KERRY: Will we ever be safe and secure again? Yes. We absolutely must be. That’s the goal. Now, how do we achieve it is the most critical component of it. I believe that this president, regrettably, rushed us into a war, made decisions about foreign policy, pushed alliances away. And, as a result, America is now bearing this extraordinary burden where we are not as safe as we ought to be.

BUSH: Yes, we can be safe and secure, if we stay on the offense against the terrorists and if we spread freedom and liberty around the world. I have got a comprehensive strategy to not only chase down the al-Qaida, wherever it exists – and we’re making progress; three-quarters of al-Qaida leaders have been brought to justice – but to make sure that countries that harbor terrorists are held to account.

KERRY: When the president had an opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, he took his focus off of them, outsourced the job to Afghan warlords, and Osama bin Laden escaped. Six months after he said Osama bin Laden must be caught dead or alive, this president was asked, ‘Where is Osama bin Laden?’ He said: ‘I don’t know. I don’t really think about him very much. I’m not that concerned.’ We need a president who stays deadly focused on the real war on terror.

BUSH: Gosh, I just don’t think I ever said I’m not worried about Osama bin Laden. It’s kind of one of those exaggerations. Of course we’re worried about Osama bin Laden. We’re on the hunt after Osama bin Laden. We’re using every asset at our disposal to get Osama bin Laden.

BUSH: I haven’t gotten a flu shot, and I don’t intend to because I want to make sure those who are most vulnerable get treated. We have a problem with litigation in the United States of America. Vaccine manufacturers are worried about getting sued, and therefore they have backed off from providing this kind of vaccine. …

KERRY: This really underscores the problem with the American health-care system. It’s not working for the American family. And it’s gotten worse under President Bush over the course of the last years. Five million Americans have lost their health insurance in this country.

KERRY: We’re going to restore the fiscal discipline we had in the 1990s. Every plan that I have laid out – my health-care plan, my plan for education, my plan for kids to be able to get better college loans – I’ve shown exactly how I’m going to pay for those.

BUSH: Well, his rhetoric doesn’t match his record. He been a senator for 20 years. He voted to increase taxes 98 times. When they tried to reduce taxes, he voted against that 127 times. He talks about being a fiscal conservative, or fiscally sound, but he voted over – he voted 277 times to waive the budget caps, which would have cost the taxpayers $4.2 trillion.


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