Kerryism of the DayThe senator's caveats and curlicues.

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The strong spending caps in my plan will ensure that spending doesn't grow.¹ And if Congress fails to keep spending in line, the budget caps will mean across-the-board cuts in every area.^{2 3 4 5 6 7} So when I say "a cap on spending," I mean it.

—Washington, D.C., April 7, 2004

[1] faster than inflation
[2] except security
[3] and education
[4] and mandatory programs
[5] like health care
[6] Social Security
[7] and Medicare.

Verbatim:

The strong spending caps in my plan will ensure that spending doesn't grow faster than inflation. And if Congress fails to keep spending in line, the budget caps will mean across-the-board cuts in every area except security and education and mandatory programs like health care, Social Security, and Medicare. So when I say "a cap on spending," I mean it.

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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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