George W. Bush photo

Remarks on the Resignation of Tony Snow as Press Secretary and the Appointment of Dana Perino as Press Secretary and an Exchange With Reporters

August 31, 2007

The President. Thank you. Good afternoon to you.

Tony Snow informed me he's leaving. And I sadly accept his desire to leave the White House, and he'll do so on September the 14th. He is—it's been a joy to watch him spar with you. He's smart; he's capable; he's witty. He's capable of—he's able to talk about issues in a way that the American people can understand.

And I don't know what he's going to do; I'm not sure he does yet either. But whatever it is, it's going to be—two things: One, he'll battle cancer and win, and secondly, he'll be a solid contributor to society.

I do want to thank Jill and Kendall, Robbie, and Kristi. They have watched a man they love take on a big job and, at the same time, fight disease with a lot of courage. And so I accept; I love you; and I wish you all the best.

And so I had to make a choice, who to replace Tony, and I've chosen Dana Perino. I did so because Dana is a smart, capable person who is able to spell out the issues of the day in a way that people listening on TV can understand. She can handle you all. [Laughter] She's capable of handling your questions.

Q. She has done—[inaudible].

The President. She has? Good. Okay. I'm glad to get a little—I'm glad to get that choir singing. [Laughter] So I'm not worried about her standing here at the podium. What I look for in somebody like Dana is somebody who can walk in that Oval Office and give me sound judgment and good advice. And I have found that over the course of the time I've known her, she's capable of doing that. And she's also capable of running the shop that she'll be in charge of.

And so we say to the man we admire a lot, good luck, Godspeed. And to Dana Perino, I'm looking forward to working with you, and I'm looking forward to the American people to get to know you like I've gotten to know you.

Tony.

President's Staff

Q. You've lost a lot of members in your administration——

The President. Hold up there. We're not quite through yet. [Laughter]

[At this point, Press Secretary Snow and Press Secretary-designate Perino made remarks.]

The President. Thank you.

President's Staff

Q. How do you feel about losing every body?

The President. Thank you all.

NOTE: The President spoke at 12:45 p.m. in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House. The transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of Press Secretary Snow and Press Secretary-designate Perino.

George W. Bush, Remarks on the Resignation of Tony Snow as Press Secretary and the Appointment of Dana Perino as Press Secretary and an Exchange With Reporters Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/276270

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