"Every performer tonight in their own way, either verbally or through their
music, through their lyrics, have conveyed to you the heart and soul of our
country." -- Kerry, July 8

"The other day, my opponent said he thought you could find the heart
and soul of America in Hollywood." -- Bush, Aug. 18

"My goal, my diplomacy, my statesmanship is to get our troops reduced
in number and I believe if you do the statesmanship properly, I believe if you
do the kind of alliance building that is available to us, that it's appropriate
to have a goal of reducing the troops over that period of time [the first six
months of a Kerry administration]. Obviously, we'd have to see how events
unfold. . . . It is an appropriate goal to have and I'm going to try to achieve
it." -- Kerry, Aug. 9

"I took exception when my opponent said if he's elected, we'll
substantially reduce the troops in six months. He shouldn't have said that. See,
it sends a mixed signal to the enemy for starters. So the enemy hangs around for
six months and one day. . . . It says, maybe America isn't going to keep its
word." -- Bush, Aug. 18

"I will fight this war on terror with the lessons I learned in war. I
defended this country as a young man, and I will defend it as president of the
United States. I believe I can fight a more effective, more thoughtful, more
strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror that reaches out to
other nations and brings them to our side and lives up to American values in
history. I lay out a strategy to strengthen our military, to build and lead
strong alliances and reform our intelligence system. I set out a path to win the
peace in Iraq and to get the terrorists wherever they may be before they get
us." -- Kerry, Aug. 5

"Senator Kerry has also said that if he were in charge he would fight a
'more sensitive' war on terror. America has been in too many wars for any of our
wishes, but not a one of them was won by being sensitive. . . . Those who
threaten us and kill innocents around the world do not need to be treated more
sensitively. They need to be destroyed." -- Cheney, Aug. 12

"Lee Hamilton, the co-chairman of the 9/11 commission, has said this
administration is not moving with the urgency necessary to respond to our needs.
I believe this administration and its policies is actually encouraging the
recruitment of terrorists. We haven't done the work necessary to reach out to
other countries. We haven't done the work necessary with the Muslim world. We
haven't done the work necessary to protect our own ports, our chemical
facilities, our nuclear facilities. There is a long, long list in the 9/11
recommendations that are undone."
-- Kerry, Aug. 2

"My opponent says . . . that going to war with the terrorists is actually
improving their recruiting efforts. I think the logic -- I know the logic is
upside down. It shows a misunderstanding of the nature of these people. See,
during the 1990s, these killers and terrorists were recruiting and training for
war with us, long before we went to war with them. They don't need an excuse for
their hatred. It's wrong to blame America for anger and the evil of these
killers. We don't create terrorists by fighting back. You defeat the terrorists
by fighting back." -- Bush, Aug. 18

"Yes, I would have voted for the authority [to use force in Iraq]. I
believe it is the right authority for a president to have. But I would have used
that authority, as I have said throughout this campaign, effectively. I would
have done this very differently from the way President Bush has. My question to
President Bush is: Why did he rush to war without a plan to win the peace? Why
did he rush to war on faulty intelligence and not do the hard work necessary to
give America the truth?" -- Kerry, Aug. 9

"He now agrees it was the right decision to go into Iraq. After months of
questioning my motives, and even my credibility, the Massachusetts senator now
agrees with me that even though we have not found the stockpiles of weapons we
all believed were there, knowing everything we know today, he would have voted
to go into Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power." -- Bush, Aug. 18