Round 1: Kerry: Are you too wishy-washy?

Kerry waits until his first sentence to reference the Duelfer report, saying “the president didn’t find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, so he’s turned his campaign into a weapon of mass deception.” Bush goes back to the Howard Dean well, saying Kerry changed his mind on the nature of Saddam’s threat because of the Vermont governor. Zephyr Teachout always said Dean would be a factor in October 2004.

Round to Kerry

Round 2: Bush: Saddam didn’t have WMDs, why invade Iraq and not North Korea?

Bush says that Kerry agreed with him on Iraq, that he went to the United Nations, and that Saddam was already gaming the U.N. Oil for Food program. It’s a fair listing of the litany. “We all thought there was weapons, my opponent thought there was weapons,” he concludes. Jacob Weisberg smiles at his keyboard. For his part, Kerry says, “I’ve never changed my mind about Iraq.” Then he mentions Duelfer, this time by name, explaining that Duelfer means the sanctions on Saddam worked. Which, strictly speaking, isn’t quite true; but never mind.

Round to Bush