Snow's Job, Have You Heard?

So it's official, Tony Snow's the new White House press secretary. I'm just curious about one thing.... At a time when leak investigations are so prominent in the news, isn’t it odd that "unnamed sources close to the White House" revealed Snow was on the verge of accepting the position long before any official recognition of the fact? It was everywhere: NY Times, Fox News, CNN, everyone was quoting unnamed sources, and I didn't hear a single person complain about it. Sure, national security wasn’t at risk, and obviously White House strategy was to get the word out so their eventual announcement wouldn't come as a shock, not to mention wanting to gauge how the public would react….. but isn’t a leak a leak? Couldn't they have just released a statement that Tony Snow had been approached? Does this sort of thing really have to be released through back channels? And leaking news about a new press secretary, isn't that a bit ironic? Is this really how our government's supposed to work? Floating an appointment's name like it's office water cooler chatter?

Sources: Tony Snow to Be Named White House Press Secretary
Fox News (4/26/06)
WASHINGTON — Tony Snow will be named new White House press secretary on Wednesday morning, FOX News has learned. Snow is expected to be at the White House for the announcement. He has been mulling the offer for the last several days.
(Here’s the FoxNews.com article)

Sources: Tony Snow likely to take White House post
CNN Washington Bureau (4/25/06)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sources close to the White House said Monday that Fox anchor Tony Snow is likely to accept the job as White House press secretary, succeeding Scott McClellan.
(Here’s the CNN.com article)

(An interesting side note: Snow was once a speech writer for President Bush Sr.)