The Vent Pipe: Oh yea, that's why...

Sometimes it is nice to be reminded of why I support certain things, such as members of the Bush Administration. I don't typically have the opportunity to watch Tony Snow's press conferences, but today was the exception, and what an exception it was.

Q Republican Senator Smith is challenging the strategy. What he basically said yesterday, as well, was, when you do the same thing over and over again without a clear strategy for victory, that is dereliction, that is deeply immoral. Such is the dispute. He's saying what the President is doing is immoral.
MR. SNOW: Well, then we disagree.
Q Tony, first of all, the --
Q You're just going to blow it off? A Republican senator is saying the President's policy may be criminal and it's immoral, and you're just saying, we just disagree?
MR. SNOW: And what would you like me to say? Should I do duels at 10 paces?
Q Don't you think you should answer for that? You're saying -- you've said from this podium over and over that the strategy is a victory, right? And you have a Republican senator is saying there is no clear strategy, that you don't have a strategy.
MR. SNOW: Well, let's let Senator Smith hear what the President has to say. We understand that this is a time where politics are emotional in the wake of an election. And you know what? Senator Smith is entitled to his opinion. But I'm not sure exactly what you would like --

and again the reporter interrupts. I thoroughly enjoy watching Tony Snow lay it out for those journalists, but the lack of respect they show him disturbs me. They treat him like an intellectual inferior who is directly responsible to the White House Press Corps, like they are his supervisors. It just bothers me.

More from Snow:

Q Two questions, Tony. The Washington Post reports that yesterday in New Hampshire, Senator Barack Obama was trailed by what they termed "a huge media hoard" of more than 100. And presuming that Senator Obama's remarkable impact has not struck you speechless, Tony, does --
MR. SNOW: Les, you're clearing the room. Hurry this up. (Laughter.)
Q -- does the President, as the head of the GOP, believe that Senator Hillary Clinton is seriously concerned about this Barack boom? Or does he think it's more of a --
MR. SNOW: Did you just ask me what the President -- the Republican President thinks about internal Democratic politics?
Q Yes, as the head of the GOP.
MR. SNOW: Again, the President, I think -- as I've tried to make clear, the President is worried about matters of global war and peace, and he'll allow the Democrats to conduct their own primary process when that process does, in fact, begin in earnest.

The bigger question was why would a reporter ask Tony about what Bush things about what Clinton thinks about Obama. Who cares anyway?