ChezLark

What kind of press secretary will Tony Snow be? I’ve been looking at his first press briefing. He seems pretty combative.

MR. SNOW: [...] Again, I would take you back to the USA Today story, simply to give you a little context. Look at the poll that appeared the following day. While there was — part of it said 51 percent of the American people opposed, if you look at when people said, if there is a roster of phone numbers, do you feel comfortable that — I’m paraphrasing and I apologize — but something like 64 percent of the polling was not troubled by it. Having said that, I don’t want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program — the alleged program — the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny.

Q: But there are polls that show Americans are very concerned about it.

MR. SNOW: The President — you cannot run a security — you cannot base national security on poll numbers. As the President of the United States you have to make your own judgments about what is in the nation’s best interest.

Q: You just brought it up, though.

MR. SNOW: Well, I did bring it up because what you were talking about is how people were concerned about privacy issues, and I tried to relate to you what happened. It was interesting, when people were given the specifics in that story, they did not seem to be terribly troubled.

Q: We are now.

MR. SNOW: Well, that may have more to do with the way it’s being spun than the way it’s actually [cuts to next question]

Here’s another exchange:

Q: Can I look ahead to tomorrow’s tax bill signing? The President for many months now has been describing an economy firing on all cylinders. Does the economy still need that much stimulus, or does it not have more — avoid the danger posed by the continuing large deficits, not greater at this point?

MR. SNOW: Are you suggesting that we have too much prosperity?

Q: I am not suggesting, I’m asking.

MR. SNOW: Well, it seemed — you’re talking about too much stimulus. [...] the President is committed to a path of growth. He has made it clear that he wants to make permanent all the tax cuts that have been enacted for the simple good reason that it’s good to have people employed, it’s good to have people making more money, it’s good to have productivity up, it’s good to have the most vigorous economy on the face of the Earth, and he wants to continue it.

Sneaky!