Kerry: We need a president who stays deadly focused on the real war on terror.

SCHIEFFER: Mr. President?

BUSH: Gosh, I just don’t think I ever said I’m not worried about Osama bin Laden. It’s kind of one of those exaggerations.

Of course we’re worried about Osama bin Laden. We’re on the hunt after Osama bin Laden. We’re using every asset at our disposal to get Osama bin Laden.

In a news conference on March 13, 2002, Bush said when asked about the search for the al Qaeda leader: “So I don’t know where he is. You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him. . . . We haven’t heard much from him. And I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don’t know where he is. I — I’ll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him.”

I guess Bush was just exaggerating during the debate.

BUSH: Bob, we relied upon a company out of England to provide about half of the flu vaccines for the United States citizen, and it turned out that the vaccine they were producing was contaminated. And so we took the right action and didn’t allow contaminated medicine into our country.

We’re working with Canada to hopefully — that they’ll produce a — help us realize the vaccine necessary to make sure our citizens have got flu vaccinations during this upcoming season.

Actually, the British stopped that company from exporting; the US did not. As for Canada, we don’t trust them with pills.

I believe the role of government is to stand side by side with our citizens to help them realize their dreams, not tell citizens how to live their lives.

Except to deny a woman’s right to choose or everyone’s right to marry.

He talks about PAYGO. I’ll tell you what PAYGO means, when you’re a senator from Massachusetts, when you’re a colleague of Ted Kennedy, pay go means: You pay, and he goes ahead and spends.

Note Bush’s odd use of PAYGO (perhaps it’s a term of art) — sure sounded like a blunder.

You know, there’s a main stream in American politics and you sit right on the far left bank. As a matter of fact, your record is such that Ted Kennedy, your colleague, is the conservative senator from Massachusetts.

That first sentence is so tortured (‘right on the far left bank’ — and is that some allusion to French?). Does Duhbya believe he sits in the middle of the mainstream? He’s wrong on the far right bank. Hell, he can’t see the water from where he is. And you had to see the smirk on his face as he made his ‘conservative senator’ joke. He must be used to his crowds roaring laughter at that. He looked hurt that it wasn’t the big hit it usually is.

[O]ne of the reasons why there’s still high cost in medicine is because this is — they don’t use any information technology. It’s like if you looked at the — it’s the equivalent of the buggy and horse days, compared to other industries here in America.

So very inarticulate. Can’t even use cliches correctly.

BUSH: In all due respect, I’m not so sure it’s credible to quote leading news organizations about — oh, nevermind.

Another strange “I’m so clever” moment complete with smirk or shrug.

we’ve unleashed the armies of compassion…
we’ll continue to rally the armies of compassion…

Kerry stayed pretty consistent in all 3 debates, though he may have been less agressive in this one. I at least wanted him to call Bush on the flu misstatement/lie.

The following exchange may best represent the difference between the two men. mjh

SCHIEFFER: Mr. President, new question, two minutes.

You said that if Congress would vote to extend the ban on assault weapons, that you’d sign the legislation, but you did nothing to encourage the Congress to extend it. Why not?

BUSH: Actually, I made my intentions — made my views clear. I did think we ought to extend the assault weapons ban, and was told the fact that the bill was never going to move, because Republicans and Democrats were against the assault weapon ban, people of both parties.

I believe law-abiding citizens ought to be able to own a gun. I believe in background checks at gun shows or anywhere to make sure that guns don’t get in the hands of people that shouldn’t have them.

But the best way to protect our citizens from guns is to prosecute those who commit crimes with guns. And that’s why early in my administration I called the attorney general and the U.S. attorneys and said: Put together a task force all around the country to prosecute those who commit crimes with guns. And the prosecutions are up by about 68 percent — I believe — is the number.

Neighborhoods are safer when we crack down on people who commit crimes with guns.

To me, that’s the best way to secure America.

SCHIEFFER: Senator?

KERRY: I believe it was a failure of presidential leadership not to reauthorize the assault weapons ban.

I am a hunter. I’m a gun owner. I’ve been a hunter since I was a kid, 12, 13 years old. And I respect the Second Amendment and I will not tamper with the Second Amendment.

But I’ll tell you this. I’m also a former law enforcement officer. I ran one of the largest district attorney’s offices in America, one of the ten largest. I put people behind bars for the rest of their life. I’ve broken up organized crime. I know something about prosecuting.

And most of the law enforcement agencies in America wanted that assault weapons ban. They don’t want to go into a drug bust and be facing an AK-47.

I was hunting in Iowa last year with a sheriff from one of the counties there, and he pointed to a house in back of us, and said, “See the house over? We just did a drug bust a week earlier, and the guy we arrested had an AK-47 lying on the bed right beside him.”

Because of the president’s decision today, law enforcement officers will walk into a place that will be more dangerous. Terrorists can now come into America and go to a gun show and, without even a background check, buy an assault weapon today.

And that’s what Osama bin Laden’s handbook said, because we captured it in Afghanistan. It encouraged them to do it.

So I believe America’s less safe.

If Tom DeLay or someone in the House said to me, “Sorry, we don’t have the votes,” I’d have said, “Then we’re going to have a fight.”

And I’d have taken it out to the country and I’d have had every law enforcement officer in the country visit those congressmen. We’d have won what Bill Clinton won.
—
washingtonpost.com: Third Presidential Debate — President Bush and Sen. John Kerry
Transcript: Third Presidential Debate
Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.
October 13, 2004
[with factchecking]

FactCheck.org – New And Recycled Distortions At Final Presidential Debate

Bush said most of his tax cuts went to “low- and middle-income Americans” when independent calculations show most went to the richest 10 percent.