Kerryism of the DayThe senator's caveats and curlicues.

What did he say?(For instructions on how to read a Kerryism, click here.)

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Tim Russert: If there's another bill to provide money for the troops, you'll vote against it again?
Kerry: It depends^₁, Tim.^{2 3} Even the generals in Iraq said the money in that bill had no impact on their ability to continue to fight. We had money all the way^₄, and^₅ you know^{_{6 7}} that^₈ we would have sat down at a table, we [would] have worked out exactly how we were going to do this intelligently, and we would have had a better bill.
—Washington, D.C., April 18, 2004

[1] entirely on what the situation is

[2] I'm not going to say that.

[3] What I'm saying is

[4] through January

[5] if my vote had been the deciding vote

[6] as well as the president knows

[7] as well as every Republican knows

[8] if I'd been the deciding vote

Kerry version:
"It depends entirely on what the situation is, Tim. I'm not going to say that. What I'm saying is, even the generals in Iraq said the money in that bill had no impact on their ability to continue to fight. We had money all the way through January, and if my vote had been the deciding vote, you know as well as the president knows, as well as every Republican knows, that if I'd been the deciding vote, we would have sat down at a table, we [would] have worked out exactly how we were going to do this intelligently, and we would have had a better bill."

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William Saletan is Slate's national correspondent and author of Bearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War. Follow him on Twitter here.

Photograph of John Kerry by Marc Serota/Reuters.

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