Tony Snow exits in style

Tony Snow isn't the first man to jump the rapidly sinking Bush administration. Karl "Turd Blossom" Rove announced he was stepping down to "spend more time with his family". Alberto "I don't recall" Gonzalez resigned in disgrace after realizing -- 6 months after everyone else -- that his presence was unproductive. But no one, I believe, has ever come up with as good of an excuse as Tony Snow for why they had to leave. The NYTimes lays it out:

Mr. Snow, 52, said two weeks ago that he would not stay on until the end of the Bush presidency, and that he was leaving because of financial pressures. The father of three, Mr. Snow earned $168,000 a year as an assistant to the president...

Someone explain this to me. This guy is making $168,000, and he is leaving because he is making too little?! Please, NYTimes, give me some context:

...much less than he made as a conservative pundit and talk-show host on Fox Radio who occasionally criticized President Bush.

Now I hate to be the first one to point this out -- and I've been watching TV news all day so I'm pretty sure I actually am the first person to point this out -- but isn't the fact that he used to have a much higher paying job a reason why he should be able to stay? I mean, presumably Tony Snow did save some of the million he earned as a pundit, radio, and TV host over the years before taking his oh-so-drastic pay cut to $168,000 a year. And it is not like the guy doesn't have a ready made excuse: he does have cancer, after all.

(Anyone who wants to discuss the irony of this administration's hesitance to raise the minimum wage is free to insert their sarcastic remarks here)

Ah well. Take care Tony. You will be missed. Not as much as Ari Fleischer, but far more than Scott McClellan.