Tony Snow eats Crow (lol)

[tbone]

LOL, posted today and taken from an old article Tony Snow wrote on Clinton's use of Executive Privilege. Talk about hypocritical, now he's defending it:

Originally posted: March 21, 2007
Snow swallows own old words
Posted by Mark Silva at 10:10 am CDT

"What kinds of conversations does executive privilege protect?…What are the limits on privilege?'' a newspaper columnist wrote in the spring of 1998 on a subject strangely familiar today.

"Evidently, Mr. Clinton wants to shield virtually any communications that take place within the White House compound on the theory that all such talk contributes in some way, shape or form to the continuing success and harmony of an administration,'' the columnist wrote. "Taken to its logical extreme, that position would make it impossible for citizens to hold a chief executive accountable for anything.''

"Sounds like you're reading an old column of mine,'' Tony Snow, the Bush administration's press secretary, said today, readily recognizing his nine-year-old words read back to him at a morning press gaggle in which Snow was arguing for Bush's right to protect the internal deliberations of his White House staff.

In March 1998, Snow wrote for the Detroit News, in which this column about a president's over-reaching assertions of executive privilege appeared. Today, he is press secretary for another president confronting an aggressive Congress. It's a different situation, Snow insisted today.

With credit to Olivier Knox of Agence France-Presse for a deft piece of document research, here is a copy of the column that Snow published in the Detroit News on March 29, 1998:

"From Day One, the chief challenge facing this White House has been to place maximum distance between Bill Clinton and his behavior. That strategy has succeeded, but only with the help of mighty assaults on our common sense.

"In order to exonerate the chief, aides have made fantastic claims: that they lied to their personal diaries, that Velcro-brained lawyers couldn't recall crucial incidents, that files vanished or moved from one place to another as if by magic, that scores of people with nothing to gain from lying nevertheless perjured themselves, and that this contagion of amnesia, sloppiness and venality was just the gosh darnedest series of coincidences ever witnessed by man or beast.

"The wall of separation between Mr. Clinton and his deeds remains strong because minions have stuck to their alibis. But now comes an episode in which the Man from Hope stands alone. It is his recent attempt to claim executive privilege for counselors Bruce Lindsey and Sidney Blumenthal and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Mr. Clinton can't blame his lawyers for this latest feint. He alone can assert the privilege. The maneuver places him at the heart of his administration's ongoing effort to use executive privilege as a way of concealing the truth about whether the president exposed himself. It is almost impossible to think of this as anything but a tactic to delay independent counsel Kenneth Starr long enough for James Carville and other red-ant assailants to nibble at Mr. Starr and pump as much venom as possible into the political system.

"Consider the key issues:

. "Is the first lady subject to privilege?

"The White House argued during the health-care debacle that Mrs. Clinton wasn't a"special government employee" but just an outsider with superhuman endowments of civic virtue.

"But a president can't use privilege to shield someone who doesn't work for him, so the White House must have reversed itself and declared Mrs. Clinton a bona fide official. Unfortunately, that is against the law. The so-called Kennedy rule, drafted after Robert Kennedy served as his brother's attorney general, prohibits presidents from hiring relatives in top positions.

"Mrs. Clinton may be stronger and more influential today than ever before. But that still isn't good enough to qualify her as a candidate for coverage by executive privilege.

. "What kinds of conversations does executive privilege protect?

"The courts have said a president generally can shield communications that reveal fundamental deliberative processes. That includes communications between aides as they try to develop recommendations for their boss.

"But protected conversations involve predictable categories: military, diplomatic or national security secrets or law-enforcement activities. Jurists haven't found a constitutional writ for protecting damage-control meetings involving allegations of infidelity. So unless Monica Lewinsky were secretly advising the president on nuclear proliferation or the tobacco deal, the assertion of privilege seems highly suspect.

. "What are the limits on privilege?

"Earlier in this administration, then-White House legal counsel Lloyd Cutler decreed that the White House never would assert privilege in the face of a criminal investigation. He merely was reiterating long-standing executive-branch policy along those lines. President Ronald Reagan didn't invoke privilege in Iran-contra, and neither did President George Bush.

"But precedent is gone, and Mr. Clinton wants to protect conversations about a chubby intern from Hollywood. In so doing, he becomes the first president since Richard Nixon to use executive privilege in a criminal inquiry.

"Evidently, Mr. Clinton wants to shield virtually any communications that take place within the White House compound on the theory that all such talk contributes in some way, shape or form to the continuing success and harmony of an administration. Taken to its logical extreme, that position would make it impossible for citizens to hold a chief executive accountable for anything. He would have a constitutional right to cover up.

"Chances are that the courts will hurl such a claim out, but it will take time.

"One gets the impression that Team Clinton values its survival more than most people want justice and thus will delay without qualm. But as the clock ticks, the public's faith in Mr. Clinton will ebb away for a simple reason: Most of us want no part of a president who is cynical enough to use the majesty of his office to evade the one thing he is sworn to uphold the rule of law.''

The Swamp - Chicago Tribune - Blogs.

[Scrum]

I was going to post this late last night. Funny how these guys change their tune.


Reminds me of the Delay quote where he said you could support the troops without supporting the president.

[DosEquis]

"it was a different situation"

He was hiding his blow job, not redoing our justice system so that it fits our political agenda... SO much more important

[garbagemanlb]

God I love this administration. So pathetic.

[JaJae]

He kind of responds to this here:
CBS News Video - Top Stories and Video News Clips at CBSNews.com

He also responded to it at his press conference yesterday. I saw it on C-Span.

[Pro Street]

Originally Posted by JaJae

He kind of responds to this here:
CBS News Video - Top Stories and Video News Clips at CBSNews.com

He also responded to it at his press conference yesterday. I saw it on C-Span.

Question.. if the firing wasn't discussed with the President as Snow stated yesterday, exactly what part of Executive Privilege applies?

[RMNIXON]

[Pro Street]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

my question has nothing to do with Clinton.

what part of executive privilege applies to Rove if this did not involve Bush?

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Pro Street

my question has nothing to do with Clinton.

what part of executive privilege applies to Rove if this did not involve Bush?

Not you Pro Street, the post. We don't compare and contrast the record here. I don't recall if you defended this argument so it has no reflection on you or your post. But I did warn I would bring these new principles of debate up again.

[RMNIXON]

P.S. I quote when commenting on a specific post unless it is very obvious what I am talking about.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Pro Street

Question.. if the firing wasn't discussed with the President as Snow stated yesterday, exactly what part of Executive Privilege applies?

Good question. I don't know?

I do know the Executive Privilege is used so that advisors can speak freely with the President or Executive Branch Staff on the matter of advice without it being subject to review by other branches of government.

[Pro Street]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

Good question. I don't know?

I do know the Executive Privilege is used so that advisors can speak freely with the President or Executive Branch Staff on the matter of advice without it being subject to review by other branches of government.

right, as long as it is with the President.

I think Snow really made a mistake when he made that claim, so now the Bush administration would have to either say that Bush was involved in the decision (which would be another lie in 2 days) or that he wasn't and Rove would need to testify under oath.

[motivez]

Funny stuff. Is there any bounds to this Administrations hypocrisy?

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by motivez

Funny stuff. Is there any bounds to this Administrations hypocrisy?

Certainly there is no bounds to hypocrisy even when the argument is "it is out of bounds."

[ballz2wallz]

Why is Tony Snow considered 'this administration'? He's hired to give press conferences. I doubt he's asked to give his personal feelings; he's hired to tell the press what the White House wants them to be told.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

Why is Tony Snow considered 'this administration'? He's hired to give press conferences. I doubt he's asked to give his personal feelings; he's hired to tell the press what the White House wants them to be told.

I think the white house was knew he had a history as a political commentator and it would come back to bite him at some point. But what do you expect? He is the Whitehouse mouthpiece. If you watch CNN or Fox you should know that everytime you see someone introduced as a party spokesperson for either party you know you will get the spin, not the honest opinion. Don't be stupid!

[northhunter]

When Snow tells Charlie he's sounding more like a partisan than a reporter I almost spit out my coffee. About time somebody called those pompus asses when they are pretending to report the news.

[Pro Street]

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

Why is Tony Snow considered 'this administration'? He's hired to give press conferences. I doubt he's asked to give his personal feelings; he's hired to tell the press what the White House wants them to be told.

Because he is the voice of the Executive Branch. That's his job... you answered your own question.