Reagan Said Trust But Verify But NSA Spying Leaves Too Many Questions

In the waning days of the Cold War, President Reagan said trust, but verify. The United States is reaching a point where the American people can neither trust nor verify anything that President George W. Bush or his advisers say. The NSA scandal just leaves far too many questions unanswered, literally. Here's a story from Editor & Publisher:

At a press briefing this afternoon aboard Air Force On en route to Mississippi, a White House spokeswoman refused to confirm or deny that the president had tried to halt today's USA Today bombshell report on the National Security Agency collecting records of tens of millions of ordinary Americans' phone calls.

The spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said she would not comment when a reporter posed that question, and declined again on a followup.

A USA Today spokesman told E&P he would check to see if the White House approached the newspaper before publication.

President Bush this morning did not take issue with the USA Today story, but did not deny it either. Earlier, the White House did try to halt the groundbreaking New York Times article on NSA domestic spying.

(snip)

Q If you're fiercely protecting Americans' rights to privacy, why would you need a database of tens of millions of American phone call records?

MS. PERINO: Well, not confirming or denying or acknowledging the substance of the story this morning in USA Today, what the President said today, all intelligence activities of the United States are limited and targeted and focused solely on al Qaeda and al Qaeda's affiliates. They are the enemy.

So, Ms. Perino, are you saying that tens of millions of members of al Qaida reside in the United States? I don't trust what you're saying and I doubt you can verify it.