Snow's Job: "Paint the pig in colors that aren’t in McClellan’s palette"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

The Tony Snow disaster, or McClellan’s revenge

http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1300

Newly appointed White House press secretary Tony Snow is likely to prove the most entertaining public disaster of the Bush administration’s waning years. He’ll no doubt enjoy a honeymoon with the press, of which he’s more or less a member, but in the end, he’s stuck with defending the indefensible and explaining the inexplicable.

It’s no coincidence that the stolid Scott McClellan is out and Snow is in on the eve of campaign season for the 2006 elections. A common complaint among Republicans is that the White House hasn’t been getting their message out. Someone convinced Bush of that as well, or he wouldn’t have agreed to look beyond his immediate circle for help.

“Getting the message out” means something different to Bush than it does to his GOP critics. He’s convinced that his problems are the product of a misunderstanding; the reason he repeats himself ad nauseam isn’t because he’s dim, but because he thinks that the American people just don’t get it.

For Bush, then, Snow’s job is twofold: to paint the pig in colors that simply aren’t in McClellan’s palette, and to jolly the press along in a way that McClellan no longer can. Bush knows as well as anyone and far better than most how susceptible to flattery, jocularity and circuses reporters are, and he’ll be counting on Snow to deploy all of those devices in an effort to divert the press from their pursuit of scandals and lies so that The Message shines through.

[LittleClarkie]

1. So what you're saying is that he's there to give the pig a makeover

instead of just a bit of lipstick?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

2. Lipstick may not be enough at this point...

...but it will be really interesting to see what kind of "happy talk" Snow thinks will divert the press from the matters of the day.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Will there also be a painting of this pig's cloven hooves?