UPDATED BELOW 

H/T to Michelle Malkin on this who says:

I, for one, was glad to hear that the surgery to remove the skin cancer tumor from First Lady Laura Bush’s right shin in early November was successful.

My relief seems not to have been shared by female members of the White House press corps, who tried to instigate a David Gregory-style swarm and imitate their male WH press corps counterparts’ VP Cheney accidental shooting feeding frenzy. They are justifying their attacks on the grounds that somehow Mrs. Bush is obligated to become a public crusader for whatever ailments she suffers. Never mind that this is the same press corps that mocks the First Lady any time she expresses an opinion on health matters or any other policy matter.

You can watch the mob on the White House website, but reprinting the transcript really reveals how thoroughly pathetic and idiotic the self-parodying WH press corps has become.

So reading through the transcripts, I can’t say she is overstating much at all.

The briefing starts on important matters.  Bills, troop strength,  Iran.  The press dogged Tony on Iraq for a while (Helen Thomas naturally):

Q Why can you identify all the Iraqi resistance as terror?

MR. SNOW: I didn’t.

Q We are the occupiers, do you realize that? And do you realize what an occupation is?

MR. SNOW: Do you also realize — I do — I think people not only understand occupation, people in Iraq also understand –

Q Your broad brush everything.

MR. SNOW: And that was a precise characterization you just gave me?

Q I am saying that you –

MR. SNOW: No, you just used a broad brush on responding. If you wish to get into colloquialism, I’ll be happy to go along.

Q Do you think that people are resisting our occupation?

MR. SNOW: I think that there are some people — as a matter of fact, if you take a look at Saddam rejectionists, they’re absolutely resisting the occupation. As a matter of fact, their avowed goal — it’s right here in the 90/10 report — that says that their avowed goal is to push Americans out. Why? Because they want to reestablish the kind of supremacy they enjoyed during the days of Saddam.

There are many people who want to end the occupation and, in many cases, they want to end the occupation because they, themselves, want to restore or to create their own tyranny over the Iraqi people. They do not want to support the goal of a democracy in which the human rights of all are protected and –

Q What gives you the right to impose anything on them?

MR. SNOW: I think what we’re — you know, what’s interesting is the government of Iraq and people of Iraq look upon us not as imposing. I don’t know how you impose liberty. I think what you do is you — you impose tyranny and you relieve tyranny by creating the possibility for freedom.

Tony is fun to watch for sure.  He is still the best appointment Bush has ever made. 

But then they move on to Laura:

Q Tony, can you tell us about Mrs. Bush’s skin cancer? How is she doing? And how was the decision reached not to disclose this publicly until questions were asked?

MR. SNOW: Yes, I talked to her a couple of minutes ago. She’s doing fine. And she said, "It’s no big deal, and we knew it was no big deal at the time." Frankly I don’t think anybody thought it was the sort of thing that occasioned a need for a public disclosure. Furthermore, she’s got the same right to medical privacy that you do. She’s a private citizen; she’s not an elected official. So for that reason she didn’t disclose it. But she’s doing fine, and thank you for your concern.

Q She is often an advocate for women’s health in the area of breast cancer or heart disease, advocating screenings, preventative care. Is she likely to talk about skin cancer in that way?

MR. SNOW: I don’t know. Fortunately, squamous cell carcinoma, at least in this particular case, was not dangerous. But let me just say, without having cleared it with her, I’m sure that she would be more than supportive of anybody to go out, and if you think you’ve got a problem with a change in a mole or some skin problems, go get it checked out by a doctor.

Q And she didn’t feel any obligation as a person of public status to talk about this?

MR. SNOW: No, again, there are any number of — this is a room full of public people who tend not — and I know you say, wait a minute, I’m different than the First Lady. Well, no, she’s a private citizen. And the fact is, she is entitled to her medical privacy. And, again, it’s no big deal. In this case, it’s just not a big deal.

Q May I follow on that? The President is also a private citizen, as well as being the President. So –

MR. SNOW: Well, he’s an elected official. It’s different.

Q He’s an elected official and a private citizen. You can make the same claims of a number of people who have public lives. Mrs. Bush has made herself part of this party and this White House’s very public face. So my question is, if this were to be something that is a big deal, would the White House feel obliged to share that with the public?

MR. SNOW: I don’t know. She didn’t feel obliged, and she believes that she has the same medical privacy rights that you and I have.

Q Did the White House doctor treat her?

MR. SNOW: That I don’t know. I didn’t ask. There is the confidentiality — and guess what? Medical privacy also applies to her case in this particular incident.

This is my favorite part:

Q This morning you said you’d make that inquiry.

MR. SNOW: Yes — you know what, I didn’t.

YES!

Q But you will?

MR. SNOW: No. It’s medical privacy, and I’m not going to get into this.

Hehe.

Q Was it done offsite or was she treated here at the White House? That’s a question to add to your list.

Q May we ask, just so that you don’t say, you never asked so that’s why we haven’t told you — is the Vice President well these days? Has there been any medical incident that would be of interest to the American public?

MR. SNOW: As you know, whenever there is a medical incident involving the Vice President — I’ve been an anchor when these things have happened — you are notified promptly and immediately; cameras are dispatched to the scene, where people stand and wait and wait and wait and wait, until they can see the Vice President getting back into a limo and returning to wherever he is.

So as you know, the President and Vice President, being the two chief elected officials in this country, if there are important health developments, you hear about it. And we think that that’s appropriate.

Q Tony, on this point, did the First Lady say she actually does not plan to come out in any way? You know, as someone who would advocate for people –

MR. SNOW: Let me repeat to you exactly what she said. She said, "It’s no big deal, we knew it wasn’t a big deal at the time." Apparently, she’s wrong about this.

Q No, what I’m saying is, as far as encouraging people to be checked. What I’m saying is even though she may not be an elected official, she’s a very public official and very well loved. And as someone who has two adolescents who don’t like to listen to mother when she says, put on the sun screen, get out of the sun, she could potentially have a great influence on a lot of people’s lives, especially young women.

MR. SNOW: She’s also had colds, she’s had the flu, she’s had stomach aches –

Q When? (Laughter.)

Q But those tend not to be –

MR. SNOW: — she’s had a number –

Q Melanoma can kill, skin cancer can kill. It can be very serious.

MR. SNOW: This particular one could not.

Q But she could still — it could be a platform.

MR. SNOW: You guys are really stretching it. I mean, it is now officially a really slow news day.

Ain’t that the truth.  And amazingly, they were not done.

Q Going back to Mrs. Bush, it seems that there are two things going on, in terms of not informing the public and the press. Which was it, was it that it was medical privacy that was the reason for not informing us, or was it that it was no big deal?

MR. SNOW: It was medical privacy, but also what we’re trying to do is to console you with the notion that, in addition, it was no big deal.

Q So there was a conscious decision that, okay, we’re not going to tell anybody because this is medical privacy, this is something for us, it’s not for –

MR. SNOW: Well, I don’t know, if you’ll be happy to share all your private medical information, maybe we can change it around. But I don’t think that’s appropriate, nor does the First Lady. She’s got the same privacy rights when it comes to her medical information that you and I do.

Q But was the decision made not to share it?

MR. SNOW: Yes, in the sense — let me put it this way: It never occurred to anybody that this would be a big deal. It never occurred — but suddenly everybody is –

Q First it was described as a sore, and now, a month-and-a-half later, it’s revealed that it’s cancer. So there was one story out there that’s been corrected.

MR. SNOW: Do you understand — if you’ve been — there are literally millions of Americans who have been through this, and you can ask them whether they thought this was a big deal or not. It was quickly diagnosed. They said, the sore is not going away, we’re going to take a look at it. They did. They did a biopsy, they found out it was a squamous cell cancer and they removed it. They did local anesthetic; they removed it.

Q But the White House might have had an interest in correcting the record when bad information was out there.

MR. SNOW: No, there wasn’t bad information. She had a sore. It wasn’t bad information — that’s what she knew at the time.

Oh no!  The skin sore scandal.  The lies.  The evasions.  The cover up!

It’s SCAB-GATE!!!!

Honestly, did they hound Hillary everytime she had a pimple on her butt?

Gawd, all the important world issues and over half of this press conference was on Laura Bush’s skin.

Pathetic.  The NY Times Blog harped on it, as is the British press.  Again, pathetic.

Like Michelle, I wish Mrs Bush the best.You can send your good wishes here:

first.lady@whitehouse.gov

UPDATE:  See the compassionate liberal reactions at HuffPo via Pirates Cove

And Texas Rainmaker reminds us:

I find it downright hilarious that the MSM is making such a big deal about Laura Bush’s choice not to make a grand public spectacle about her having a discolored mole removed from her leg.

Why, you ask?

Because this is the same MSM that tried to tell us for years that a President having an adulterous affair with a member of his staff in the White House is a private matter.

More at Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, Cao, The Big Tent

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