Less than two weeks before midterm congressional elections, the White House was put on the defensive as news of Cheney's remark spread. Bush was asked about it at a White House photo opportunity with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Presidential spokesman Tony Snow was pelted with questions at two briefings with reporters.
Democrats also pointed to Cheney's statement.
"Is the White House that was for torture before it was against it, now for torture again?" asked Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts. During his unsuccessful campaign for the presidency, Kerry had been skewered by Bush for saying he had voted for war funds before he voted against them.
Cheney triggered the flap in an interview Tuesday with radio broadcaster Scott Hennen of WDAY in Fargo, N.D.
Hennen said callers had told him, "Please, let the vice president know that if it takes dunking a terrorist in water, we're all for it, if it saves lives."
"Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?" Hennen asked.
"Well, it's a no-brainer for me, but for a while there I was criticized as being the vice president for torture," Cheney said. "We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in."
At his photo op, Bush said, "This country doesn't torture, we're not going to torture. We will interrogate people we pick up off the battlefield to determine whether or not they've got information that will be helpful to protect the country."
Snow told reporters the question put to Cheney was loosely worded. "You know as a matter of common sense that the vice president of the United States is not going to be talking about water boarding," Snow said. "Never would, never does, never will."
Snow said Cheney did not interpret the question as referring to water boarding.
Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement, " Vice President Cheney's advocacy of water boarding sets a new human rights low" for the Bush administration.
