Transcript is here at Editor and Publisher. A few excerpts:
Q Well, the President has said that this government can do many things at once: It can fight the war on terror, it can do operations in Iraq, and aid and comfort people in Louisiana. Can it not also find time to begin to hold people accountable? It sounds, Scott, as if the line that you're giving us -- which is, you don't want to answer questions about accountability because there's too much busy work going on --
MR. McCLELLAN: Wrong. No, wrong.
Q -- is a way of ducking accountability.
MR. McCLELLAN: You don't want to take away from the efforts that are going on right now. And if you start getting into that now, you're pulling people out that are helping with the ongoing response, Terry. Not at all. The President made it very clear, I'm going to lead this effort and we're going to make sure we find out what the facts were and what went wrong and what went right. But you don't want to divert resources away from an ongoing response to a major catastrophe. And this is a major catastrophe that we -- and we must remain focused on saving lives and sustaining lives and planning for the long-term. And that's what we're doing.
Q And there are people in Louisiana and Mississippi who are doing that job very well. Your job is to answer the questions.
MR. McCLELLAN: And I have.
Q By saying you won't answer.
MR. McCLELLAN: No, by saying that there's a time to look at those issues, but now is not the time, Terry.
and
Q Is "Brownie" still doing a "heck of a job," according to the President?
MR. McCLELLAN: We've got to continue to do everything we can in support of those who are involved in the operational aspects of this response effort. And that's what we're going to do. There will be plenty of time --
Q If he fails at it, he's not going to be good at it going forward. That's what Bob is saying.
MR. McCLELLAN: There are people working round-the-clock with FEMA. The Secretary, the FEMA Director and many others who are working round-the-clock. And we've got to do everything we can in support of their efforts to make sure people are getting what they need.
Q Does the President really believe we could respond to a terrorist attack with any -- amount of weeks, months?
MR. McCLELLAN: We've actually done a lot of exercises, David, to prepare for possible attacks, but --
Q Do you think most Americans agree, based on --
MR. McCLELLAN: But the most important thing we've got to do is focus on --
Q You mean exercises for Hurricane Katrina.
MR. McCLELLAN: We've got to focus on prevention, and that's what we're doing by staying on the offensive.
Q Well, let's talk about it. Are you saying the President is -- are you saying that the President is confident that his administration is prepared to adequately, confidently secure the American people in the event of a terrorist attack of a level that we have not seen? And based on what does he have that confidence?
MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, and that's what he made clear earlier today, that obviously we want to look and learn lessons from a major catastrophe of this nature.
Q Yes, but you're telling us today there will be time for that somewhere down the road. Well, what if it happens tomorrow?
MR. McCLELLAN: We can engage in this blame-gaming going on and I think that's what you're getting --
Q No, no. That's a talking point, Scott, and I think most people who are watching this --
MR. McCLELLAN: No, that's a fact. I mean, some are wanting to engage in that, and we're going to remain focused --
Q I'm asking a direct question. Is he confident --
MR. McCLELLAN: We're going to remain focused on the people.
Q -- that he can secure the American people in the event of a major terrorist attack?
MR. McCLELLAN: We are securing the American people by staying on the offensive abroad and working to spread freedom and democracy in the Middle East.
Q That's a talking point. That's a talking point.
MR. McCLELLAN: No, that's a fact.
