HOME / kerryisms: The senator's caveats and curlicues.

Kerryism of the DayThe senator's caveats and curlicues.

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

I've proposed a major expansion of national service programs to strengthen the values of patriotism, community and citizenship.1 And I believe that we need to make preschool universal so that every child in America gets the best possible start in life.2 3 4 5 6 7

—Washington, D.C., April 7, 2004

[1] And I believe in them.
[2] But with the deficit worsening each and every day of the Bush administration
[3] with the choices this administration has made
[4] with some $200 billion of expenses already in Iraq
[5] we may have to slow both of those initiatives down
[6] and others
[7] or phase them in over a longer period of time.

Verbatim:

I've proposed a major expansion of national service programs to strengthen the values of patriotism, community and citizenship. And I believe in them. And I believe that we need to make preschool universal so that every child in America gets the best possible start in life. But with the deficit worsening each and every day of the Bush administration, with the choices this administration has made, with some $200 billion of expenses already in Iraq, we may have to slow both of those initiatives and others down or phase them in over a longer period of time.

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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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