But...

Quote montage from last weeks debate:

The Patriot Act, I support it, but I just don't like the way John Ashcroft has applied it. I've never changed my mind about Iraq. I do believe Saddam Hussein was a threat. I always believed he was a threat, believed it in 1998 when Clinton was president, but I would have used that force wisely. I will never stop at anything to hunt down and kill the terrorists. But you heard the president just say to you that we've added money. Folks, the test is not if you've added money. I don't support a draft, but let me tell you where you president's policies have put us. Go to JohnKerry.com and you'll find a tort reform plan. Yes, it's a problem. Do we need to fix it particularly for OB-GYNs and for brain surgeons and others? Yes. But it's less than 1% of the total cost of health care. We should look at the punitive and we should have some limitations, but look what's really important is the president's just trying to scare everybody here. We're throwing labels around. The Kyoto treaty was flawed. I was in Kyoto and I was part of it. I know what happened, but this president didn't try to fix it. You can't stop all outsourcing, I never promised that and I'm not going to because that would be pandering, you can't. But what you can do is create a fair playing field. I believe in the Patriot Act. We need to be stronger on terrorism, but you know what we also need to do as Americans is never let the terrorists change the Constitution of the United States. Religion has been a huge part of my life, it helped lead me through a war, it leads me today, but I can't take what is an article of faith for me and legislate it.
I can talk to people about making other choices and about abstinence and all these other things that we ought to do as a responsible society, but as a president I have to represent all the people in the nation. No Child Left Behind Act, I voted for it and I support it, but the president has underfunded it. I believe that you can take that position and not be pro-abortion, but you have to afford people their constitutional rights. The president just said, My opponent's against, this my opponent's against that," you know, it's just not that simple. No I'm not. I'm against the partial-birth abortion, but you've gotta have an exception. I'll never give a veto over American security to any other entity, not a nation, not a country, not an institution, but I know as I think you do that our country is strongest when we lead the world, when we lead strong alliances. I will not stop in our effort to hunt down and kill the terrorists, but I'll also have a better plan. I believe America's best days are ahead of us. I'm an optimist, but--