Kerryism of the DayThe senator's caveats and curlicues.

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Question: As a senator, you had to go on record with your opinions about the war. Do you feel you got duped?

Kerry: No … I said that the weapons of mass destruction are the only legitimate issue, and that basically war is the last resort, ultimate enforcement [tool for inspections]. Now, that's what I said. George Bush assured us that was his approach.^{₁ 2} The president, I think, misled the whole country^₃. And the evidence that we saw^₄ was not real.

—MTV interview, March 30, 2004 (brackets in original transcript)

[1] And you know, you are not duped when somebody misleads you and lies to you or doesn't tell you the truth

[2] in effect

[3] in effect

[4] —we were given photographs, direct evidence—

Verbatim:

No … I said that the weapons of mass destruction are the only legitimate issue, and that basically war is the last resort, ultimate enforcement [tool for inspections]. Now, that's what I said. George Bush assured us that was his approach. And you know, you are not duped when somebody misleads you and in effect lies to you or doesn't tell you the truth. The president, I think, misled the whole country in effect. And the evidence that we saw—we were given photographs, direct evidence—was not real.

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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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