actions, not on whether they are good friends to people in their private lives.

Tony Snow was the voice of the Bush administration. He shilled for their policies and spun their lies and half-truths in order to prop up an illegal war and an outrageously unethical and even criminal administration.

His friends and family are free to remember the Tony Snow they want to remember. I, as a citizen, however, am free to remember Tony Snow as a man who brought harm to this nation and its citizens."

"And Snow was the frontman for these atrocities... His death at an early age makes a case for the existence of Karma.

Yours in Justice, Celtic Merlin

Bush & McCain - as inseparable as Shit & Stink."

"Well...Jesse Helms treated his dogs well and went to church regularly, so Like Tony, we must ignore the evil he championed."

"Sorry for his family..but..I will shed no tears for anyone who was part of the death of 1000's of our own if Iraq and Afghanistan.."

"Many People Grow Wiser From Cancer, Tony probably not so much. He was probably sneering and smirking right to the end, and proud of his strength for doing so."

"There's a new Snowball in Hell today."

"Dying does not equal redemption - at least here. If you choose to support those who are doing evil, and even try to deceive others about it, you too are doing evil. By dying, one doesn't automatically erase the bad acts they did in life. Maybe people can redeem themselves in some afterlife, but I believe you've got to do the right thing while you're here. And I don't believe we owe any debt of sympathy or compassion to this man, and what he has done."

" NO EULOGY HERE. I can't join with you uys in the faux mourning of this cat.
Good riddance. Oh well."

Here are a couple of voices in the wilderness:

"I think judge not, lest yea be judged is a good policy, guys. By all accounts Tony Snow was a decent man in his private life. In his public life he fought for the beliefs he believed in, even if we despise them. That does not make him a horrible man. If he himself committed a crime then he should of been arrested, but simply working for the Bush administration does not make you a bad man. I am sorry to see him go, and pray for his friends and family."

" Cancer is such a brutally horrible disease. My prayers to Tony Snow's family and friends."

UPDATE (9:43 a.m., July 13, 2008): Still MORE love out of the Daily Kos! It can be found here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/12/9943/75678/728/550496. This is why the Angry Left is what it is......