Thread: Tony Snow's job: Unanswered questions

Tony Snow's job: Unanswered questions
Spokesman goes 0-for-4 in official briefing

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Posted: August 1, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern



© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com


Spokesman Tony Snow went 0-for-4 in answering questions that WND wishes the White House would have answered at its presidential press briefing yesterday.

Those were:


WND: The Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett has called a document called "The Declaration of North American Integration" a "pretty stupid thing to get involved with." And he has repudiated his signature on that 2004 document. Question: Does the president have a concern that more opposition will develop to such plans for expedited procedures to transfer goods and people across national borders?

Kinsolving: In the president's speech to the American Legislative Exchange Council in Philadelphia, the transcript quotes him as saying, on page 7, "I believe you'll be driving to work over the next couple of years in an automobile powered by electricity and it won't have to look like a golf cart. Question: Is that possibly a typo with the word years instead of decades?

Kinsolving: One of the world's most widely syndicated media features, Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury, featured 'the White House briefing room where a new $20 million upgrade …' Question: Is this true or false – and how much does the White House press office cost the taxpayers?

And on WND's Mr. President Forum, a reader, "nmpatriot," asked: Mr. Bush, why have you turned your back on America and those Americans who elected you to the office of President of the United States? Can you honestly believe that we put you there so that you could betray OUR America – to sell OUR country out to a one-world government having no concept of nor desire to respect individual freedom?
The questions come from WND, its readers and Les Kinsolving, longtime WND White House correspondent. Kinsolving, a veteran of presidential briefings since Richard Nixon was in office, is no longer attending the daily sessions.

Joseph Farah, founder and editor of WND, explained the decision to have Kinsolving absent was made after a "rebuke, and a threat" from White House spokesman Tony Snow in what apparently is "an attempt to control Les Kinsolving and WND's right to ask questions at the White House."

Kinsolving, in his current job as a talk-radio host in Baltimore, a commentator for other stations and as White House correspondent for WND, is the only talk-radio host in the White House press corps. He often has asked Snow tough questions.

Some of the questions that have made the normally unflappable press secretary most angry have been about sending U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonzo Compean to prison, Farah noted.

Since talk radio has been largely credited with having led to the defeat of the Bush-Kennedy "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill," the press room resentment of Kinsolving has been apparent not only from Snow – but from unidentifed members of the press corps. Snow recently told Kinsolving his colleagues in the Big Media resented his questions as much or more than the press secretary did.

Within one week's time Snow refused to take any Kinsolving questions during three out of four daily White House press briefings.

The breaking point came when Kinsolving asked Snow: "The AP reports that Sydney, Australia's lord mayor, Clover Moore, is leading a campaign urging all residents to pack an emergency survival kit in preparation for any terrorist attack or other disaster in Australia's largest city. And my question – does the White House believe that this is a campaign U.S. cities should be launching, or not?"

Snow responded that "would be something that I would not be privy to comment on." And he launched into criticism of questions that do not "bear on the president's responsibilities."

So the decision was made by WND to publish the questions that WND would have asked. Those include one question from WND, one proposed from among WND's millions of readers and two from Kinsolving.

The new questions for today's press briefing, scheduled at 12:30 p.m. are:


WND: WND has documented a wide range of products from China that have been rejected as contaminated or defective, from pet food to seafood to toothpaste to tires. Now a team of U.S. health officials has been sent to Beijing for talks on this issue. Question: What confidence can the American people have in the product inspection process in China when officials there have complained that additional restrictions on such imports are "unacceptable?"

Kinsolving: WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem correspondent reports that the United States-backed Fatah organization has admitted it has been thoroughly infiltrated by Hamas, in a 200-page investigation report. Question. Since this admission comes as the U.S. has just sent large quantities of weaponry to Fatah, will the president order a halt to this and supplying millions of dollars to Fatah?

This official Fatah committee's 200-page report also details the conduct of Fatah leaders and security officers who lost the Gaza Strip to Hamas last month. Question. Given that loss and this report, how does the president believe that Fatah can possibly keep the West Bank from being taken over by Hamas, as well?

And on WND's Mr. President Forum, a reader, "paulpuckett," asked: Mr. President: Why are we now going to give Saudi Arabia, who has proven many times to be our foe, $20 billion of military assistance, [it is] the very cradle of Islam's birth, Medina and Mecca and funds terrorism on an ongoing schedule. What are you thinking? Most or all of the world's problems and wars can be pointed back to them as the source of origin. And why do you consider Islam to be a religion of peace when most of the world knows it is not?
If the questions are answered during the press briefing, WND will publish the answer. If not, WND will report that, and will keep a tally of the questions answered, or not.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=56953

Kinsolving: In the president's speech to the American Legislative Exchange Council in Philadelphia, the transcript quotes him as saying, on page 7, "I believe you'll be driving to work over the next couple of years in an automobile powered by electricity and it won't have to look like a golf cart. Question: Is that possibly a typo with the word years instead of decades?

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