Verbatim: Aug. 16, 2004

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"We don't do politics at the Department of Homeland Security." TOM RIDGE, Secretary of Homeland Security, responding to allegations that last week's terrorism alert was politically motivated

"They want four more years of hell." TERESA HEINZ KERRY, responding to a Bush supporter yelling "four more years" at a Democratic rally in Missouri

"It's hard when your husband's running for President. It's hard to be scrutinized and to hear the criticisms." LAURA BUSH, First Lady, commenting on Heinz Kerry's outspoken comments on the campaign trail

"When I saw Saddam, I thought, 'This person is an accused.' If I had started to think, 'These are men who killed many thousands of Iraqis,' I couldn't do my job." SADDAM'S JUDGE, RAID JUH AL-SAADI, who has decided to abandon his anonymity, when asked if he was nervous about confronting the Iraqi dictator

"I wanted to see ... who she is and if she's still the same person that I fell in love with. And I want to see if she feels the same way for me." VILI FUALAAU, on why he wants to see Mary Kay LeTourneau, his sixth-grade teacher, who served seven years in prison for having a sexual relationship with him; it resulted in two children

"What this has done is brought the people of faith to the table like I have never seen before." PHIL BURRESS, chairman of the Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage, on Missouri's passage of an amendment banning gay marriage in the state

"We have to do more than keep media giants from growing larger; they're already too big." TED TURNER, former vice chairman of TIME's parent company, Time Warner, writing in the Washington Monthly

"Justice has not been swift in this case, but justice must be delivered." ALABAMA GOVERNOR BOB RILEY, on his refusal to grant a stay of execution to James Barney Hubbard, 74, who became the oldest man executed since 1941

Sources: AP; New York Times; CBS Early Show; NY Times; NBC Today show; NY Times; Washington Monthly; AP