Tony Snow Joins CNN As Political Contributor

Tony Snow is joining CNN as a conservative commentator, the network announced today. Snow, who spent 10 years at Fox News, left his job as White House Press Secretary in September, saying he needed to make more money to support his family.

"In the White House, Tony brought a remarkably human touch to the discussion of public policy, which he will continue to do as part of the Best Political Team on Television," CNN/US President Jon Klein said. "He will contribute a unique breadth of political and journalistic expertise to what is already the most provocative and wide-ranging political analysis on the air."

"I'm delighted to be able to join CNN during the most exciting and unpredictable political year in memory," Snow said. "The big challenge in 2008 is to develop deep, creative and aggressive analysis of both political parties, their candidates and campaigns. I'm eager to get started, since this race is sure to shape American politics for years to come."

Update: The Politico's Michael Calderone spoke wtih Snow, who assured him that he still loves his old friends at Fox News:

"Make no mistake, I love the folks at Fox," Snow told [Calderone] this afternoon, by phone from Spokane, Washington.

"Everybody is going to try and create a Fox and CNN narrative out of this," said Snow, who also mentioned that he "love[s]" Fox News chief Roger Ailes and would "walk over broken glass" for Bill O'Reilly.

Previously:
Tony Snow Takes Job With Bill O'Reilly
Breaking: Tony Snow To Step Down, Dana Perino To Step Up (In Size Six Shoes)
Full press release below:

Tony Snow Joins CNN as Political Contributor

Former White House press secretary Tony Snow will join CNN as a conservative commentator beginning today, it was announced by Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S. A well-known and respected observer of politics with a longstanding news background, Snow will contribute to CNN as the network continues to broadcast winning political coverage.

Snow most recently served as press secretary to President George W. Bush from April 2006 to September 2007. For 10 years beginning in 1996, he appeared on Fox News Channel, hosting Fox News Sunday, Weekend Live with Tony Snow and other programs. From 2003 to 2006, The Tony Snow Show aired on Fox News Radio. Before joining Fox, Snow served as a substitute "From the Right" co-host for CNN's Crossfire.

"In the White House, Tony brought a remarkably human touch to the discussion of public policy, which he will continue to do as part of the Best Political Team on Television," Klein said. "He will contribute a unique breadth of political and journalistic expertise to what is already the most provocative and wide-ranging political analysis on the air."

"I'm delighted to be able to join CNN during the most exciting and unpredictable political year in memory," Snow said. "The big challenge in 2008 is to develop deep, creative and aggressive analysis of both political parties, their candidates and campaigns. I'm eager to get started, since this race is sure to shape American politics for years to come."

During the 1990s, Snow was a regular guest host for Rush Limbaugh's radio program. He was the writer, correspondent and host of a PBS news special, The New Militant Center, a regular commentator for National Public Radio and a frequent guest on numerous televised news programs. Snow joined the administration of President George H. W. Bush in 1991 and served first as chief speechwriter and then as media affairs adviser.

In addition to his experience in government, television and radio, Snow spent more than two decades as an award-winning newspaper writer beginning with the Greensboro Record in 1979. He went on to be a columnist for USA Today and Creators Syndicate and an editorial page editor for The Washington Times.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world's most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.