1.   He accepts blame for previous strategic waffling and vows never again to let rhetoric get in the way of doing what is right.

2.   Lately the rhetoric has been getting even worse.

3.   The anti-judicial rhetoric has gotten so toxic that it infected the Bush briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court.

4.   The lawsuits were flying, the rhetoric was getting nastier and the candidates were worrying about their images.

5.   The rhetoric has gotten more violent on each side, and somebody has to pay.

6.   With nine days left in the campaign, the rhetoric got even sharper, with Lieberman flatly asserting that Bush is not ready to be president.