[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
[August 31, 2007]
[Pages 1153-1154]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on the Resignation of Tony Snow as Press 
Secretary and the Appointment of Dana Perino as 
Press Secretary and an Exchange With Reporters
August 31, 2007

    The President. Thank you. Good afternoon to you.
    Tony Snow informed me he's leaving. And I sadly accept his desire to 
leave the White House, and he'll do so on September the 14th. He is--
it's been a joy to watch him spar with you. He's smart; he's capable; 
he's witty. He's capable of--he's able to talk about issues in a way 
that the American people can understand.
    And I don't know what he's going to do; I'm not sure he does yet 
either. But whatever it is, it's going to be--two things: One, he'll 
battle cancer and win, and secondly, he'll be a solid contributor to 
society.
    I do want to thank Jill and Kendall, Robbie, and Kristi. They have watched a man they love take on a big job 
and, at the same time, fight disease with a lot of courage. And so I 
accept; I love you; and I wish you all the best.
    And so I had to make a choice, who to replace Tony, and I've chosen 
Dana Perino. I did so because Dana is a smart, capable person who is 
able to spell out the issues of the day in a way that people listening 
on TV can understand. She can handle you all. [Laughter] She's capable 
of handling your questions.
    Q. She has done--[inaudible].
    The President. She has? Good. Okay. I'm glad to get a little--I'm 
glad to get that choir singing. [Laughter] So I'm not worried about her 
standing here at the podium. What I look for in somebody like Dana is 
somebody who can walk in that Oval Office and give me sound judgment and 
good advice. And I have found that over the course of the time I've 
known her, she's

[[Page 1154]]

capable of doing that. And she's also capable of running the shop that 
she'll be in charge of.
    And so we say to the man we admire a lot, good luck, Godspeed. And 
to Dana Perino, I'm looking forward to working with you, and I'm looking 
forward to the American people to get to know you like I've gotten to 
know you.
    Tony.

President's Staff

    Q. You've lost a lot of members in your administration----
    The President. Hold up there. We're not quite through yet. 
[Laughter]

[At this point, Press Secretary Snow and Press Secretary-designate 
Perino made remarks.]

    The President. Thank you.

President's Staff

    Q. How do you feel about losing everybody?
    The President. Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 12:45 p.m. in the James S. Brady Press 
Briefing Room at the White House. The transcript released by the Office 
of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of Press Secretary Snow 
and Press Secretary-designate Perino.