tonight's debate transcript

[pop goes the weasel]

For those, like me, who don't have cable and have dial-up:

transcript

[maddezmom]

1. thanks

I watched on the net, but I always like a hard copy. :)

[Egnever]

2. Best and worst

Best exchange hands down

Do you believe that the president knowingly lied to the American people? And if so, why would he do that?

KUCINICH: I think that this administration knew full well that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, with Al Qaida's role in 9/11, with the anthrax attack on this country, that Iraq had neither the capability nor the intention of attacking the United States, that Iraq was not trying to get uranium from Niger and that, in fact, Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.

This is the singular issue upon which this election will turn. And I, as the only one up here who voted against the war and voted against the Patriot Act, as the ranking Democrat on a subcommittee that has jurisdiction over national security, an investigative subcommittee, I never saw any evidence that suggested that there was a reason for this country to go to war against Iraq.

It was wrong to go to in it's wrong to stay in it is time that we start talking about bringing our troops home, bringing those guardsmen, guardswomen, those reservists back home. Stop this war get out of Iraq.




Worst exchange

GILBERT: Let me turn to you, Senator Kerry, because you said your vote wasn't a vote for what the president ultimately did. But you did vote to give him the authority, so do you feel any degree, any degree of responsibility for the war and its costs and casualties?

KERRY: This is one of the reasons why I am so intent on beating George Bush and why I believe I will beat George Bush, because one of the lessons that I learned -- when I was an instrument of American foreign policy, I was that cutting-edge instrument. I carried that M- 16.

I know what it's like to try to choose between friend and foe in a foreign country when you're carrying out the policy of your nation.

KERRY: And I know what it's like when you lose the consent and the legitimacy of that war. And that is why I said specifically on the floor of the Senate that what I was voting for was the process the president promised.

There was a right way to do this and there was a wrong way to do it. And the president chose the wrong way because he turned his back on his own pledge to build a legitimate international coalition, to exhaust the remedies of the United Nations in the inspections and to go to war as a matter of last resort.

Last resort means something to me. Obviously, it doesn't mean something to this president. I think it means something to the American people.

And the great burden of the commander in chief is to be able to look into the eyes of any parent or loved one and say to them, "I did everything in my power to prevent the loss of your son and daughter, but we had to do what we had to do because of the imminency of the threat and the nature of our security. "

I don't think the president passes that test.

GILBERT: But what about you? I mean, let me repeat the question. Do you have any degree of responsibility having voted to give him the authority to go to war?

KERRY: The president had the authority to do what he was going to do without the vote of the United States Congress. President Clinton went to Kosovo without the Congress. President Clinton went to Haiti without the Congress.


That's why we have a War Powers Act. What we did was vote with one voice of the United States Congress for a process. And remember, until the Congress asserted itself, this president wasn't intending to go to the United Nations. In fact, it was Jim Baker and Brent Scowcroft and others and the Congress who got him to agree to a specific process. The process was to build a legitimate international coalition, go through the inspections process and go to war as a last resort.

He didn't do it. My regret is not the vote. It was appropriate to stand up to Saddam Hussein. There was a right way to do it, a wrong way to do it.

My regret is this president chose the wrong way, rushed to war, is now spending billions of American taxpayers' dollars that we didn't need to spend this way had he built a legitimate coalition, and has put our troops at greater risk.

Followed by the best rebutal

GILBERT: You cast the same vote, Senator Edwards, is that the way you see it?

EDWARDS: That's the longest answer I ever heard to a yes or no question. The answer to your question is of course.

[Duder]

3. Kerry going for the people with gills vote:

And what I'm learning nationally from the people I'm talking to, the people who have lost work, the people who don't have health care and can't afford it, the people who have dreams for their kids to go to school, but can't get a good school, or people who want clean air and clean water to breathe,...

[AndyTiedye]

8. There Are Quite a Few of them around Arkham

>>people who want clean air and clean water to breathe,...

> Kerry going for the people with gills vote:

[0rganism]

4. Disagree on the quality of the rebut...

Edwards leaves it unclear as to which question he's answering.

"The answer to your question is of course"

Was the question
"Do you have any degree of responsibility having voted to give him the authority to go to war?"
as posed to Kerry (implied by context) or
"You cast the same vote, Senator Edwards, is that the way you see it?"
as posed to Edwards (implied by proximity)?

So he could be seen as either taking a degree of responsibility or seeing it the same way Kerry does. I know this perhaps seems like parsing meanings of "is", but it's important to get these things straight.

[Egnever]

5. Your right, I was refering to this part though

That's the longest answer I ever heard to a yes or no question

[bigtree]

6. Kerry's not going to be pigeonholed or caught flatfooted on anything

What detractors want is an embarrassed mea culpa, but Kerry spells out the rationale for every inituitive that he sponsors or supports before and after he acts. He doesn't leave much room for any opponent to put words in his mouth or define him. I like his aggressive style. I look forward to his debate with Bush.

[Clark4Prez]

9. Good point!

Kerry answered the question and did it well.

Bush and his rehearsed responses won't work well this time.

Last go around, people cut him slack because they knew Al Gore was smarter. This time, he is President and being "king of low expectations" just isn't going to get it with the voters.

We want leadership, not more of the low expectations and high body counts of Bush.

[DjTj]

10. The next line out of Edwards mouth was:

"We all accept responsibility for what we did. I did what I believed was right. I took it very, very seriously."

So there is no ambiguity.

[bigtree]

7. Man, you went a long way around John Kerry's words to highlight

that weak, off point love-tap by Sen. Edwards.