Tony Snow Meets Jamil Hussein, Hits Media Coverage of Iraq

When the president's press secretary returns to his roots in talk radio, he speaks more bluntly than he does in the White House briefing room. Yesterday he disappeared AP's disputed source (again) and suggested that he's ready to fight a new "media war" -- or is that a war against the media?

By Greg Mitchell

NEW YORK (January 12, 2007) -- Tony Snow is a smooth operator, no doubt. When Chris Matthews on "Hardball" yesterday called him the best White House press secretary since Eisenhower's guy, James C. Hagerty, he probably meant that he was photogenic, cool under pressure, and spun a good line -- in contrast to his predecessor, Scott McClellan.

But Snow, after all, is a former radio talk show and Fox News host who once freely expressed very conservative positions. He holds back now, except when he is interviewed by friendly radio hosts, so it's always interesting to follow what he says in those settings (the same was true for Donald Rumsfeld).