Posted on 02/23/2007 10:31:08 AM PST by Dog Gone
WASHINGTON — White House spokesman Tony Snow made a startling claim earlier this month, one that shed some light on changing perceptions about the job he's doing.
During a briefing, Snow responded to a question about climate change by noting that, "We're talking about nuclear development, which is now championed by, among others, Greenpeace."
Beg your pardon?
"I think there's some Greenpeace people who are certainly advocates of nuclear power," Snow said.
As whoppers go, that was a good one. Certainly, it was news to Greenpeace.
"Golly, you know, I can't believe the White House would get that wrong," said Jim Riccio, Greenpeace nuclear policy analyst. "Greenpeace was founded as an anti-nuclear organization, and we have been fighting nuclear weapons and their evil offspring, nuclear power, ever since."
White House reporters don't expect much from Snow, which goes part of the way toward explaining why his claim about Greenpeace went largely unremarked.
It's been less than a year since Snow started the job amid a clamor of hype — including claims by Snow and others at the White House that he would be in the room for the heavy policy stuff, with a voice and a role to play.
The former Fox News personality quickly established himself as a glib and energetic adversary for the press, sometimes short on information but strong with a comeback. He learned everyone's name and all their peccadillos.
These days, whatever honeymoon goodwill he had has largely worn off — and if Snow sticks around, he still has two years to go.
Reporters complain that Snow is frequently unprepared and that he personalizes encounters — Snow recently told CNN's Ed Henry to "calm down" during an exchange over White House claims that the Iranian government was behind explosives seized in Iraq.
Most damningly, by Washington standards, many reporters covering the White House don't believe Snow has the inner-circle role or the access he was promised.
A latecomer to the administration, Snow is an outsider in a famously insular operation. He is not one of the Texans, like Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president, that Bush turns to in meetings.
For his part, Snow says that he is in the room when it's appropriate, and that his evasions and tap-dancing are sometimes intentional.
"There are going to be times when for various reasons — national security, or sometimes even the propriety of dealing with other individuals in Washington and around the world — you are, in fact, going to clam up for a little while until others have had their chance to speak," he said.
At a forum this week at the National Press Club featuring Snow and a group of White House correspondents, a New York Times reporter half-jokingly called Snow "the most useless press secretary ever."
Snow says he's not sweating it, and waves off suggestions that there is animosity on either side.
"What you see quite often at the briefings are sharp exchanges," he said. "It's not personal."
Either way, Snow has redefined the role of White House press secretary, probably forever. During last year's campaigns, Snow was in demand as a speaker at Republican events — raising money for candidates and pushing the White House message.
He has also addressed Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill — a task usually reserved for high-ranking administration officials. He said he loves the job.
"It's not only a privilege, it's a whole lot of fun," he said.
After the forum at the National Press Club, Snow stood on the edge of the stage, signing autographs for members of the public.
She apparently didn't read this.
bump
He was talking about one of GreenPeace's co-founders, who supports the idea of nuclear power.
Story here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1789911/posts
BTW, GP spokesman Jim Riccio is an idiot to call nuclear power the "...evil offspring..." of nuclear weapons. It's the other way around, dummy.
What delicious timing! Right about the time a former Greenpeace honcho is admitting that nuclear power is GREEN.
Feel free to click on her email address to ask her that question. She must want feedback to have listed it in her column.
I think this indicates he is doing a great job. If he was useful to the times, he wouldn't be.
"Golly, you know, I can't believe the White House would get that wrong," said Jim Riccio, Greenpeace nuclear policy analyst. "Greenpeace was founded as an anti-nuclear organization, and we have been fighting nuclear weapons and their evil offspring, nuclear power, ever since."
and he might have added:
...and we're also against oil exploration and any other realistic method of finding the energy to fuel The Machine, man. We're all about sitting in an igloo wearing really hip and state-of-the-art cold-weather gear, discussing how industrial technology sucks and all. I mean, how could he get all that wrong?"
This is how you know Tony is good.
I don't recall the mediots complaining this much about the ineffectual Scott McClelland.
My sense is Tony Snow has been a huge success and the reporters don't know what to do about it.
The article author, a fool, is exposed as a fool ... won't even make a blip on the mainstream media whoredom radar.
He is correct. The founder of Greenpeace is now pro-nuke.
Snow should have made it clear he was thinking of some EX-Greenpeace types who have come to a bit of sanity since breaking with the organization. Anyone who expresses a hint of rationality on nuclear issues is ex-communicated by the fanatical greens......
In liberal land, that is considered a joke. She is busting Mr. Snow's chops because she can't get info. out of him, and apparently has no sources through which to circumvent him. I love this White House, tight as a drum. Can you imagine the nightmare of a Clinton White House during a time of war? Loose Lips everywhere. Scary. We are blessed indeed to have President Bush at the helm during this critical time. You can disagree with whatever policies you like, but his administrative skills have been stellar.
An elitist snob member of the "In" crowd of elitist press snobs thoughtlessly espousing their groupiethink outside the confines of their cosmetically polluted snobosphere.
On to the next article...
Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, pens an op-ed in the New York Post endorsing the use of nuclear power, an enemy that the greenies fought tooth and nail for decades.
AS co-founder and former leader of Greenpeace, I once opposed nuclear energy. But times have changed, and new facts of compelling importance have emerged - and so my views have changed as well, as have those of a growing number of respected, independent environmentalists around the world.
There are few places where nuclear power makes as much sense or is as important as in New York. Indeed, the state is a microcosm of the challenges America and the world face to have ample, clean and reasonably priced electricity. As such, I strongly support renewal of the license for the Indian Point nuclear plants in Westchester, which provides 30 percent or so of the electricity used in the New York metro area.
Well, congratulations to Mr. Moore for honestly owning-up that environmental alarmism was wrong-headed. I remember when anti-nuclear activists forced the abandonment of the partially-constructed Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire, forcing a billion dollar write-off in a period when a billion dollars was worth a lot more than today.
There are many reasons to support nuclear power, even if you are skeptical about global warming theories. Replacing hydrocarbon-based fuels for electricity generation will reduce demand for oil, coal and natural gas, helping ease price pressures, and reducing the economic clout of the oil exporting extremist regimes that bedevil the world today. Huge advances have occurred in technology since the time nuclear power plant construction was abandoned in the United States.
So how about a little humility on the other alarm bells the greenies are so fond of ringing? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice....
Posted at 10:13 AM | Email | Permalink
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/02/greenpeace_cofounder_changes_m.html
Send it to her.
It's a job requirement!
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