Posted on 08/17/2007 1:32:28 PM PDT by nuconvert
Financial pressures force Snow departure
By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON - White House press secretary Tony Snow said Friday he'll leave sometime before the end of the Bush presidency because of financial pressures.
He declined to say when he would depart, but that, "I'm going to stay as long as I can."
The 52-year-old Snow, the father of three children, earns $168,000 as an assistant to the president but made considerably more as a conservative pundit and syndicated talk-show host on Fox News Radio. He was named press secretary on April 26, 2006.
The White House has been shaken by the resignations of some of President Bush's closest aides. Political strategist Karl Rove announced Monday that he would leave at the end of the month. Longtime Bush adviser Dan Bartlett left earlier this year and Andrew Card left earlier as Bush's chief of staff.
Bush's term ends on Jan. 20, 2009.
"I will not be able to make it to the end of this administration, just financially," Snow said. "This job has been such a pleasant surprise in how much I like it. I love it."
Snow has been undergoing chemotherapy after doctors discovered a recurrence of colon cancer in March. He said the last of eight scheduled chemotherapy treatments would be on Friday. On Monday he will have a CAT scan to evaluate his progress.
You are welcome, dmd2!
Oops I slipped.
You are welcome dmd25!
I had posted these messages which I had received from Tony.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1882744/posts?page=175#175
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1882744/posts?page=178#178
There is no ‘scoop’.
Furthermore, FOXFANVOX heard from him as well and posted this
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1882683/posts?page=176#176
Thank you and God Bless.
Cheers,
sl
Tony has alway been VERY pro-illegal immigration. He was not just mouthing Bush’s commitment to it. I think that’s why he was hired.
“This appears like an attempt to embarass Snow to the max, as if he were dead broke or something.”
Actually, Tony has said in several interviews (I heard him on Hewitt) that he would stay as long as he financially could, but that he’d have to leave before the end of Pres. Bush’s term - leaving his departure date open.
He took over a million $ cut in pay. So did the rest of his family. That’s a sacrifice.
Hey, tell Tony to hang in there and don’t let this thing get the best of him. My dad, a coal miner at the time, was diagnosed with colon cancer back in 1989. He was too onery to give up, and it took him a while, but he beat it. In the meantime, we had some big medical bills too and we managed to survive, although it was hard for a couple of years.
The stress of the job can’t be good for his health - I applaud his decision to leave and think he probably should’ve left sooner but he probably did love the challenge/job too much.
As someone who lives on the East Coast (NY), makes over 100K, rents a studio apartment because it's all I can afford and can't even THINK of buying something in which to live, even in a "meh" neighbhorhood, because the prices are so high ($269,000 for the crappiest of one bedroom co-op/condos, plus $600 a month in common charges), I just wanted to say: you're exactly right. Live in one of the major cities on the East Coast - NY, Boston, or DC (Philly is somewhat less expensive) and your financial calculus is entirely different than it is in most of the country. THat's just the way it is. $168,000 when fighting advanced cancer (my parents have Medicare plus the very best of govt medical insurance as a secondary policy and when my Mom had cancer there were tons of affiliated, non-covered costs that quickly added up) and especially with three kids heading to college would be really financially scary if you lived in DC.
Thank you, Virginia Ridgerunner. I think you just told Tony yourself.
If you had a chance to watch the interview with Brian Lamb, he makes clear how important it is to him that people with their survival stories tell him. And it helps. He said that he would like to do the same for other cancer patients.
Here’s the link to the video
Cheers,
sl
Thanks for the information. I’m glad he is, at some point, returning to a normal, and hopefully healthy life.
“Career life expectancy” for White House Spokesmen is about half a term, isn’t it? I do know that when George Snuggleupolis left the Clinton White House early to make the bucks in network TV, there wasn’t this kind of scrutiny or cynicism.
If it’s about making a better living, I’m glad he is leaving (at some point). I was just concerned that there was something else behind the decision. His ability to thwart unfair and poorly premised questions from the media has been extremely valuable, and has significantly reduced the number of “lectures to the President” by the White House Press Corp that get played on the network news everynight. I’m glad he could take them on and put them back where they belong... as reporters, not newsmakers.
>And how do you know this? Did Tony tell you?
Try to use that thing between your ears to think once in a while instead of spouting off with zero facts.
“If he is leaving for medical reasons, he might not want to have it speculated by the media that he is leaving to spend the rest of the time he has left with his family.”
That’s my take on it. Too bad he took the White house job as “liar for hire”. Although I hope TS makes a 100% recovery...is sounds like perhaps the docs think he might want to spend all available time left with his family. Time will tell.
Tony has been very straightforward about his condition and his situation. Those of us who care about him may worry more than is necessary.
I certainly hope you are wrong about him dying. He made a real difference. I used to cringe at press conferences before he took over.
May God bless Tony Snow. Enough said.
Being an optimistic guy, I doubt that Tony anticipated that his cancer would relapse. That had to take a chunk out of his finances. Hats off to him for taking a financial hit to go into public service in the first place.
If he’s looking at a shortened life expectancy due to recurring cancers and has three kids to see through college, he may very well feel he needs to leave sooner rather than later to maximize his earnings potential in whatever time he has left.
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