US: Vice-President Dick Cheney attacked Senator John Kerry's political record in a speech to the Republican Party convention on Wednesday night. This is an edited extract of what he said:
In this election we will decide who leads our country for the next four years. Yet, there is more in the balance than that. Moments come along in history when leaders must make fundamental decisions about how to confront a long-term challenge abroad, or how best to keep the American people secure at home. We faced such a moment after the second World War, when we put in place the policies that defended America throughout the Cold War.
Those policies - containing communism, deterring attack by the Soviet Union, and promoting the rise of democracy - were carried out by Democratic and Republican presidents in the decades that followed.
This nation has reached another of those defining moments. Under President Bush we have put in place new policies and created new institutions to defend America, to stop terrorist violence at its source, and to help move the Middle East away from old hatreds and resentments and towards the lasting peace that only freedom can bring.
The election of 2004 is one of the most important, not just in our lives, but in our history. And so it is time to set the alternatives squarely before the American people.
The President's opponent is an experienced senator. He speaks often of his service in Vietnam, and we honour him for it. But there is also a record of more than three decades since. And on the question of America's role in the world, the differences between Senator Kerry and President Bush are the sharpest, and the stakes for the country are the highest.
History has shown that a strong and purposeful America is vital to preserving freedom and keeping us safe - yet, time and again, Senator Kerry has made the wrong call on national security. Senator Kerry began his political career by saying he would like to see our troops deployed "only at the directive of the United Nations".
During the 1980s, Senator Kerry opposed Ronald Reagan's major defence initiatives that brought victory in the Cold War. And in 1991, when Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait and stood poised to dominate the Persian Gulf, Senator Kerry voted against Operation Desert Storm.
Even in this post-9/11 period, Senator Kerry doesn't appear to understand how the world has changed. He talks about leading a "more sensitive war on terror" as though al-Qaeda will be impressed with our softer side.
He declared at the Democratic Convention that he will forcefully defend America - after we have been attacked. My fellow Americans, we have already been attacked.
We're faced with an enemy who seeks the deadliest of weapons to use against us, and we cannot wait until the next attack. We must do everything we can to prevent it - and that includes the use of military force.
Senator Kerry denounces American action when other countries don't approve - as if the whole object of our foreign policy were to please a few persistent critics. But, in fact, the global war on terror, as in Afghanistan and Iraq, President Bush has brought many allies to our side. But as the President has made very clear, there is a difference between leading a coalition of many nations, and submitting to the objections of a few. George W. Bush will never seek a permission slip to defend the American people.
Senator Kerry also takes a different view when it comes to supporting our military. Although he voted to authorise force against Saddam Hussein, he then decided he was opposed to the war, and voted against funding for our men and women in the field.
Senator Kerry is campaigning for the position of Commander-in-Chief. Yet he does not seem to understand the first obligation of a Commander-in-Chief is to support American troops in combat.
In his years in Washington, John Kerry has been one of a hundred votes in the Senate - and fortunately on matters of national security, his views rarely prevailed.
But the presidency is an entirely different proposition. A senator can be wrong for 20 years, without consequence to the nation. But a president always casts the deciding vote. And in this time of challenge, America needs - and America has - a President we can count on to get it right.
On Iraq, Senator Kerry has disagreed with many of his fellow Democrats. But Senator Kerry's liveliest disagreement is with himself. His back-and-forth reflects a habit of indecision, and sends a message of confusion.
And it is all part of a pattern. He has been for the No Child Left Behind Act - and against it. He has spoken in favour of the North American Free Trade Agreement - and against it. He is for the Patriot Act - and against it.
Senator Kerry says he sees two Americas. He makes the whole thing mutual: America sees two John Kerrys.