John Kerry: “I begin by saying, I have been listening to the debate for a good period of time. It is a pleasure to hear the Senator…”

“I begin by saying, I have been listening to the debate for a good period of time. It is a pleasure to hear the Senator from Virginia, who is always civil in his approach to these debates and who always asks intelligent and probing questions. The colloquies I have had with him, and certainly the colloquy I listened to a moment ago, are what the Senate ought to be about. It has been an intelligent, healthy exchange with respect to policy in Iraq. I will speak to the question of Secretary Rumsfeld in a few moments, but I share some thoughts. Regrettably, the debate that preceded the Senator from Virginia, without mentioning Senators specifically, is relatively insulting and is not worthy of the subject and its importance. One colleague talked about how war was declared against the United States on September 11 and drummed up America's passion that we all share about opposing terrorists. However, he did exactly what a lot of people on the other side of the aisle have been doing for 4 or 5 years now, which is conflating the war on terror into Iraq. Let me remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, I have not heard one person in this country who doesn't want to do everything in the power of our Nation in order to stand up to terrorists. We all voted to go to Afghanistan. We all voted to take on the Taliban and al- Qaida.…”