IL-14: Tony Snow & $175-a-plate fund-raiser

Hastert and Snow steer away from controversy

ST. CHARLES -- At Denny Hastert's 19th annual "Mega Event" -- the $175-a-plate fund-raiser at the Q Center Saturday night -- Republicans talked about pulling together during this time of adversity.

"Every time we've faced a crisis like this, we've whomped 'em," said guest speaker Tony Snow, the White House press secretary and former Fox News anchor.

But Snow and Hastert weren't talking about the congressional page scandal about which the speaker has answered endless questions for two weeks.

Both Hastert and Snow skirted the sensational questions about Hastert's knowledge of the scandal and focused on GOP election issues: the economy, the war on terror and, of course, Sept. 11.

Tony Snow continues..

Snow talked about Bush's attitudes on North Korea ("We made offers they couldn't refuse ,and somehow they did. They behaved like brats"); the oil crisis ("The president believes in innovating his way out of it"); and his hopes for building a democracy in Iraq ("It's tough. Everybody knows it's tough. But the benefits are unbelievable").

Snow said that contrary to popular opinion, Bush is a big, brash thinker, who always is the smartest guy in the room.

"He's not a guy who sits around thinking: What's going to be my legacy?" Snow said. "People call him a poker player, but it's more like a chess player."

Who is he kidding?

A President Bush has made a career on not being the smartest guy in the room. A permanent Republican majority was Karl Rove main goal of the Bush Presidency, it was suppose to be their legacy. Tony Snow is laying it on pretty thick for this boss. The President Bush and this Republican party legacy might come done to one word, failure.

Fear, lies and rhetoric is all they have left.

John Laesch (D) for Congress!