Tony Snow, RIP

The first time I spoke with Tony Snow, he was the newly-minted host of "Fox News Sunday," I was the newly-minted television critic of the Star, and KPHN afternoon host Mike Shanin was kind enough to invite me to stay for an additional segment so I could join in his weekly chat with Snow, who was phoning in from Washington. Tony stayed on the line for what strikes me now as an inordinately long time to be talking to an AM radio station in Kansas City. Only later did I learn that "Fox News Sunday" was (and might still be) the top-rated Sunday morning public affairs show in our market, thanks in no small part to the signal strength of WDAF-TV.

"That's Nirvana to us," Snow told me later. "Here in Washington we come on after Dr. James Kennedy and before an infomercial."

That was Tony. He was the soft-sell salesguy, quick with a quip and ready to win you over by charm, a quality that — let's just say — the Fox News operation can never have too much of. I've been reading and listening to the tributes to the former White House press secretary, who died after his last defenses against the colon cancer that had stalked him for years finally collapsed Saturday morning. And a lot of them talk about what an upbeat presence he brought to the daily press briefings. What a contrast he was to the bland apologetics of Scott McClellan. And how Tony reversed the dynamics in the room by engaging the President's critics rather than just steering clear of them.

I don't think Tony's getting enough credit, though, for an even more thankless task, which is getting Fox News off the ground on its broadcast stations. The rise of Fox News Channel is now the stuff of legend, and as much as its hosts irritate me, this ability to define and capture an audience is something that only a few cable channels have really pulled off: ESPN, Lifetime, Nick, Fox News. But broadcast was a different kettle of fish. Fox local stations do Fox local news. Crime, fires, accidents, did-you-knows and way too much celebrity news. Tony knew this. He knew he was being shoehorned into a crazy quilt of programs on most affiliates. He knew that politicians were wary of entrusting themselves to a news network that saw itself as the adversary, not just rival, of all other news networks.

And yet, he was able to build the brand. "We've had less and less difficulty getting guests on," he told me in 1998. "They know they're not going to get ambushed or sandbagged, and they know that if they do what they're supposed to do, they're going to wind up on someone's front page the next day."

Also, with his longtime presence in Washington, Snow was a known quantity. He had cut his teeth at one of the few safe havens for conservatives among mainstream papers, the editorial page of the Detroit News. Then he went to the Washington Times, the new newspaper started by Sun Myung Moon's people, and presided over their amazing Commentary section. With its artful, dramatic illustrations and unfiltered, lively conservative columns, the Times — I think it's safe to say — helped reshape op-ed pages around the country long before the Internet did.

Of course, television and the White House brought him unparalleled fame, but I think they did not feature him at his best. Radio, with its huge maw of time to fill, was better suited to Tony Snow. And so was print. Here is one of the last pieces he wrote for the Times in 1990, before leaving the Times to work for Bush 41 as a speechwriter:

In death, as in life, Ryan White can't get a fair shake. The 18-year-old AIDS victim died last Sunday, and before St. Peter had time to fit him for wings, opportunists elbowed and nudged their way through the throng of mourners, posed beside his shroud and boasted solemnly of the kindnesses they offered (in strictest confidence) to the young man. ... Most of these people had no more right to issue declarations than you or I, yet there they were, helping promote the sort of ignorance and opportunism that made Ryan White a star and a martyr.

... Some AIDS activists used Ryan White to bolster their contention that AIDS could strike anyone. Never mind that the youngster had no chance to catch "heterosexual AIDS" or that his case was unique enough that few people would have to worry about suffering his identical fate. Ryan White was turned into a political pawn. By blurring the facts of his case, some people hoped to blur the general discussion of AIDS, to convert what ought to be considered a public health problem into a civil-rights crusade.

It's easy to commit this kind of propaganda in a media age. All you need is a compelling, "average" victim, the capacity to scare the wits out of the witless and a few people who can speak in complete sentences before a running television camera. Combine these ingredients and you can create a temporary boomlet for social action. AIDS activists, for instance, hoped to secure more money for AIDS research along with "civil rights" bills that grant to AIDS victims rights that no one else enjoys, such as the right not to let anyone, even doctors and nurses who might be at risk of catching the disorder, know the victim suffers from AIDS. The irony here is that such a "civil right" might five years ago have prevented people from testing AIDS-contaminated blood.

So it comes full circle. Ryan White had been used to promote an agenda that could endanger innocents like him. That's sick. But then, the treatment of people as ends, rather than as individuals invested with innate dignity, tends to produce sick results. ...

While a few celebrities, notably Elton John, actually treated Ryan White like a human being and stayed by his side during his toughest times, many seemed to think of him as a kind of glorified hand puppet, good for a sound bite or a bit of mock sympathy, a prop by which a withered soul could make contact with real people.

Ryan White deserves dignity in death, and he deserves honest remembrance. Afflicted with an arbitrary disease and an even more arbitrary community, he faced his situation with the kind of honesty that will intimidate even the most hardened media consultant. He tried to demythologize the disease that killed him and to encourage people's natural compassion for others in desperate, frightening need.

Even if you don't agree entirely with his politics — pretty thoughtful, don't you think? And obviously, in hindsight Tony was telegraphing how he'd react to his own cruel battle with a fatal disease.

On TV, he did (as someone pointed out today) get engaged in these unusually circuitous discussions that were probably more fit for radio than the tube. But Tony, as the quote above points out, was not a big believer in the gotcha. You know, we did a lot of eulogizing of Tim Russert, and some people noted that Tim did really, really like the gotcha question (though he told me and many other journalists that he really didn't).

Tony's weak point was the prompter, which he relied on when he opened "Fox News Sunday" and delivered his closing comment. I always thought he should just read his comments off pieces of paper because it looked no less obvious than his prompter reading. Plus, it would remind viewers that Tony had committed these words to paper, and as writers for news television programs go, Tony had no peer. I'm thinking of the handful of commentators who read their own words on TV. Keith Olbermann's rants are high-wire acts and pretty entertaining, but just speaking about prose styles, I much preferred Tony's ability to invoke God, country, and our better angels in a few economical lines at the end of "Fox News Sunday."

Because I'm in L.A. covering press tour, I was not able to jump in and write an obit for Tony Snow. I have surveyed a little bit of the media coverage of his death, and I am sure that comparisons to the coverage of Tim Russert's death are no doubt being written as I write this. Fair enough. But if I could ask members of the media — please stop writing and talking about how Tony was not "always in possession of the facts." I just heard a panelist on CNN's "Late Edition" say this, and the tough obituary from the AP said it more than once. On "Fox News Sunday," Rush Limbaugh complained about people harping on Snow's supposed playing fast and loose with the truth, and even though I know Rush would not be Rush if he wasn't complaining about something, I've with him on this one. People, he was a press secretary. And as all know from Scott McClellan's book, press secretaries aren't in full possession of the facts because press secretaries aren't GIVEN all the facts. And everybody knows it! We know the Washington press corps can't wait to get rid of this President and start gnawing on a new one. But Tony did about as well at that job as anyone's going to do in our 24/7 era. And he did it with a smile and a spring in his step.

Indeed, the conservative movement has lost two of its happiest warriors in recent months: Bill Buckley and now Tony Snow. It's never a good time for a good man to die, but for me, it's an especially poignant note to what has been a most lugubrious period for those whose idealism and enthusiasm for politics were first tapped, like Tony's was, 30 years ago by Ronald Reagan.

One last note. The part that I have to say really go to me in the tributes to Tony was whenever they mentioned that he had left the White House to go on the lecture circuit to raise money for his family. Money that he thought they would need ... when he was gone. How can you not get a lump in your throat hearing that?

Listen: Chip Franklin and I remember Tony Snow on KOGO Radio:

KOGO_20080714.mp3

Comments

[Fred Farrar]

What a superb and thoughtful tribute to Tony Snow, Aaron.

I know you would have found yourself on the other side of most political discussions with him, but as you obviously discovered, Tony was a brilliant, caring, wonderful man.

It seems to me the country might have been far better off the past 12 years or so if we had just appointed Tim Russert and Tony Snow to represent our diverse political views and hammer out, with wit and comity, some effort to deal with the problems so many politicians seem to scurry away from.

The political discourse is far worse off for his early departure.

[Matthew Hoffman]

An excellent and thoughtful tribute. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

[Judy]

What a beautiful article. I am heartbroken over his death. Our country lost a treasure.

[Janice Golly]

Tony Snow was the consumate professional and gentleman--always with a smile. I first heard him when he subbed on the radio for Rush--and loved his voice. When I actually saw him on Fox News, I loved his looks, too, along with a bright and honest personality--a person who could be trusted to give us his sincere viewpoint. Why do the good die young? Only God knows, but I believe Tony was ready to meet Him. We'll miss you, Tony!

[Danielle]

This is a wonderful tribute to a man who I have always really respected. I will miss seeing Tony Snow and hearing his wise perspective. Thank-you for this.