Reply #3: Easy one [View All]

[jpgray]

The American people and I trusted you, and you betrayed us. You told us Saddam was an imminent threat. You told us that he was developing nuclear weapons. You told us he held thousands of tons of chemical and biological weapons. You told us he had connections with Al Qaeda.

You lied. You lied to me, you lied to my colleagues in Congress, and more importantly you lied to the people of the United States. I know now it was a mistake to trust you, but in my defense I can at least say I trusted the president to do the right thing, small comfort though it must be to those families who have sons and daugthers in Iraq.

You have no such excuse--you lied to receive the authority, and you betrayed our trust by abandoning the inspections and shunning our allies.

So the people have to decide--do they vote for me, someone who trusted his president to do the right thing? Or do they vote for you, one who has consistently abused the trust of a nation following the tragedy of September 11th?

edit: This is how I would act in a debate if I were Kerry--these are not quotes.

edit2: Kerry has to turn this weakness (and it is one) into a strength. The avenue open to him is the fact that his support of giving Bush authority assuming he would do the right thing with it exactly mirrors the public's opinion. In the public's mind, they were betrayed by Bush. Kerry can play up on that, because he went (in theory) through the same thing.