Verbatim: Mar. 29, 2004

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"At least this much is clear: Had the decision belonged to Senator Kerry, Saddam Hussein would still be in power today in Iraq." DICK CHENEY, Vice President, attacking presumptive Democratic nominee for President John Kerry's voting record on the war in Iraq

"No, I do not believe that he is, quote, weak on defense." JOHN MCCAIN, Republican Senator, expressing disagreement with some of the Bush Administration's attacks on Kerry

"I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." JOHN KERRY, responding to Republican campaign ads that criticize his vote against a bill to authorize $87 billion in funds for postwar Iraq

"If it is reasonable to think that a Supreme Court Justice can be bought so cheap, the nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined." ANTONIN SCALIA, Supreme Court Justice, in a 21-page memorandum declaring that he would not remove himself from a case before the court regarding Vice President Cheney's energy task force, despite his recent outing with Cheney

"I also feel uncomfortable, due to the fact that we were misled with the information on weapons of mass destruction." ALEKSANDER KWASNIEWSKI, President of Poland, a key Washington ally in the war in Iraq, following Spain's threat to withdraw its troops from Iraq

"The film is one-dimensional. It doesn't tell us why he was tortured ... I was happy when it was over." VATICAN-BASED CARDINAL, in an interview with Time, after seeing Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ

"Can you imagine the headline OPRAH WINFREY FINED FOR INDECENCY?" HOWARD STERN, radio host, referring to a sex-themed Oprah show

Sources: Washington Post; New York Times; AP (3); TIME; New York Post