Kerry: I have a better plan to be able to fight the war on terror by strengthening our military, strengthening our intelligence, by going after the financing more authoritatively, by doing what we need to do to rebuild the alliances, by reaching out to the Muslim world, which the president has almost not done. (How do almost not do?) First of all, he made the misjudgment of saying to America that he was going to build a true alliance, that he would exhaust the remedies of the United Nations and go through the inspections... When the Secretary General Kofi Annan offered the United Nations, he said, "No, no, we'll go do this alone." To save for Halliburton the spoils of the war, they actually issued a memorandum from the Defence Department saying, "If you weren't with us in the war, don't bother applying for any construction." He also promised America that he would go to war as a last resort... (The last resort came sooner than later) When we went in, there were three countries: Great Britain, Australia and the United States. That's not a grand coalition. We can do better. (Oh gosh, he forgot Poland!) The president just talked about Iraq as a centre of the war on terror. Iraq was not even close to the centre of the war on terror before the president invaded it. The president made the judgment to divert forces from under General Tommy Franks, from Afghanistan, before the Congress even approved it, to begin to prepare to go to war in Iraq. And he rushed the war in Iraq without a plan to win the peace. Ninety-five percent of the containers that come into the ports, right here in Florida are not inspected. Does that make you feel safer in America? This president thought it was more important to give the wealthiest people in America a tax cut rather than invest in homeland security... What I think troubles a lot of people in our country is that the president has just sort of described one kind of mistake (One of many…). But what he has said is that, even knowing there were no weapons of mass destruction, even knowing there was no imminent threat, even knowing there was no connection with al-Qaeda, he would still have done everything the same way (Hmm… kind of makes you think). We had inspectors and television cameras in the nuclear reactor in North Korea... And we knew where the fuel rods were. And we knew the limits on their nuclear power. Colin Powell, our secretary of state, announced one day that we were going to continue the dialogue of working with the North Koreans. The president reversed it publicly while the president of South Korea was here (How rude…). And the president of South Korea went back to South Korea bewildered and embarrassed because it went against his policy (Now who’s denigrating out allies?). And for two years, this administration didn't talk at all to North Korea (Ignorance is NOT bliss). While they didn't talk at all, the fuel rods came out, the inspectors were kicked out, and the television cameras were kicked out (That’s not suspicious at all!). That happened on this president's watch (Sorry he was busy chocking on a pretzel). The president did nothing. (That’s all folks)
Bush: We pursued al-Qaeda wherever al-Qaeda tries to hide (verb tense changed…). Seventy-five percent of known al-Qaeda leaders have been brought to justice. The rest of them know we're after them. (Chat about the unknown leaders… where are these percentages coming from?) That's totally absurd. Of course, the UN was invited in. My opponent says we didn't have any allies in this war. What's he say to Tony Blair? What's he say to Alexander Kwasniewski of Poland? You can't expect to build an alliance when you denigrate the contributions of those who are serving side by side with American troops in Iraq... In Iraq, we saw a threat, and we realized that after 11 September, we must take threats seriously, before they fully materialize. Saddam Hussein now sits in a prison cell. America and the world are safer for it. (How do you know we are safer? You have yet to find any weapons of mass destruction) As a matter of fact, this is a global effort (yet the majority of the troops are ours). We're facing a group of folks who have such hatred in their heart; they'll strike anywhere, with any means... That's why it's essential that we make sure that we keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of people like al-Qaeda, which we are... Of course we're after Saddam Hussein - I mean Bin Laden. He's isolated. I don't think we want to get to how he's going to pay for all these promises. It's like a huge tax gap... (Coming from the guy that gave rich people a tax break) My administration has tripled the amount of money we're spending on homeland security to $30bn a year (Speaking of money…). Of course we're doing everything we can to protect America. I wake up every day thinking about how best to protect America (WOW Bush thinks!!!). Let me first tell you that the best way for Iraq to be safe and secure is for Iraqi citizens to be trained to do the job... (Funny how our men are doing the fighting though) And so the best indication about when we can bring our troops home... is to see the Iraqis perform and to see the Iraqis step up and take responsibility (How will they do this when we won’t give them a chance?). When our general is on the ground and Ambassador Negroponte tells me that Iraq is ready to defend herself from these terrorists, that elections will have been held by then, that their stability and that they're on their way to, you know (do we now?), a nation that's free - that's when. (When exactly do you think that will be?) My opponent says help is on the way, but what kind of message does it say to our troops in harm's way, "wrong war, wrong place, and wrong time"? Not a message a commander-in-chief gives, or this is a "great diversion". (Actually I think the message was that help was on the way…) As well, help is on the way, but it's certainly hard to tell it when he voted against the $87bn supplemental to provide equipment for our troops, and then said he actually did vote for it before he voted against it. (Kerry supported a different version of the bill which the administration opposed. The White House had to threaten a veto against the congressional version. He actually favored $67bn for the ground troops, but he didn’t agree w/ the administration additional request for $20bn for reconstruction) Because we achieved such a rapid victory, more of the Saddam loyalists were around. I mean, we thought we'd whip more of them going in... I thought they would stay and fight, but they didn't. (Wait a second… we were victorious?) And now we're fighting them now (Now it’s a bit redundant now). And it's hard work (Being the president is H-A-R-D work, how does he handle it all?). And the main argument is: I think what is misleading is to say you can lead and succeed in Iraq if you keep changing your positions on this war. And he has. We began a new dialogue with North Korea, one that included not only the United States, but now China. And China's got a lot of influence over North Korea, in some ways more than we do. As well, we included South Korea, Japan and Russia. So now there are five voices speaking to Kim Jong-Il, not just one. And so if Kim Jong-Il decides again to not honor an agreement, he's not only doing injustice to America, he'd be doing injustice to China (and the other 3 countries “involved”), as well. (All the other countries have had direct talks with North Korea. China has repeatedly asked the Bush administration to talk directly with North Korea. And the contradictions just keep coming.) I'm trying to put a leash on them (his daughters). (I believe that would be child abuse…) We've increased funding for dealing with nuclear proliferation about 35% since I've been the president(His first budget proposed a 13% cut, about $116 million, and the increase since then has all been added by congress… so by we he means congress). Secondly, we've set up what's called the (ALERT-brain fart: change subject!) - Well; first of all, I agree with my opponent that the biggest threat facing this country is weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terrorist network. (Hmm let’s start with secondly, not finish the statement, go back to first of all… what was the question?) If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy (Because we all know that the world revolves around the US). We've been challenged, and we've risen to those challenges. We've climbed the mighty mountain. I see the valley below, and it's a valley of peace.
