Josh Marshall has the transcript from Tony Snow’s first press briefing. It wasn’t pretty. Snow tried to move the morning press gaggle into his office, in order to create a more cordial, informal atmosphere. It wasn’t a popular move. Listen to the kind of stuff this guy has to put up with:
QUESTION: How are you going to make this administration more credible?
TONY SNOW: I’m not going to answer questions about credibility, other than to say that I’m eager to be here and I’m happy to be working with you.
QUESTION: Are you ever going to — always going to tell the truth?
TONY SNOW: Yes.
QUESTION: Why did you decide to move the gaggle back in here?
TONY SNOW: I thought it was a little more informal. I didn’t realize it would be so highly attended. You know, if it turns out — like, if you guys decide that you’d rather have it back in the briefing room, I’ll be happy to move it back there. […]
QUESTION: I’d like — this was 9:00 a.m., then it was pushed back to 9:30 a.m., and then I walk in at 9:20 a.m., and it’s already well underway.
QUESTION: Do not do that again.
QUESTION: This isn’t good.
TONY SNOW: Well, this is — it’s my fault. And it had to do with vagaries of the schedule today, and I apologize, period.
QUESTION: Because we’ve missed half of it. This is the first one you’re doing, and I just feel like –
TONY SNOW: Well, I apologize. That’s just flat my fault.
QUESTION: Can everybody get a gaggle — can everyone get a gaggle emailed to them?
QUESTION: Can we get a transcript?
TONY SNOW: Yes. And what we will try to do, I will make this a lot more predictable and regular, you’ve got to give me a little forbearance.
QUESTION: I was here, sitting out here in the hallway. I can’t even hear any of this conversation.
TONY SNOW: Okay, well, I’ll tell you what we will do then is we will move it back into the Briefing Room. I had this wonderful idea that this would be nice and collegial and relaxed, but it obviously at this point is just a mess. (Laughter.) So rather than doing that, we will go back to gaggling in the Briefing Room, and then as numbers dwindle, we may think of bringing it back here.
Ah, the professional demeanor of the White House press corps.