Chicken-Hawk-in-Chief

The problem with spin-doctors, like White House press spokesperson Tony Snow, is that their hubris compels them to talk — when a simple “No comment” would be better advised.

Thanks to Think Progress for today’s telling tidbit from inside the bubble.

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Snow: President Bush Is ‘On The Frontlines’ Of The Iraq War ‘Every Day’

In today’s White House press briefing, reporter Helen Thomas asked Tony Snow if there are “any members of the Bush family or this administration in this war.” Stunningly, Snow claimed that President Bush is actually on the “frontlines” of the war in Iraq:

Q: Are there any members of the Bush family or this administration in this war?

SNOW: Yeah, the President. The President is in the war every day.

Q: Come on, that isn’t my question –

SNOW: Well, no, if you ask any president who is a commander in chief –

Q: On the frontlines, wherever…

SNOW: The President.

Watch a video of the exchange <here>.

In reality, Bush and his administration have repeatedly shown they are deeply out of touch with the sacrifices and the fighting by U.S. troops and their families. Bush himself acknowledged his detachment during a press conference in February:

I can only tell you what people on the ground, whose judgment — it’s hard for me, living in this beautiful White House, to give you an assessment, firsthand assessment. I haven’t been there; you have, I haven’t.

In April, First Lady Laura Bush tried to claim that “no one suffers more than their President and I do.” When asked by PBS’s Jim Lehrer why he hasn’t called on more Americans to sacrifice for the war, Bush claimed that Americans have had to “sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible image of violence on TV every night.”

— Adam Simms