Don't know if it helps, or if it's what you're looking for, but it touches upon some points that might help connect some dots for you as far as Vilsack's comments about the "debatable" nature of illegality:
~snip~
All he needs to say is that the Democratic Party doesn't object to eavesdropping on terrorists, but it does object to breaking the law to do so. And if the law needs to be changed, it can be changed without making vital information public. Unless I'm mistaken, that's the Democratic position. And reviewing the polls, I know that's a popular position.
Vilsack's statement implies a few things. First, it implies that Democrats don't want to wiretap terrorists. That's not true. Second, it implies that Bush's illegal warrantless wiretapping is necessary to keep people safe. That's not true, either. And third, it implies that the "very, very large political trap" being set by Bush and the GOP is legitimate. On that point, he could just as easily have said that 'Republicans are trying to set a political trap for Democrats, but the American people can see through that.' Flip the script. Work to change the conventional wisdom. Reject their premise and refuse to fight on their terms. Apparently, that's beyond Vilsack's political capabilities.
This is all about Vilsack building himself up at the expense of the larger Democratic Party brand. Notice, as Matt did at Breaking Blue, that Vilsack refers to "Democrats" in the third person. This is something we've grown accustomed to from politicians aligned with the Democratic Leadership Council. And that habit, more than anything else, is why I think the DLC is harmful to the party. I don't mind centrism. I don't mind moderation. I don't mind non-adherence to certain Democratic principles as long as the big picture is progressive. But Democrats like Vilsack and Lieberman love telling the world how "moderate" they are, that they're not at all like the rest of us extremist radicals in the party. Never do they give any thought to what this kind of behavior might mean for elections other than their own. And if guys like this really want to remain Democrats, they ought to knock it off.
~snip~
http://skippy.mydd.com/story/2006/1/31/122012/569