Posted on 05/17/2006 9:13:23 AM PDT by dinasour
You asked in good faith.
I answered in good faith.
You responded as a troll.
If you don't like what we do, go somewhere else.
Whatever, namecaller.
Practice truth in advertising.
White House Press Briefing - Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Nowhere in that title does it say "Tony Snow Worship".
You mislead folks into clicking on a thread for news and then bombard them with idol worship.
Have a good evening, you are dismissed.
Tony has the Ronaldus Maximus gift of communication. It is like listening to his radio show with bad callers. He is probably the most effetive communicator of conservative ideas in the country who people can't help but like.
Hope everything is going well :)
I suggest you read something else, you probably aren't going to like it much here. But we like it fine. :-)
We've been hanging out together for awhile, talking about stuff, singing Tony's praises. If that's not what you're interested in, no problem. Luckily, Jim has lots of threads for people to pick and choose.
Pinz
>It is like listening to his radio show with bad callers.
One can't imagine a better training ground for dealing with usless negativism: being a radio talk show host and being a FReeper.
Take factories from China and put them in Mexico? LOL!
I think Tony answered the "Amnesty question" pretty good, IMO.
>Take factories from China and put them in Mexico? LOL!
I think that's a great idea. Less shipping and if it worked, people would be crossing the border in the other direction.
The problem is, Mexico has the same corrupt system as the rest of the third world, and they never understand that is precisely why they are the "third world".
Aboard Air Force One En route Yuma, Arizona
11:52 A.M. EDT
MR. SNOW: Are you guys ready? Okay, just for beginning, we're very happy that the House passed a budget last night, especially on the heels of the President being able to sign a tax extension yesterday. We look forward to working with the House and Senate on lots of other issues of interest.
And with that very brief opening statement, I'll toss it open to whatever questions you may have.
Q Tony, what can you say about some sort of new approach with North Korea? Is there any truth to that?
MR. SNOW: Well, the approach to North Korea has always been the same, which is when North Korea comes back and participates in the six-party talks, then we can proceed. Nothing happens until North Korea goes back and participates in the six-party talks dealing with the possibility of developing nuclear weapons, and to talk about any further steps is premature.
The September statement, however, does speak for itself and I'll refer you back to that.
Q Can you say a little bit more clear, is the idea of a peace treaty -- that is part of the September agreement, right? But is there some new discussion about how to pursue that, what to talk about, if they do come back to the table, as you said?
MR. SNOW: Well, again, unfortunately, you can't have anything new until North Korea has taken the first step of getting back to the six-party talks. And, certainly, I am not going to stand here in the back of Air Force One and try to do international negotiating from here. It's very clear, North Korea comes back to the table, we proceed from that point on. I'm not going to make any further comments about future steps because they haven't taken the necessary first step.
Q Tony, what's your reaction to Prime Minister Prodi's comments today that Italy is going to withdraw their troops from Iraq?
MR. SNOW: Unfortunately, look, we're in the air and I'm not in a position to start talking about ongoing breaking news at this point, so I have no comment. What I'll do is I can double-check for you, but I don't have any comment on it right now.
Q Just one more on North Korea. As part of that last statement, wasn't the door opened to peace talks on a peace treaty with North Korea?
MR. SNOW: Again, I'll bring you back to the September statement. There's nothing new in terms of what the September statement lays out. But I will say again, there are no other steps -- and I'm not promising anything, I'm not showing leg -- I'm just telling you that North Korea has an obligation to come back to the table and it's premature to discuss anything other than what happens when they get back to the six-party talks.
Q Has the Iranian situation changed any thinking in terms of North Korea? Are the two situations in any way linked in the administration's mind
MR. SNOW: No, the administration -- once again, pretty clear approaches on both. We're using multilateral approaches to both nations. What we've said to the Iranians is, the international community is united, in terms of our approach to what Iran does, and, similarly, Iran has certain obligations it must meet. And we continue to work with our allies toward a proper resolution of both situations.
Q Can you talk a little bit more about what the President expects to see today -- what, exactly, he's going to do on the tour, what --
MR. SNOW: Yes. In many ways this is sort of emblematic of what we're talking about in terms of border security. We're going to be going to Yuma; we've got an area with the fence; we've got Border Patrol there. But also this is an area where National Guardsmen are involved in non-law enforcement roles. They're doing communications. He's going to go to a communications site and see what the National Guard units are doing there.
And at the same time he's going to have an opportunity to talk to Border Patrol agents about what they see, what they do and what they expect.
Q Are these National Guard -- are these the ones that Governor Napolitano called up, herself? Do you know how --
MR. SNOW: That's the way it works. Presidents don't call up National Guard units, governors do.
Q I'm sorry. I mean, these are ones that -- she made that declaration last year that she was going to call up new ones. Are these ones that she called up to do that, are these ones that are engaged in the counter-drug operations from earlier; do you know?
MR. SNOW: I really don't.
Q Is the President okay with the Senate bill -- the amendment passed yesterday, where the 300-plus miles of fence --
MR. SNOW: Yes, we supported the amendment.
Q There are many that claim that this just sends the wrong signal -- that the fence sends the wrong signal to Mexico. What do you -- what does the administration say to that, in terms of what this represents?
MR. SNOW: "Wrong signal" in what sense?
Q Wrong signal in terms of walling off America from the outside.
MR. SNOW: I don't think anybody has seriously proposed building a wall across the entire border. What the President has said is he's going to try to have the right and appropriate types of security in the right places. In some places you're going to need a fence; in some places you'll need Border Patrol agents; some places where you have vast stretches of desert or wilderness, you'll use surveillance techniques. So you use things that are appropriate to the locales.
The President spoke last week with President Fox and made it clear that we're not going to militarize the border. And he also emphasized with President Fox the importance of trying to cut off drug trade, and also human trafficking in the border areas.
Q Tony, can you talk about, just in terms of today, how going to a place like this -- which, as you said, is emblematic on many levels of the kinds of things the President is talking about -- how does that help? What does that do to sort of push the debate or convince House members, who obviously have a lot of convincing yet to do?
MR. SNOW: Well, I think in many ways, again, it gives you a snapshot -- I'm glad you pointed that out, Jennifer -- it's a snapshot of what we're talking about. There have been a lot of people, there have been concerns, for instance, that we would send combat troops through the National Guard to the border. We're not doing that. We are talking about people who are trained in specific tasks -- whether they be communications, surveillance, transportation, construction -- and placing them in appropriate places so that they can do tasks to free up Border Patrol agents to do what they're supposed to do, which is to arrest -- to interdict, arrest and take care of the detention of people who cross the border illegally.
So I think it provides -- in many ways it's going to give people a real view of the kind of proposal the President has in mind and maybe lay to rest some of the concerns of those who are worried about militarization.
Q How much time do you think you guys have to sort of turn the debate around?
MR. SNOW: I don't even know that there's a time clock on it. I think we're very happy that there's now the opportunity to start laying out what the President stands for, because a lot of people have had lots of characterizations of the administration's policy. Now there is an opportunity to make the arguments -- and we're going to have to make them a lot at times, to skeptics and to friends, alike -- so that people understand precisely what it is the President stands for.
Q The President wasn't really excited about the idea of a fence in the past. I mean, is this an example of a concession that needs to be made to try and get the broader compromise that he wants?
MR. SNOW: When you talk about a fence, are you referring to a fence across the entire border or fences in particular places?
Q When he's been asked about it before, I mean, he said in on CNN interview that, you know, you can't fence-off the border. Was he referring to a --
Q He was referring to the House bill, which calls for 700 miles --
MR. SNOW: Again, he doesn't think you fence-off the entire border. But there are places -- and he said this Monday night -- there are places where fences are appropriate, and you build fences there.
Q But he would draw the line if the type of fence in the House bill were to be part of a compromise?
MR. SNOW: I'm not going to negotiate at this point. As you know, first things first: get a Senate bill passed. We are glad that the Senate is proceeding to a comprehensive immigration reform. But I am certainly not going to negotiate on the part of the White House in advance of a House Senate conference.
Q Can you just explain why you would support the Senate amendment, versus what's in the House bill? Because they're not that dissimilar.
MR. SNOW: I'm just going to refer you back to what the President has said, which is there are places where fences are appropriate and where they are not. And I am not going to pre-negotiate anything that may come up between the House and Senate.
Q Are there any members of Congress on board?
MR. SNOW: Yes. There are five members of the Arizona delegation aboard. Let's see, we've got Hayworth, Kolbe, Flake, Franks, and Shadegg.
Q No senators?
MR. SNOW: No senators. And Chief Aguilar, the Chief of the Border Patrol.
Q The President has some interviews today?
MR. SNOW: The President is going to be doing interviews with the broadcast and cable networks -- brief interviews, three to five minutes.
Q Do you think anything new in the speech, or mostly the same message with a new backdrop?
MR. SNOW: Basically the same message. The President is going to reiterate what he said before.
Q Do you guys expect an easier ride for Hayden today?
MR. SNOW: I don't know. He's getting some brisk questioning -- I'm sure you've watched some of it on the TV.
Q No, "King Kong." (Laughter.)
MR. SNOW: Oh, no. Well, we've been watching it on CNN; it's doing okay.
Q Has the President been watching, as well?
MR. SNOW: I don't know. He's in the fore cabin. I've not made it my business to barge in and ask him what he's doing. But he's going to face vigorous questioning, but, also, we've got a lot of confidence in General Hayden. This is a guy who has been appointed precisely because he's the most qualified intelligence officer in the country and a guy who has got a record of trying to take on big reform tasks and carry them out.
Q First time on Marine One today?
MR. SNOW: No, I worked in a previous White House and got up in the air from time to time.
Any other questions? All right guys, thanks.
Q Thanks.
For those of you wondering where Tony is today, it seems he's traveling with the President to Yuma, Arizona.
No live press briefing today, so I won't start a new thread. For reference, a transcript of his gaggle today is posted above.
If you want on, or off, the Tony Snow/WHPB ping list, please FReepMail dinasour
I sure hope that all of the travel involved isn't too hard on Tony physically.
I will pray for him and our President.
Thanks for the notice, dina!
Thanks, dinasour. Glad I didn't miss anything!!
>Thanks for the notice, dina!
Sure. We are still working out the format for this thing.
I am not sure every article and gaggle is worth a new thread, unless there is something ground breaking.
I am inclined to post updates to the end of the last live thread, mainly to keep everyone informed.
I am unsure if Tony will be traveling tomorrow, as well. We will just have to see.
I think this is a good way...just keep adding to this thread at least until he has a full briefing.
Bump and self-ping for later read - thanks for posting!
Mr. President,
I trust that this communication finds you and the First Lady well.
I’d like to congratulation you on the fine speech you delivered the other evening. As I listened to your words, I could not help but compare their sincerity with the increasingly shrill rhetoric of those who have continually attacked you since taking office.
I know you are a man of conviction, a man who follows his principles and not polls; in short, a statesman, and not a politician. I am thankful for that in my daily prayers.
Least your staff become disheartened by the increasing volume and direction of the attacks, I would remind them that “we” elected you to lead us in this time of great peril. When I say “we”, I mean the common everyday Americans who simply go about our daily lives without becoming swept up by surreptitious political agenda or fear of our government. No matter how imperfect our current elected government is, it is “we” who chose it.
We did not elect the journalists who manufacture news and polls to suit their political agenda. Nor did we elect the single issue advocates or talk show hosts who market conservative values for profit. Although they each claim to know the secret to make our government perfect, they do not have the courage of their convictions to run for office and affect change. Instead they attempt to circumvent “our” will and the election process through demands, threats, cajoling, creating dissent and claiming to speak for “us”.
These people do not represent your base, any more then they represent “we” the people.
Stand firm and proud, you are doing a fine job.
God Bless.
I saw that earlier. Thanks for posting it here.
It stands as a great example of how to write such a letter.
Then, if you would, ask two more people to write a similar letter.
Working on my own letter and sent out the idea to my email contacts list. Great idea.
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