http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003553919Tony Snow: On Walter Reed, The Buck Doesn't Stop Here
By E&P Staff
NEW YORK When the first articles about severe problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center broke in The Washington Post last month, reporters asked White House spokesman Tony Snow why they detected no sense of alarm or outrage from the administration. He suggested the problems were limited and more needed to be probed.
Now, after two more weeks of headlines and firings, has anything changed? Would the commander in chief say the buck stopped with him? Not quite.
Asked by a reporter about this, Snow replied vaguely, “Well, in a sense, the President -- and also everybody within the chain of command -- are taking responsibility. It's time to shine a bright light on the entire system and find out where the failings may be, and address them.”
Snow was then pressed, “But the President hasn't said in any way, shape, or form, this is my responsibility, this is on me?”
He replied: “Okay, well, I'll take the rhetorical flourish under advisement.”
Another reporter asked, “Has the President been hearing from anyone particularly, reaching out, making phone calls, and just asking their thoughts or their personal experiences --
Snow: “What the President is really trying to do right now is to assemble people who can devote their full time and attention to an exhaustive look, as I said, to shine light on the system and to take a comprehensive look at what's going on. I'm not aware -- as you know, April, he had a very busy weekend, and he was on the road Thursday and Friday, as well. I'm not aware of any reach out calls to ask people about personal experiences. But on the other hand, what he has been doing is making sure that people take a good look to find out what the situation is -- no excuses, get the facts, get it fixed.”
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