Snow Recalls First Day: "Sphincter Tightening Terror"
Last night, for White House Press Secretary Tony Snow made his first appearance on NBC’s Tonight Show.
He first talked about his cancer treatment, saying that he feels good, but that he’ll be on and off chemotherapy for the rest of his life until they come up with a cure.
President Bush also apparently offered to be Snow’s “phone buddy” while he was in the hospital, but Snow evidently passed on the offer, saying “Well, there are probably other things you have to do…”
On the subject of dealing with the press, Snow admitted “If I hated reporters, I wouldn’t have been one for so many years…I liked having fun with them. I knew when they were jerking me around, so I jerked them around.”
When Jay Leno asked why he quit, Snow bluntly said “I ran out of money. I know, people say ‘$168,000, Mr. Big Shot ran out of money…’ Well, I did.” He also said that he and his family ran out of money in August, but wanted to stay in the administration through the testimony of General David Petreaus and had to sell off some things in order to do so.
Snow had a curious answer when Leno asked what it was like on the first day as press secretary, saying ‘sphincter-tightening terror.’
The conversation then turned to Press Corps mainstay Helen Thomas, and Snow admiringly said ‘She’s 87, and she heckles….I want to be 87 and heckling somebody.”
When asked if the President’s gaffes such as “Childrens do learn…” cause him to spit out his coffee, Snow admitted “Well, there are some days when it’s like chewing on tin foil.” Fellow Tonight Snow guest Ben Stiller quipped “You probably do it more than most…”
“I dunno…the Clinton guys would probably give us a run for our money,” Snow retorted.
Snow also said he plans to hit the campaign trail this election season.
