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Kerryism of the DayThe senator's caveats and curlicues.

By William SaletanPosted Thursday, June 24, 2004, at 9:14 AM ET

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

Question: Didn't you tell the AP that you would aim to have U.S. troops out by the end of your first term?

Kerry: Yes, I would.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

—Washington Post interview, May 28, 2004

[1] That's my aim.

[2] You bet I would.

[3] I can't tell you I will.

[4] But if we can't achieve a free election in four years, and if we can't achieve some kind of progress that sufficiently brings the Iraqi people out of the shadows and into the open to invest in their own future in that period of time, we're in trouble.

[5] And I am not for just putting a lot more American troops in there

[6] in a vacuum

[7] without some kind of international agreement

[8] as to how we're proceeding

Verbatim:

Yes, I would. That's my aim. You bet I would. I can't tell you I will. But if we can't achieve a free election in four years, and if we can't achieve some kind of progress that sufficiently brings the Iraqi people out of the shadows and into the open to invest in their own future in that period of time, we're in trouble. And I am not for just, in a vacuum, putting a lot more American troops in there without some kind of international agreement as to how we're proceeding.

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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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