He'll Be Grrrrrrrrreeeaaat!

Tony Snow will take the job as press secretary with the Bush administration:

Tony Snow will be named new White House press secretary on Wednesday morning, FOX News has learned. Snow is expected to be at the White House for the announcement. He has been mulling the offer for the last several days.

Long before the announcement, oddsmakers were banking on Snow, host of FOX News Talk's "The Tony Snow Show," to be tapped for the highly visible White House post.

"I expect to see him at the podium in just a few days, in the press room at the White House," Fred Barnes, editor of The Weekly Standard and a FOX News contributor, said Tuesday.

The talk radio host was given a clean bill of health by his oncologist Tuesday, following a CAT scan and other tests that were undertaken last Thursday. Sources said Snow was President Bush's first choice, but he needed the all-clear from his doctors before he takes the job. Snow is recovering from colon cancer.

Congrats, Tony! The White House press room will be a much more interesting place as long as Tony is at the podium.

UPDATE: Mark Daniels explores why Tony would be willing to take a cut in pay to move to the press secretary's job.

Simply put, the reason Tony Snow is willing to take a pay cut in order to take the thankless job of presidential press secretary is that he loves his country.

It's a good post on the motivation that drives someone like Tony. Read it all here.

My own thoughts are that Tony sees an important position with a finite timeline - it has to end on January 20th, 2009, no matter what. I think all of us who enjoy politics would love the opportunity to be "close to the throne", if even for just a little while. Tony is willing to give up the extra money and freedom he now has to try and make a difference in the closing years of the Bush administration. It's a noble pursuit, and my hat's off to him.