Do the right thing, get fired

By Libby Spencer

The news is all about Tony Snow today. Under the mantra, speak no ill of the dead, I'm just going to say of all the official spokesliars for this administration, he was the least odious and may he rest in peace. My condolences to his family and friends.

His untimely death will dominate the cycle, while stories like these will pass almost unnoticed.

When Gina Gray took over as the public affairs director at Arlington National Cemetery about three months ago, she discovered that cemetery officials were attempting to impose new limits on media coverage of funerals of the Iraq war dead -- even after the fallen warriors' families granted permission for the coverage. She said that the new restrictions were wrong and that Army regulations didn't call for such limitations.

Six weeks after The Washington Post reported her efforts to restore media coverage of funerals, Gray was demoted. Twelve days ago, the Army fired her.

Tony Snow was probably a decent guy in his personal life but he very much helped make wrongheaded policies like these possible. He cashed in on the evil side of politics. Yet, they'll be singing his praises for the next few days while we'll probably never hear about Gina Gray again, even though she actually tried to make a difference for the better.

That's just not right.

(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)