Parting Is 'Sweet Sorrow' For Tony Snow

White House Spokesman Says Goodbye After 16 Months

(CBS)  By CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller

It was an unusual outpouring of genuine affection late yesterday afternoon as hundreds of White House staffers gathered outside the West Wing to cheer and applaud as Tony Snow left the Executive Mansion, ending his 16-month career as presidential spokesman.

He was leaving by choice, but he couldn't have been sorrier about it.

"I'm gonna miss the job," Snow said. "Obviously I love it here at the White House. It's been a great privilege."

Just a couple of hours earlier, in his office across the hall from the Cabinet Room and a few steps further from the Oval Office, Snow was packing up his belongings: memorabilia from his tenure as Press Secretary - and lamenting his departure.

"I think when you leave the White House you begin once again to get a sense of the grandeur of the place," he said. "There are lots of little things that happen on a regular daily basis here that I'm just gonna miss: being able to walk over to the Oval Office and see the president or watch Marine One lift off."

It was his own decision to pull the plug on his job. The 52-year-old Snow candidly explained that he could no longer to support his family on his government salary, though he suspects some people think he's leaving because of his illness.

"Having cancer, I think the first reaction's going to be: he's sick, he's got to go. He's dying. He's got to pay the bills," Snow said. "So, honesty's always the best policy."

In a radio interview with CBS News, Snow conceded that many people will find it hard to believe he couldn't support his family on $168,000-a-year. But he made considerably before as a Fox News anchor and pundit and a radio talk show host.

---

Listen to Tony Snow's interview with Mark Knoller

---

"I make no apologies," he said. "I earned a good paycheck before I came to the White House."

He said he had to take out loans when the big money stopped coming in, and now he needed to return to the private sector.

After taking a vacation, he intends to hit the lucrative lecture circuit. He also plans to write some books, though not "a tell-all" about the secrets of the White House. Also, the Republican National Committee sees him as a hot property who can raise money for the party's efforts to retain the White House and win back Congress in 2008.

"I'm gonna miss the place a great deal - but on the other hand - its important for me to go out and earn a living for my wife and kids. So I'm pretty excited about what happens next," Snow said. "But you can't leave the White House without a little sweet sorrow."

Many of his predecessors came to dread the daily job of briefing the White House press corps, a process sometimes referred to as "feeding the beast." Not so Tony Snow.

"I love the contest of ideas. I love going back and forth with folks who are friends and may be colleagues again," he said. "And I think it does make a difference (that I have) a journalistic background."

But he admits he wasn't sure about how he would fare in the job when he began it in April of 2006.

"I was scared," Snow said. "I didn't know what to expect, but it really has been a totally delightful job."

And he's remarkably understanding of the members of the press corps who pounded him on a daily basis with demands for answers and information he either did not have, could not give or reporters deemed unsatisfactory.

Snow said, "The White House press corps has a tough job which is to try to squeeze news out of a White House where they don't have free entry or access. It's a really tough reporting job and there are all sorts of writers and reporters with different styles. But I think you get a lot of the drama in the Briefing Room because people are under real pressure to get some news and get it real quickly."

He may not have satisfied reporters, but he says he always told the truth.

"I was never asked to lie. As a matter of fact, I made it clear and everybody else has made it clear around here: you don't lie to the press," he said. "You just don't. It's the dumbest thing because you sacrifice the only thing that you have - the most important commodity in public life is your credibility and people's ability to trust you."

None of that means the White House will get the kind of press coverage it wants. Snow admits there at times the president feels he's been "ill-treated" by the news media.

"But George W. Bush is a pretty big guy, and he really doesn't walk around harboring grudges or complaining about his treatment," he said.

Snow says Mr. Bush will complain about some stories but knows "its just not a winning formula for a president to get into fights with the press, so he doesn't do it."

On Monday, Snow's principal deputy, Dana Perino, takes the lectern for the first time as the new White House Press Secretary. Snow's advice to his 35-year-old successor: "Enjoy!"

"She's had the experience. She certainly has the trust and confidence of the press. And I think it's gonna be pretty seamless," Snow said. "She'll have a different style but that's fine. That's her style. The last thing you want to do which is to copy somebody."

And, how will Snow feel if one day soon he turns on C-SPAN some afternoon and sees Perino getting grilled?

"I'll feel a certain amount of empathy. But I have a feeling that she'll give as good as she gets and I'll say 'you go, girl.'"

[ianlou]

I wish Tony the best of luck with his health battle.

I also would like to see a study investigating whether misleading people for a living is bad for your health.

[nyckate]

AirAmrka

Lends comfort to the enemy??

Oh come on now - for the love of Pete - grow the heck up.

Wanna know what lent aid to the enemy? All the iraqis Petreaus armed with US weapons which are now disappeared from his control and being used against our own soldiers. Ain''t that a disgrace - weapons the US gave them have been turned against our own.

Failure is what lends aide to teh enemy -- when we have a political and military leadership that isn''t failing is when our exit from Iraq is closer.

[jacksteen1]

Too bad this filthy Republishit Party member is, as are most of his fellow travellers in that party of rot and lies, dying from the inside out, slowly, by degrees, like the very cancer they represent upon the face of our Nation.

He deserves a long, slow, painful death - the same kind of demise his party brought upon so many innocents the world over with their policies of hate and greed.

He''ll soon be in Hell, along with the Pantheon of Republicrap Party Gods - Ronnie Ragoon, Richard Nixon, and Jerry Falwell.

[jacksteen1]

Too bad this filthy Republishit Party member is, as are most of his fellow travellers in that party of rot and lies, dying from the inside out, slowly, by degrees, like the very cancer they represent upon the face of our Nation.

He deserves a long, slow, painful death - the same kind of demise his party brought upon so many innocents the world over with their policies of hate and greed.

He''ll soon be in Hell, along with the Pantheon of Republicrap Party Gods - Ronnie Ragoon, Richard Nixon, and Jerry Falwell.

[socrates392]

MyIdonCBS, you should really stop drinking the Clinton Kool-aid! Your democrap party are the morons who feel they are entitled to everything (hmmm, health care?). Why don''''t you try making a living for yourself and get off of the typical lib talking points!

Posted by jhay77 at 12:28 AM : Sep 16, 2007

When the government starts giving out free health care, be sure to tell them you don''t want it! Yeah, right, LOL. I''m sure you be the first in line like all the other greedy Repugs!

[jhay77]

MyIdonCBS, you should really stop drinking the Clinton Kool-aid! Your democrap party are the morons who feel they are entitled to everything (hmmm, health care?). Why don''t you try making a living for yourself and get off of the typical lib talking points!

[socrates392]

"After taking a vacation, he intends to hit the lucrative lecture circuit." I respectfully suggest that nobody hire him, and no one should listen to him if he does get a lecturing gig.

Posted by MyIDonCBS at 03:40 PM : Sep 15, 2007

What is he going to lecture about? How to sell your soul to Satan in 3 easy steps? How to spew propaganda for the Bush Administration? How to squander so much money that 168 grand a year isn''t enough to live on?

I''ll pass on those lectures, thank you.

[starleo146]

I am sorry you have cancer but I am so glad I do not have to hear that White House propaganda coming from you and that Dana talks so fast her words you can see twisted around her tongue

[sgtrds]

Don''t let the door hit you in the as*s on the way out.

[myidoncbs]

"Snow conceded that many people will find it hard to believe he couldn''t support his family on $168,000-a-year."

I would normally be inclined to sympathize with somebody who is dying of cancer, but he is totally out of touch with the reality of most people in this country. If he can''t get by on $168 grand, then he''s just stu-pidly wasting his money on cr-ap he doesn''t really need. It''s typical for repugs to think that they "deserve" so much more than the rest of us, and that any reduction in their benefits is too much for them to bear, whereas the rest of us can just "make do" with our pittance.

"After taking a vacation, he intends to hit the lucrative lecture circuit." I respectfully suggest that nobody hire him, and no one should listen to him if he does get a lecturing gig.