"These memos I wrote were not for public consumption. They lack a certain polish." Said John Yoo.

Polish?

"I think [it] would have been better to explain government policy rather than try to give unvarnished, straight-talk legal advice. I certainly would have done that differently, but I don't think I would have made the basic decisions differently."...

"One thing I sometimes worry about is that lawyers in the future in the government are going to start worrying about, ‘What are people going to think of me?’ ... Your client the president, or your client the justice on the Supreme Court, or your client this senator, needs to know what's legal and not legal. And sometimes, what's legal and not legal is not the same thing as what you can do or what you should do."

Any sympathy for the lawyer? For lawyer-client confidentiality? The need for harsh, straight-talk without the verbal lubrication of public speaking.

UPDATE: More here.