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Snow job

By Ken Herman | Tuesday, May 30, 2006, 10:46 AM

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If you believe President Bush, the selection of Henry Paulson as the nation’s new treasury secretary was a hurry-up effort triggered by the surprising news (despite months of very public speculation) that John Snow was leaving the post.

Here’s what Bush told the nation last Thursday night during a White House news conference:

“No, he has not talked to me about resignation. I think he’s doing a fine job.”

So, for those of you scoring at home, as of about 8 p.m. last Thursday, Bush seemed to say he had no idea he would be in the market for a new treasury secretary.

Friday rolls around and Bush is wheels up for Camp David, with former Commerce Secretary Donald Evans and others in tow. Saturday morning, it’s off to West Point for a commencement speech.

Fast forward to this morning in the Rose Garden, when Bush announced his selection of Paulson. So this means, if what the president told us last Thursday was accurate, he got word of Snow’s resignation sometime since then and was able to come up with a replacement. Maybe he knew a guy who knew a guy…

But wait. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow now tells us that Bush – of course – knew John Snow was leaving. In fact, by last Thursday night the job had been offered to Paulson.

Asked about Bush’s comment, Snow said, “That does not mean that there were not other discussions. It was artfully worded.”

And it had to be so worded out of fear of how a change in treasury secretaries might impact markets, Snow said.

“The one thing you not want to do in a situation like this is to start speculating about changes before the changes are ready to be made,” he said, acknowledging Bush talked to Paulson on May 20, and Paulson accepted the job a day later.

In thanking Bush for the honor of being the nation’s 73rd treasury secretary, Snow today also provided evidence that Bush had engaged in artful wording last week when he made it look like nothing was up at treasury.

“But as you know, I’ve looked forward for some time to returning to private life,” Snow told Bush.

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