What to make of Tony Snow’s apology to NBC’s David Gregory? I share John Podhoretz’s astonishment, and I wonder how much it had to do with Dana Milbank’s hachet job on Snow earlier this week. Snow’s smart enough to realize that the White House simply doesn’t enjoy the kind of popularity it would need to survive a war with the beltway media right now, and the last thing he needs is the Milbanks of the world attacking his credibility on the eve of a major policy change in Iraq.
One thing’s for sure: Gregory was not owed an apology. His question was designed purely as an attack, not a serious inquiry into administration policy. So given that A) Snow must know that, and B) he went on Reliable Sources on Sunday and defended his handling of Gregory, his about-face today was a call for a truce before things get even uglier. A sad state of affairs in the White House briefing room.
(homepage video via C&L)