I offer my apologies to those offended by my words.

I'm sorry if anything that I said caused any offense or pain.

Now the test for a qualified judicial nominee is not simply whether they are intelligent.

decide each case on the facts and the merits alone. That is what our Founders intended. Judicial decisions ultimately have to be based on evidence and on facts. They have to be based on precedent and on law.

I would hope you'd look at it, because I think the death benefit, as well as monthly benefits, health insurance, and educational assistance----

Right now, the area where we think he's hiding is rural. And the communities are largely illiterate. So news about the award program and how to come in, and how safely your family will be protected, hasn't really penetrated these…

But my job, as a Senator, is to make sure that we're basing these decisions on facts and that I probe and not simply take it on faith that good decisions are being made.

I think the notion that we have a very real and present danger in the nihilistic ideologies of radical Islam, I think most Americans share.

Absolutely, but again--I know I am out of time here, but that is true in Sudan.

I think that may be true, in fact, for just the National Guard, alone.

it appears to be an entirely open-ended commitment.

Is the resistance on those reforms coming simply from countries that are in the midst of development, or are we also seeing resistance from allies, like France and Germany and others?

I would urge that there is a clear signal by the administration in its budgeting process this time out that we are moving forward on this.

I know that it has a wonderful reputation for bipartisanship

I never got quite a clear answer to Senator Biden's question as to how many troops, Iraqi troops...

if our measure is to bring our troops home, and success is measured by whether Iraqis can secure their own circumstances, and if our best troops in the world are having trouble controlling the situation with 150,000 or so, it sounds like…

it's unlikely that I'd be sitting here asking you questions

I think it is to move forward. The concern that many of my constituents in Illinois express is that we went into Iraq, at least in their minds, because of a very specific threat of terror, not tyranny but terror.