===========================================================================
Interview of the Vice President by Chris Wallace, Fox News Sunday
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release Office of the Vice President July 13, 2008

Interview of the Vice President by Chris Wallace, Fox News Sunday Naval
Observatory Washington, D.C.



4:26 P.M. EDT

Q Mr. Vice President, thank you so much for talking with us. How important
was Tony Snow's voice over the past two decades in the conservative
movement?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, he was a major player in the conservative
movement, and the way I think of Tony is he's unique in terms of the extent
to which he knew the news side of the business; then as a commentator and
-- but also somebody who worked as part of the White House staff as a
speechwriter and of course as press secretary.

And there are very, very few people that have had as much experience on
both sides of the divide, if you will. And I don't know anybody who had as
much experience on both sides. You can think of people like Rush Limbaugh,
obviously, who are giants in the profession, but always on the commentary
side. And there aren't many who've done what Tony did.

Q How would you describe his brand of conservatism? What kinds of issues
animated him?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, he was -- I frankly agreed with him on nearly
everything, and I'm generally viewed as pretty conservative. I'm not sure
that that's saying something nice about Tony in some circles, but I always
thought of him as a guy who understood very well the purposes of government
and that they were limited, and that there were some things government
shouldn't do that we are best able to do for ourselves. And I thought Tony
was an effective articulator of that. He was a tough critic of the Bush
administration. Before he came onboard as press secretary, he obviously had
written some tough criticism of us.

Q I wanted to ask you about that, because when he was asked to be press
secretary people noted that just before that he'd written some tough things
about the President, about your administration, that you were maybe getting
a little soft around the edges, particularly on domestic policy. Once he
got inside the White House and was in policy meetings, would he speak up
for conservative principles and say, you got to keep the faith?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it wasn't so much that. He saw his job, I suppose
in some respects, the way I saw mine. I didn't always agree with the
President, but my job was to present my point of view when asked and then
support whatever the decision was. And Tony clearly operated very much on
the basis that he was out there to represent the President of the United
States. He worked for the President. It wasn't a matter for him, given the
role he played, of trying to impose his views or to shape policy by virtue
of the position he occupied. He was -- he had a different role as the
spokesman, press spokesman than, say, the guy running the economic shop or
the policy shop -- very different responsibilities.

Q Let's talk about his role as spokesman. I think it's fair to say that
when he took over as press secretary in March of 2006, the White House in
general and the press shop, press operation in particular, was back on its
heels, was playing defense. How effective was Tony in turning that around
and being a forceful advocate on behalf of the President?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, he was superb, Chris, because I've known or
worked with a lot of press secretaries, White House press secretaries, in
my 40 years in Washington, and I'd have to say that Tony's the best. He had
this rare combination of intelligence, of commitment and loyalty to the
President that he was working for, but also this great love of going out
behind that podium and doing battle with what in effect were his former
colleagues. And it was this capacity that he had to be unfailingly polite,
to maintain good humor under the most trying of circumstances, and do it, I
thought, better and more effectively than anybody I've ever seen in that
post.

Q By 2006 -- let me ask it again -- by 2007, he became the first press
secretary to actually go out and help raise money for Republican
candidates. How big a star did he become inside the Party?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, he was a big star. I mean, I -- you know, our paths
would occasionally cross out there because that's what Vice Presidents do,
is a lot of fundraisers. But Tony had this depth of commitment and
understanding, and he was a real media star. And it was -- I've never
before seen a guy who was as good as he was at going out on the really
tough issues, when you've got, you know, the crew in the White House press
office -- not the staff, but the press -- actively and aggressively going
after the President or me or somebody else, and Tony would stand up there
and give as good as he got. And he always did it with great good humor. He
was unfailingly polite. Everybody loved him. And you always had the feeling
at the end of his briefings -- I used to watch them on closed circuit video
in the White House because they were such a performance -- he'd always
leave and everybody felt good about what they'd just been through, whether
they were newsmen or on the White House side of the podium.

Q Which is not always the way it is in the White House press briefing room.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oftentimes -- I've been there often enough over the
years when people dreaded having to go out in front of the press and answer
questions, do the daily brief, when Tony absolutely relished it. He would
never miss the opportunity to go out and engage with a journalist.

Q When he became such a star, did you ever think to yourself that if
finances and health had not intervened, that he might have been an
effective Republican politician?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, I think he could have been a great candidate if
he'd wanted to do that. He obviously -- I can remember talking with him
when he decided he had to leave again. He came by to see me and tell me
what he was going to do, and he felt a great commitment obviously to his
family, and he was concerned at that point, by virtue of his health
situation, that he really felt he had to go focus specifically on the
family. And everybody understood that. If it hadn't been for the tragedy of
cancer, I think Tony had a unlimited future ahead of him.

Q Let's talk about the fight against cancer. What kind of a message do you
think he sent, and what kind of public service do you think he provided
through his courage, through his good humor, and by how openly he shared
his fight with cancer?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I thought it rendered a significant service. The
thing that always struck me about him -- we didn't talk about it very much;
I just remember a couple of occasions when it came up -- he was unfailingly
optimistic and positive in his outlook. He knew obviously that this was a
situation that might well shorten his life, but he never lost his lust for
living every day to the fullest extent. He never let it get him down. I
never saw -- when I was around him, I never saw Tony down or depressed,
like I think a lot of us might have been if we'd encountered the kind of
health problems he did. You know, he was -- relished every moment of every
day, and that's the way he conducted himself right to the end.

Q I know that you and he were more than politician and reporter, or even
when you were working within an administration, I know you were good
friends. What are your personal thoughts about Tony and about his passing?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it's a great tragedy, obviously, and our thoughts
and prayers go out to his family. He'll be missed. I always remember the
night he came to a dinner party at our house, and the house had burned down
that day; they'd just had a significant house fire. And with Tony, you
know, he would tell you that happened, but it absolutely didn't affect his
enjoyment of the evening or his outlook on life. A lot of us would, you
know, really be bummed out if we just had a major house fire. And he had
this capacity to sort of put everything in its place, maintain his
perspective, and I think he'd want us to do that now. I think he lived his
life to the fullest. He's to be, I think, deeply revered for that.

Q And I don't know whether the two of you ever talked about this, but as a
colleague of his myself, his faith was a very tangible, real part of his
life. It wasn't, you know, once a week on Sundays; it was something that
really guided his life, wasn't it?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think that's true. I think it helped him very much as
he went through these last days in terms of wrestling with what, in effect,
befell him -- having to battle cancer.

Q Mr. Vice President, we want to thank you so much for talking with us
today and sharing your thoughts about Tony Snow.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it's a privilege to be asked, Chris. Thank you.

END 4:37 P.M. EDT

===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/07/20080713.html