Shorter Bill Kristol: "Tony Snow had a good beat; we could dance to him."
Actual Froomkin:
Snow's passing is undeniably a personal tragedy. But let's hope that no future press secretary takes his or her cues from all those glowing obituaries and tributes. As I wrote last March, in a column entitled The Spokesman Made for Cable, Snow's primary goal seemed to be to "win the half hour" -- which generally entailed out-talking and mocking his questioners, rather than mustering facts and actually staking out persuasive positions.
And despite all his charm, he stoked the pernicious myth that reporters asking questions somehow constituted the political opposition, to be slain in the field of righteous rhetorical battle, rather than being representatives of the public's right to know what is being done in their name.
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