A Day in the Life of President Bush - with special thanks to Tony Snow - (photos)

In a busy day of campaigning today, President Bush made two fundraising appearances starting with a reception for Representative Rick Renzi in Scottsdale, Arizona where he also signed H.R. 5441 - the Homeland Security Appropriations Act funding the border fence - and then a reception for Colorado gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez in Englewood, Colorado. In his speeches he emphasized the importance of electing Republicans in the interest of our nation's security and strength.

Also today First Lady Laura appeared at two Republican fundraisers, one for Representative Curt Weldon in Springfield, Pennsylvania, and later for Representative Tom Reynolds in Amherst, New York and was interviewed on a youth radio station in Buffalo and attended a mock trial.

In addition, the Bush economy achieved new heights today as the Dow closed at 11,850...........the highest in history!

Today we are doing a special tribute, not only to our great President, but also to our friend and fellow Freeper, Tony Snow. If you'd like to contribute comments, we welcome your input, but we ask that all comments remain positive toward both the President and Tony to keep this our 'Sanity Island.'

This is for you, Tony...............you are a perfect compliment to the President whom we deeply respect and admire. You are a Godly man - witty, intelligent and combative in a gentlemanly sort of way, just as he is, and have proven to be the perfect spokesman for President Bush. You are, as he is, a joy to watch as you defend the facts against the onslaught of seemingly braindead pseudo-journalists' attacks disguised as questions, and we smile every day as you clean their intellectual clocks in defense of the President's strong, well reasoned, pro-American policies.

Many of us have prayed for you through your illness, thanking God for your recovery, and as you made the difficult decision to leave broadcasting to become President Bush's Press Secretary, and we thank God for not only your health but also your decision to sacrifice much to serve your country as you serve the President.

We know that you are self-effacing and humble (another characteristic you share with your boss), and won't take credit for the changes in style at the White House, but we also know that you have had a hand in a stronger, feistier White House presentation, and for that we thank you.

On this thread we express our deep and well-founded admiration for President Bush daily, but on this day, we have chosen to include you in our tribute to jobs well done.

Enjoy your trip to Sanity Island on the Daily Dose! These are great times to be a Bushbot..........AND a Snowflake!!

Quote of the Day (from Tony Snow's interview with the Pittsburg Tribune- Review)"

Trib: It seems like you are trying to get President Bush on TV and/or out in public speaking more. Is that true?

Snow: Yes we are.

Trib: Is that you doing that?

Snow: It is all of us. Look, he is the most effective advocate for himself. I spend a lot of time talking to him, to make sure that I have got the tone and the tenor of what he believes in, to make sure that I have the pulse and the points right. But it is not better than hearing him talking.

People want to hear from the President. I am a press secretary -- it's a great job, but nobody elected me. [Laughter] People want to hear from the guy that is making the decisions. And I think that the more that they see him, they like him. So I also think that it is important to get him in front of the press.

... Maybe the most grotesque misperception about the President has to do with the way he approaches his job. Also, the level of substance. Because he loves it and he is really smart about it. And it comes through a lot when he is sitting around having conversations or answering questions with reporters ... when they elicit things from him that might not occur to a speech writer or might not occur to him when he is doing a speech, it allows people to take a look at the President from angles that they haven't seen before and have access to nuances to which they have not been previously exposed.

... He is a really complex, extremely interesting, very engaging guy. And really, really smart. And for people to be able to see that -- look, I can sit around here and say that, I can pepper it with as many adjectives as I want, but if people see him answering questions, they can see him driving conversations himself.

**snip**

Trib: You said that this is a president who does not care about the "legacy" aspect, but that is not really true, is it? He really does.

Snow: The "legacy thing" in the sense of he does not sit around and say, "What is my legacy?" ... Instead, his view is, "If I don't do it, then people are going to ask, why didn't I do it? Why didn't he do his job?"

It is really fun to be working for somebody that says, "I am going to do this, because this is the right thing." And people have got to understand that he is very patient -- he is extremely patient about this stuff. And he really does trust in the fairness of the public. But he also understands that there are going to be times that there will be peaks and valleys in terms of popularity.

He is not taking on easy stuff!

In this administration we have been through a recession at the beginning, we had Sept. 11, which deepened the recession. You have had corporate scandals. We have had the worst natural disaster, at least in financial terms, in American history. And we have had two wars. And somehow we still have a vital economy ... . It is a pretty extraordinary thing. You don't have those successes by looking the other way of your problems.

Look, we had the Sept. 11 attacks and he said, "Cut taxes." And people said, "WHAT?" And he said, "Cut taxes -- we have got to get the economy going."

If you are looking at Saddam Hussein, and we are worried about a terror network, he (Bush) says, "Okay, we are going to have to do it." Everybody in Congress agreed originally, or nearly everybody. But even when people began to express doubts, he said, "We are sticking with it. It is the right thing to do."

I can't tell you how proud it makes me, and a lot of people here, to have a president that would not change just because someone said a pollster said X, Y and Z.

On the other hand, it's also not a president that is not going to say "I am sticking with it, no matter what happens." He understands his job is to do the job right, and if it means he has to adjust the way he does it, then he will do that, too.

He is very clear-headed about stuff. He does not want someone coming in to give him a briefing that paints a rosy scenario. ... It is a wondrous thing to watch when people occasionally try to do that, because he won't let them get away with that. He will keep at them and at them and at them, until he finds out what the real thing is.

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