What Was Cheney Thinking?

"THE VICE PRESIDENT: I didn't say anything, he did."

Briefing Room Follies

Here's the text of Friday's wonderfully contentious briefing.

"Q: Tony, your argument that Vice President Cheney didn't know that he was being asked about water boarding or wasn't being asked about water boarding and didn't intend to give an answer that suggested he was saying the United States uses water boarding, it doesn't follow when you read the transcript and it doesn't follow sort of common sense.

"MR. SNOW: Well, I'll tell you what he --

"Q: How can you really make that argument?

"MR. SNOW: I'll tell you what he said. He was asked the question, 'You dunk somebody's head in the water to save a life, is it a no-brainer?' And also, if you read the rest of the answer, he also -- the vice president, who earlier had also been asked about torture, he said, 'We don't torture.'

"Let me give you the no-brainers here. No-brainer number one is, we don't torture. No-brainer number two: We don't break the law, our own or international law. No-brainer number three: The vice president doesn't give away questioning techniques. And number four, the administration does believe in legal questioning techniques of known killers whose questioning can, in fact, be used to save American lives. . . .

"Q: What could 'dunk in the water' refer to if not water boarding?

"MR. SNOW: I'm just telling you -- I'm telling you the vice president's position. I will let you draw your own conclusions, because you clearly have. He says he wasn't talking --

"Q: I haven't drawn any conclusions. I'm asking for an explanation about what 'dunk in the water' could mean.

"MR. SNOW: How about a dunk in the water?

"Q: So, wait a minute, so 'dunk in the water' means what, we have a pool now at Guantanamo, and they go swimming?