Tony Snow’s Sunny Conservatism

Whether you agreed with him or not, former presidential press secretary Tony Snow was a class act. During his time as President Bush’s chief spokesman, from April 2006 to September 2007, Snow sparred with gusto with the White House press corps but always remained cheerful and collegial. News stories about his death over the weekend report that he was unfailingly upbeat even in the final months of his battle with cancer.

I only met Tony Snow once, and that was in June 2007 at a White House briefing on immigration reform. Also speaking at the briefing were two cabinet secretaries, but we all knew who was the star attraction that day. Snow did not bring a particular expertise to the briefing, but he did express a passion for the president’s commitment to expanding opportunities for legal immigration.

In conversation after the meeting, Snow told a small group of us that it was the president’s views on immigration more than anything else that convinced him that he wanted to be part of the administration.

None of this is a big revelation if you read Tony Snow’s pre-White House writings on the subject, but it is worth remembering that this conservatives’ conservative, sometime Bush critic, and former editorial page editor of the Washington Times embraced a pro-immigration view that was at odds with much of the rest of the movement and most Republican members of Congress. One more reason to mourn his passing.