    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [April 26, 2006]
    [Pages 810-811]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Announcing the Appointment of Tony Snow as
    White House Press Secretary
    April 26, 2006

        Good morning. I'm here in the briefing room to break some news. I've
    asked Tony Snow to serve as my new Press Secretary.
        Tony already knows most of you, and he's agreed to take the job
    anyway. [Laughter] And I'm really glad he did. I'm confident Tony Snow
    will make an outstanding addition to this White House staff. I am
    confident he will help you do your job. My job is to make decisions, and
    his job is to help explain those decisions to the press corps and the
    American people.
        He understands, like I understand, that the press is vital to our
    democracy. As a professional journalist, Tony Snow understands the
    importance of the relationship between Government and those whose job it
    is to cover the Government. He's going to work hard to provide you with
    timely information about my philosophy, my priorities, and the actions
    we're taking to implement our agenda.
        He brings a long record of accomplishment to this position. He has
    spent a quarter of a century in the news business. He's worked in all
    three major media: print, radio, and television. He started his career
    in 1979 as an editorial writer for the Greensboro Record in North
    Carolina. He's going to--went on to write editorials for the Virginian-
    Pilot in Norfolk. He ran the editorial pages in both the Daily Press of
    Newport News and the Washington Times. He's written nationally
    syndicated columns for both the Detroit News and USA Today.
        During his career in print journalism, he's been cited for his work
    by the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press, and
    Gannett. For 7 years, he served as the host of ``FOX News Sunday.'' Most
    recently, he reached Americans all across our country as the host of
    ``The Tony Snow Show'' on FOX News Radio and ``Weekend Live with Tony
    Snow'' on the FOX News Channel.
        He's not afraid to express his own opinions. For those of you who
    have read his columns and listened to his radio show, he sometimes has
    disagreed with me. I asked him about those comments, and he said, ``You
    should have heard what I said about the other guy.'' I like his
    perspective; I like the perspective he brings to this job, and I think
    you're going to like it too.
        Tony knows what it's like to work inside the White House. In 1991,
    he took a break from journalism to serve as Director of Speechwriting
    and Deputy Assistant to the President for
    Media Affairs. He's taught children in Kenya. He belongs to a rock band
    called Beats Workin'. He's a man of courage; he's a man of integrity; he
    loves his family a lot. He is the loving husband of a fine wife and the
    father of three beautiful children.
        He succeeds a decent and talented man in Scott McClellan. I've known Scott since he worked for me in Texas. We
    traveled our State together; we traveled our country together; and we
    have traveled the world together. We have also made history together.
    Scott should be enormously proud of his service to our Nation in an
    incredibly difficult job. I've always--I will always be grateful to him.
    I will always be proud to call him friend.
        I appreciate Scott's offer to help Tony
    Snow prepare for his new job. And I'm proud to welcome Tony as part of
    our team.
        Tony Snow. Well, Mr. President, I want to thank you for the honor of
    serving as Press Secretary. And just a couple of quick notes--I'm
    delighted to be here. One of the things I want to do is just make it
    clear that I--one of the reasons I took the job is not only because I
    believe in the

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    President, because believe it or not, I want to work with you. These are
    times that are going to be very challenging. We've got a lot of big
    issues ahead, and we've got a lot of important things that all of us are
    going to be covering together.
        And I am very excited, and I can't wait. And I want to thank you,
    Mr. President, for the honor, and thank all you guys for your
    forbearance. And I look forward to working with you.
        Thanks.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:10 a.m. in the James S. Brady Press
    Briefing Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Jill
    Snow, wife of Tony Snow, and their children, Kendall, Kristin, and
    Robbie.