The optimism of Tony Snow

His deep Christian faith combined with his natural exuberance to give him an upbeat world view.

And yet he was with his optimism, faith and good cheer able to shill without reservation for an administration who only four or five blog posts ago is identified as an unrepentant (and apparently none too selective) serial torturer!

I know that you didn't write the tribute. I note who did...a greasy little court scribe who helped enable...with his relentless faux intellectualism...policies that you found so offensive just yesterday...and find myself growing tired of tributes to these kinds of men.

Rod, this is, indeed, a lovely tribute, and, from my perspective, well-deserved. But as much as I enjoyed reading it, I wonder at your motivation for posting it. I am one of the few readers on the previous Tony Snow blog who had anything nice to say about the guy (despite the fact that those who actually KNEW him – from both sides of the political divide – have roundly praised him as a man and a professional). If you honestly agree (and you seem to) with the growing majority of your readership that the Bush administration is irredeemably corrupt and unrepentantly evil, then what's your motivation for posting this tribute (by WIlliam Kristol, no less) to their former press secretary, a man who apparently believed in what they stand for? I would hate to think that you're using this man's death as way of fomenting the hatred that your last Tony Snow post stirred up in most of your readers (for the sake of getting hits?). I found the comments on that thread shocking and deeply saddening, and I just can't see what good can come of starting another such thread here.

I hope I never end up like either of you: unable to show the least bit of humanity, mercy or grace to a man who, whatever his faults, faced his death bravely and with good cheer. You are no better than the conservatives who chortled over the news that Ted Kennedy has brain cancer. How miserable it must be to live with such ideologically-driven bitterness.

Posted by: Rod Dreher | July 14, 2008 8:50 AM

Hear, hear, Rod! I now understand why you posted the tribute, and hereby withdraw my question above. I'm sorry I doubted you.

I hope I never end up like either of you: unable to show the least bit of humanity, mercy or grace to a man who, whatever his faults, faced his death bravely and with good cheer. You are no better than the conservatives who chortled over the news that Ted Kennedy has brain cancer. How miserable it must be to live with such ideologically-driven bitterness.

Rod, I'll bet you can tell us a lot about living with ideologically-driven bitterness, as some of your blog posts fairly ooze with bitterness. Again, I don't wish death by cancer on anyone, and I'm certainly not chortling here. Since you don't eulogize every political figure or celebrity who shuttles off, you shouldn't be surprised when someone recognizes the obvious partisanship in your choices.

Thousands of people die every day. Some die in peace, surrounded by friends, family and the best modern medicine has to offer, eulogized for their bravery and good cheer. Some die in slow agony, unnoticed and unmourned beneath a pile of rubble. They're all humans, deserving of the same 'humanity, mercy and grace.' Yet we choose those we wish to remember. Our choices say something about us.

How miserable it must be to live with such ideologically-driven bitterness. - Rod

How miserable it must be to be an Iraqi who has seen his/her parents, or wife, or husband, or children murdered by forces set loose by Bush's war. As you said here, "the blood of Iraqis will stain our nation": blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/03/after-iraq-is-over.html

How miserable it must be to be an innocent man, living in prison for years for something he did not do, and tortured for information he does not have. You've written about torture quite often, most recently here: blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/07/the-enemy-is-us.html

How miserable it must be to be an American soldier who comes back, receives no help for PTSD, and kills himself. Like the soldier you wrote about here: blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/07/sgt-dwyer-rip.html

Rod, no doubt Tony Snow was a kind and decent man on a personal level. The same could be said for many members and apologists of this administration. But you are being very inconsistent and disingenuous when you write not one but two blog posts praising Snow, after writing so much about your anger and contempt for the administration he chose to serve. You just can't have it both ways.

You use the phrase "whatever his faults." Whatever his faults? Serving an administration you consider to be perniciously evil, an administration that has tortured innocent people (not that "innocence" should matter), an administration that unleashed an unnecessary war and then criminally mismanaged the resulting occupation, leading to untold inconceivable death and suffering, an administration that has ruined the lives of so many American soldiers and families - this is how Tony Snow finished his professional career, speaking for that very administration with lots of "optimism."

I think you're playing games. You claim to be so upset about Bush and the damage he has done, but then Snow dies and you praise his fundamental decency. Spare us.

The commenters you disparage are merely holding your feet to the fire. Why act so surprised? You entitle this post, "The Optimism of Tony Snow," and then you begin the post with this sentence: "A lovely tribute by Bill Kristol." Are you joking? Bill Kristol, who eagerly sought this war and now wants one with Iran? Are you intentionally being provocative? Aren't you begging for people to flood the comments with vituperation?

Tony Snow has died. That is a tragedy, and he was a good and decent man. But the next Iraqi child who dies in the desert, as his family migrates to Syria, won't receive any press. If Tony Snow were alive, and still serving the Bush administration, what would he have said about such a child? What would he have said about the family who lost the child? Would he have acknowledged that the Bush administration bears some responsibility? My guess is, he would have been "optimistic" about how things are turning out.

Yes, it's all politics, all the time. Let's never allow for a moment of simple humanity to get in the way of our determination to hate. What a wonderful way to go through life.

It must be hard to live so twisted by bitterness and hate as many commenters to this blog are.

My thats an awful lot to assume from a simple blog post. I only wish that I could see so deeply into ones soul from only a few paragraphs! My real issue isn't that Mr. Snow has passed or that he was dignified in his passing, its that one mouthpiece for power feels compelled to go crazy in lionizing another mouthpiece for power when he departs! I suspect that if Mr. Snow could now be impressed upon to respond to the eulogy penned by Kristol he would feel feel more than a bit embarrassed by it! This is the Russert eulogy writ small.

Tony Snow was not. He was optimistic, kind, and a true conservative who was loved and respected by people on both sides of the political spectrum.

Yes, yes I'm sure! A prince among men! Using his god given talents as a conservative pundit and speaker to enable a profoundly un-conservative action; an unnecessary war that is staining you, me and our fellow Americans (Ann, I assume you're an American) in much the same way that the Germans were stained by the actions of the Third Reich! I have no doubts that he was loved by those on either side of the political spectrum, because ultimately it is politics that is important above all things to them. You're right Ann, he is not "fundamentally evil" but his actions facilitate evil actions on the parts of others.

P.S. I have no "Daily KOS" friends. I don't visit the site.

Ann, I do not have "Daily Kos friends." I am a conservative, and until recently a Republican.

I give up. You and Rod don't get it. I have no "determination to hate." I don't hate Snow. I watched him, once read him (including some of those articles in that archive you linked to), and respected him prior to his becoming a spokesman for this administration. I am saddened by his passing, but will not allow the tragedy of his death to obscure the choice he made to serve this administration.

Truth be told, I don't hate Bush or Cheney either, but I want them held accountable.

This is a political and cultural blog. I am astonished that Rod, Ann, and other commenters can't understand what the big deal is here. My life is not twisted by bitterness and hate. I live a normal life, I have a wife and kids, I live in a nice home with good neighbors, and I have a tremendous amount to be thankful for. Meanwhile I am grieved by this terrible war that I once supported, and by the realization that people have been tortured in our country's name. Among many other things. But do I live a life of bitterness? Hardly.

Snow, in his own way, was an enabler of this administration. Ann says that "Tony Snow epitomized 'grace' and was 'given grace.'" How much grace was involved in speaking for an administration that waterboards people? "He believed in first things." Really? I don't recall him resigning in disgust at Bush's torture policy. Ironically, I'm sure he was "pro-life." How many innocent people have died in U.S. captivity in the past few years?

If I might make an inapt analogy, there were many people lionizing Jesse Helms for his goodness, decency, and ideology. I'm sure much of it was true. But he was also a racist bigot, truly a hateful man. For the most part, that was swept under the rug.

When you are a public figure, your personal decency and kindness should not protect you from criticism. There are plenty of people speaking well of Tony Snow, and that's fine. But on a blog that has been deeply critical of the Bush administration (and that has criticized other conservatives for failing to be critical), it is nothing short of bizarre to read these two posts about Snow, and then to hear that the resulting comments are proof of hate and bitterness. How many thousands of people have to die in this war before people like myself are allowed to be angry about it? When are we allowed to castigate the enablers? Frankly, I thought that Rod's change of heart about this war mirrored my own. But now, let's praise Tony Snow and his conservative values?

The next time Rod posts about a returning soldier who kills himself, I won't take him seriously when he wonders how Bush sleeps at night. In all honesty, I'm not sure I'll continue reading this blog any longer. I question whether Crunchy Con-ism has any consistent or legitimate meaning. If even someone like Rod fails to see the incongruity of 1) hating this war and rejecting this administration, and 2) praising Tony Snow's optimism and decency by quoting Bill Kristol, then maybe the conservative movement in this country really is over.

And Mark, I appreciate your comment. But I would never, ever protest at a funeral for someone who served. I have absolutely nothing against the people serving in Iraq (or anywhere else). I respect and admire them, and truly wish them the best. I have known people who served there. That includes a man whose wife divorced him when he was over there.

If I were at such a funeral as you described, I would be on the side of those keeping the protesters at a distance, to say the least. I've been to military funerals before, including my father-in-law's (who served in Korea).

There is a tremendous difference between protesting at a funeral, and writing comments on a political/cultural blog.

At the cemetery, a veteran of the Iraqi war was being buried. There were protesters protesting his burial, screaming invective while this man was being buried. Fortunately, another group was also present to keep the protesters at a distance. Don't know, why but the comments of some to the passing of Tony Snow brings this to mind.

The protest was likely led by the 'Reverend' Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, another, uh, unhinged 'Christian' who discredits his faith with his every utterance.

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Fish (and I assume the commenter at 2:04 pm is also fish?), kudos to you as well, and you are a fine writer.

Reaganite, I strongly doubt that anyone in Snow's family will be visiting this blog.

I do not need your advice to preserve in myself some semblance of decency. I believe my explanations speak for themselves.

"A lovely tribute by Bill Kristol." Perhaps Mr. Kristol could spare a moment and write a tribute to the orphans and widows of Iraq.

Many families are undoubtedly grieving because of this administration, Reaganite. Tony Snow chose to be this administration's spokesman. For that, he deserves criticism, even in death.

Bob: "No one's spitting on Snow's grave, just ...."

Bob, that is EXACTLY what you and "treebeard" and "fish" are doing. You guys have no class.

Good men can be mistaken in their principles and be on the wrong side -- yes, even some Germans -- and still have admirable qualities, and still be acting on principle. FWIW, I don't think Tony Snow was as mistaken as some of y'all do, but that's irrelevant -- there's more to the world, more to humanity, and more to morality, than white hats and black hats.

Posted by: pentamom | July 14, 2008 11:13 PM

Thank you, pentamom. Well said! And thank you for your brave confession that "I don't think Tony Snow was as mistaken as some of y'all do..." You're probably the first to admit that here in the land of the omniscient and self-righteous... the first to suggest that things aren't black and white and that good people can disagree about this war. You're also correct, of course, that your opinion about the war is irrelevant in this case. Your wisdom, humility and kindness are refreshing. Thank you.

Tony Snow was a great man. I used to watch Fox News Sunday every week when it started. I've heard a lot of good things about him. Its sad that he passed on at 55, but I'm sure he is at peace.