McClellan junkies go forth

Check out this press briefing from yesterday. (And as per my usual convention, I'll skip McClellan unless he actually answers or says something.)

Q Is it your position that legal authority is required -

Q -- for any surveillance of U.S. citizens by the NSA?

MR. McCLELLAN: A couple of things. One, I'm aware of the reports that were in the papers this morning.

Q I hope so. (To which McClellan answer, "ongoing intelligence operations")

Q Right, but all I asked you was whether it's your position that it always requires a court order for surveillance of U.S. citizens.

MR. McCLELLAN: What it's getting into -- again, let me reiterate. The President is firmly committed to upholding our Constitution and protecting people's civil liberties.That is something he has always kept in mind as we have moved forward from the attacks of September 11th, to do everything within our power to prevent attacks from happening. It's very important to him. We are meeting both those priorities. Those are two important priorities. (Upholding the constitution is one of two 'priorities'?) ..........

Q The New York Times -- they sat on a very important story about possible breach of our Constitution for a full year, and they reached an agreement, I guess, with somebody in the White House. I'm wondering if you could give us a tick tock about how the White House reached --.....

Q If there is a conflict and you can't do both, when push comes to shove, the question is, which is more important: life or liberty? .....

MR. McCLELLAN: ......Some people suggest that the President is just going off and doing certain things. Well, there's congressional oversight in place, there's other oversight in place, there's our Constitution, there's the laws. And we abide by them.