Bush Unplugged But Unrevealing

"And while the president was not on script, he certainly stayed on message."

Here is the transcript of his talk.

The Rechristening

Dan Eggen and Walter Pincus write in The Washington Post that Bush "repeated his argument that Congress effectively endorsed the program of eavesdropping without warrants under its authorization of military action against al Qaeda, dubbing the effort 'a terrorist surveillance program.'

"The president also focused on classified briefings that the White House gave for some senior leaders in Congress. 'It's amazing that people say to me, 'Well, he's just breaking the law.' If I wanted to break the law, why was I briefing Congress?' he said, eliciting laughter from the crowd at Kansas State University.

"The remarks opened a three-day blitz by the administration aimed in part at making the controversial eavesdropping program a political winner for the White House in a midterm election year. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales will discuss the legal underpinnings for the program today, and Bush will pay a rare visit to NSA headquarters tomorrow to highlight its work.

"The strategy was signaled by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove in a speech last week that framed the issue as a contest between Republicans who want to protect Americans from terrorists and Democrats who are trying to sabotage the administration's efforts."

David E. Sanger and Eric Lichtblau write in the New York Times: "Democrats and some Republicans have attacked the program as illegal and unconstitutional, and an analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has strongly questioned its legal underpinnings and the limited briefings that Congressional leaders were given about it. Leading Democrats said Monday that they found the White House's latest line of defense to be unpersuasive, with Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate Democratic leader, saying Mr. Bush's speech reflected a refusal to 'come clean' with the public.

Ron Hutcheson of Knight Ridder Newspapers takes a look at the legal underpinnings of the controversy.

Charlie Savage writes in the Boston Globe: "Bush's aides have argued in recent weeks that he can boost his approval ratings by emphasizing his willingness to use any means necessary to fight terrorism. He is also trying to use popular will to blunt upcoming Senate hearings on whether the surveillance program is legal.

"On a legal level, however, Bush's initiative has deeper implications, analysts said. If the public and the Congress accept Bush's assertion of power, they would clear the way for an increase in presidential power that could last long after Bush leaves office, the analysts said.

John Diamond and David Jackson write in USA Today: "A new USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows public sentiment is against the program. Fifty-one percent of Americans said the administration was wrong to intercept conversations involving a party inside the USA without a warrant. In response to another question, 58% of Americans said they support the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the program. Both questions were asked of about 500 adults Friday through Sunday and have a margin of error of +/-5 percentage points."

Here are the poll results.