You can take the Snow out of Fox News...

Just like Putz and the wingnutosphere, Tony Snow doesn't seem to want to talk about Gordon Smith's calling the war in Iraq "criminal."

Q Republican Senator Smith is challenging the strategy. What he basically said yesterday, as well, was, when you do the same thing over and over again without a clear strategy for victory, that is dereliction, that is deeply immoral. Such is the dispute. He's saying what the President is doing is immoral.

MR. SNOW: Well, then we disagree.

Q You're just going to blow it off? A Republican senator is saying the President's policy may be criminal and it's immoral, and you're just saying, we just disagree?

MR. SNOW: And what would you like me to say? Should I do duels at 10 paces?

But Snow was a lot more, erm, talkative before the election about another Senator's comments about Iraq.

"Senator Kerry not only owes an apology to those who are serving, but also to the families of those who've given their lives in this,'' the spokesman said in response to a question at a White House briefing. ``This is an absolute insult.''

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11/1/06

Q Can I just follow on that? Do you feel that Senator Kerry offered a sufficient explanation and apology in his appearance this morning?

MR. SNOW: You're talking about the Imus appearance? Two words, really -- two words were sufficient to convey an apology: I'm sorry. And he hasn't -- I think Senator Kerry is -- I think he's insistent on pointing fingers at the President, or whatever, rather than simply saying -- look, it's real simple; you and I and everybody in this room have said things that we didn't intend to say, and when it offends people, you say, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it, I'm wrong. And he hasn't done that. All he has to do -- it's really easy -- say, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend the troops. But instead there's always, I'm not going to apologize for going after the President. Fine. But there are troops out there who are clearly unhappy.

You've seen it today. You've got a number of Democrats who are stepping up, saying, he needs to apologize. So don't take it from me, take it from members of his own party.

Q Does the President actually believe that Senator Kerry intended to criticize the troops?

MR. SNOW: I don't know. Intention or not, as you've seen it, when you say things publicly, you've got to answer for them. I've had to do it; you guys were pouncing on the Vice President last week over something. Senator Kerry's words were pretty straightforward, and if you listen to the tone of voice in which he said them, it's hard to construe them as a joke. He didn't sound like he was trying to make funnies. But again, look, this is simple. There was an insult delivered to troops, whether it was intended or not, and the way you clean the slate is say, I didn't mean to say it, I'm sorry.

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MR. SNOW: You know, I don't think it really matters what the President thinks Senator Kerry intended to say. What matters is what Senator Kerry needs to say for members of his own party, to the American Legion, to AMVETS, to a number of other organizations who have come out and simply said, you need to apologize for what you said. It's not hard: I'm sorry. I mean this is helpful advice: Just say, I'm sorry, I messed up, please forgive me.

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Q Let me ask you this, though, because in reading the transcript, it's pretty clear Senator Kerry was in the middle of going after the President when he said this. Do you agree with that?

MR. SNOW: No, I don't, because if you look at it -- look, he had the warm-up period where apparently he was trying to tell jokes. And then he said, let's talk about education -- and you have the transition. Now, usually when somebody says, let's talk about education, that doesn't mean that he's ready to fire off the rib-ticklers. It means that it's time to start talking about a serious topic. And if you listen -- Jim, have you looked at the tape?

Q Sure.

MR. SNOW: I mean, does it look like he's trying to tell a joke?

Q -- obviously, it's a nebulous thing to figure out. You can read the transcript, which he obviously dropped what it looked like in the prepared remarks should have been, "Just ask President Bush," assuming these are correct, the prepared remarks. But he was saying, the President lives in a state of denial. And then he goes to another one where -- that he obviously botched. My question is, is there a difference in your mind -- because the AMVETS and the American Legion, everybody who is calling for Senator Kerry to apologize, would be, if, indeed, he maligned the troops. If he was just going after the President, that's a different story.

MR. SNOW: Okay, real simple question. Do the following words malign the troops? "You know, education if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make the effort to be smart, you can do well, and if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." Those are the words. That's not the intention. We're sitting here trying to do mind-reading. We're not playing the "what if" game. Do those words insult the troops? Apparently, troops believe so.

Q But he has to be interpreting it in a way that Kerry has clearly said he did not mean it -- he has to be saying that Kerry is lying.

MR. SNOW: What Senator Kerry said is, I believe, that he forgot a word. Then you try to put the word in, and it doesn't work. And then he said, no, I really meant to insult the Commander-in-Chief in a time of war. That's probably not an argument he wants to make either in terms of support for the troops. But the President is referring to what he said and what Senator Kerry, when it came out, said, I apologize to no one for it. Now, it seems to me that all he has to do is take back the statement.

Kerry botches a joke at Pasadena City College about Bush, and clarifies the remark -- and Snow spends several days publicly condemning him and demanding an apology. A Republican Senator calls the Iraq war "criminal" and says we should "cut and run" on the Senate floor and Snow and the right wing echo chamber shrug.

So predictable.