After battling with colon cancer, former Bush press secretary Tony Snow has passed away at 53:

Tony Snow, the former White House press secretary and conservative pundit who bedeviled the press corps and charmed millions as a FOX News television and radio host, died after a long bout with cancer. He was 53.

A syndicated columnist, editor, TV anchor, radio show host and musician, Snow worked in nearly every medium in a career that spanned more than 30 years.

“Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of our dear friend Tony Snow,” President Bush said in a statement. “The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character.”

Snow died at 2 a.m. Saturday at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Snow joined FOX in 1996 as the original anchor of “FOX News Sunday” and hosted “Weekend Live” and a radio program, “The Tony Snow Show,” before departing in 2006.

“It’s a tremendous loss for us who knew him, but it’s also a loss for the country,” Roger Ailes, chairman of FOX News, said Saturday morning about Snow, calling him a “renaissance man.”

As a TV pundit and commentator for FOX News, Snow often was critical of Bush before he became the president’s third press secretary, following Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan. He was an instant study in the job, mastering the position — and the White House press corps — with apparent ease.

“One of the reasons I took this job is not only to work with the president, but, believe it or not, to work with all of you,” Snow told reporters when he stepped into the post in 2006.

During a tenure marked by friendly jousting with journalists, Snow often danced around the press corps, occasionally correcting their grammar and speech even as he responded to their questions.

“Tony did his job with more flair than almost any press secretary before him,” said William McGurn, Bush’s former chief speechwriter. “He loved the give-and-take. But that was possible only because Tony was a man of substance who had real beliefs and principles that he was more than able to defend.”

As he announced Snow as his new press secretary in May 2006, Bush praised him as “a man of courage [and] a man of integrity.” Snow presided over some of the toughest fights of Bush’s presidency, defending the administration during the Iraq war and the CIA leak investigation.

Snow’s tenure at the White House lasted 17 months and was interrupted by his second bout with cancer.

“The White House has lost a great friend and a great colleague,” said Bush’s current press secretary and Snow’s former deputy, Dana Perino. “We all loved watching him at the podium, but most of all we learned how to love our families and treat each other.”

I hate getting news like this. It’s truly saddening that such a genuine, principled, kind, talented man is no longer with us. It’s rare to find such men like Tony Snow in politics today. My heart just breaks for his family. My thoughts and prayers go out to them.

Diarist Andrew MC at, believe it or not, the Daily Kos, had some nice things to say:

He was someone they knew and loved for all the reasons you know and love someone apart from their politics. To them Tony Snow was a family man, a college friend, a pal they vacationed with and got away from the pressures.

To them Tony Snow was not a guy who worked for Fox News; not a guy who shilled for the Bush Administration. He was a drinking buddy, a family man, someone with whom you could escape and forget about politics, the problems of running a church, of work, etc.

My prayers go out to Tony Snow, to his family, and to his friends.

But of course, what would the Krazy Kos Kids be without posts like this one?

I’m sorry but it just sickens me to read diary after diary of silly, bleeding-heart little condolensces to Snow and his family.

I swear some of you weak-kneed progessive brethren of mine have no clue about the vicious nature of the ideological battle we are in. When a bad guy dies, we should rejoice, not sing his praises of wish him anything by scorn.

…

So now he’s dead. I said “good riddance” and hell, some of your are falling over each other to condem me for it…

But you know what? I DON’T GIVE A F*CK what you think of my “heartless” comments, because what i see is a parade of soppy condolensces for a co-criminal that far outpaces and far outnumber any conversations about the death of our own innocent citizen soldiers nor the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis.

Disgusting….

How do we win this generational ideological battle when we’ve got silly sissies on our side wailing over a another scumbag’s death?

One of the DU moderators took the high route, making a post to say that any inappropriate posts about Tony Snow’s death would be deleted. Sad that the post even had to made, isn’t it? The HuffPo’s piece about him was shockingly closed for commenting (wonder why). I’m just wondering how long it is before the lefty trolls are unable to continue to contain themselves and start erupting in glee, as they do whenever a notable conservative dies. Sick.

Please keep Tony Snow’s family and friends in your thoughts and prayers. The news brought tears to my eyes this morning. This must be just awful for them.

We’ve lost a great American today. Tony Snow, Rest in Peace.