The Honeymoon's Already Over for Tony Snow

I reported the other day on how Tony Snow is already having an impact as press secretary as he started off by aggressively defending the White House and challenging the press on the quality of their reporting. Today he was at it again, going after two more media outlets, and getting his first blowback from CBS:

New White House Press Secretary Tony Snow continued to go after the media Thursday by accusing the Associated Press and Washington Post of unfair coverage of President Bush.

Since starting his job Monday, Snow has challenged five major news outlets in a clear signal that he will be more aggressive than his mild-mannered predecessor, Scott McClellan.

One of those outlets, CBS News, fired back on Thursday.

“The White House is clearly manipulating what I broadcast to fit their agenda,” wrote reporter Jim Axelrod on a CBS blog. “And they are wrong to do that.”

He was responding to a White House e-mail that criticized a report by Axelrod.

“CBS News misleadingly reports that only 8 million seniors have signed up for Medicare prescription drug coverage,” the White House said. “But 37 million seniors have coverage.”

Axelrod suggested he was the victim of “selective editing on the part of the White House to make their own political points.”

I predict that Tony's first official press briefing on Monday will be a contentious once, and that Tony will give back better than he gets. It should be entertaining.

UPDATE: Tony's first time in the podium was today, and it didn't go as well as he would have liked.