Tony Snow is great TV and he’s a great story. He’s also a master and clever debater — as evidenced by his first two press briefings. People who prefer vibrant and provocative debate take notice: Tony Snow is the best. Check out the examples below and you’ll see how he mixes passion with classic Socratic methods for discovering and relaying fact and opinion (”I know the argument, and I’ve just given a rebuttal.”) Even when, as he did today, calling ABC “a competing network.”

Examples from his first two days:

He defines terms:

“Amnesty, at least to me, means, as it did in 1986, all sins are forgiven, you’ve got a clean slate, go about your business.”

He redefines terms:

“al Qaeda doesn’t believe in transparency. What al Qaeda believes in is mayhem.”

“Well, let me reverse the question, Jim. What we’re talking about is using National Guard to free up Border Patrol agents.”

He dissects opposing arguments:

“Let’s try to segregate the stories here.”

“Are you suggesting that we have too much prosperity?”

“We went through this yesterday, and the baseline argument is, am I concerned that there’s going to be too much prosperity?”

Q: “What’s behind ‘the more, the merrier’?”
A: “How about ‘the more, the better informed’?”

He identifies the compelling twist:

“Duncan Hunter, who has been very conservative on the issue over the years, supports the President’s ideas.”

He challenges research and assumptions:

“You’re talking about a Heritage Foundation study that talks about a Senate bill that may or may not be passed in its present form.”

” …linguistic precision is important here, because when people say it’s amnesty, it’s not.”

He grows weary of the opponent:

“How many times do I have to answer the same question?”

“It’s an argumentative question, and based on what you’re — there are many interpretations of that the Constitution does and does not permit. And rather than argue — I believe there are elections in the District of Columbia, are there not?”

And for good measure, he appeals to the heart by making guarantees (Day One only — no guarantees Day Two):

“I guarantee you, al Qaeda does not believe …”

“I guarantee you there will be consultation on the principals level …”

“I guarantee you it’s going to go to conference…”

“I guarantee you, the President knows that this is an issue of sufficient concern …”