Monday, May. 03, 2004

Verbatim

"I told him, 'In our first meeting three years ago I accepted your request not to physically harm Arafat ... [That] commitment does not stand anymore.'" ARIEL SHARON, Israeli Prime Minister, recounting what he told President Bush at their recent meeting in Washington regarding an earlier pledge not to harm Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat

"People were in every posture ... Some were crying and screaming. They all looked scared." UNNAMED WITNESS of the rail-yard explosion in North Korea that left at least 154 dead and 1,300 injured, prompting the secretive North Korean government to take the unusual steps of acknowledging the accident and seeking international aid

"The family has it. I don't have it." SENATOR JOHN KERRY, who had said he doesn't own an SUV, responding to a reporter's question about the Chevrolet Suburban he has been seen riding in, which he says belongs to his wife

"It seems rather contrary to an idea of a Constitution with three branches that the Executive would be free to do whatever they want, without a check." STEPHEN BREYER, Supreme Court Justice, during arguments on whether foreign detainees held at Guantanamo Bay should be allowed to challenge their detentions in U.S. courts

"Prurient, crass and insensitive." CHESTER STERN, spokesman for Mohammed Fayed, on CBS's decision to broadcast photographs from the car crash that killed Princess Diana and Fayed's son Dodi in 1997

"XXX entertainment is a $9 billion-to-$14 billion business run with the same kind of thought and attention to detail that you'd find at GE, Mattel or Tribune Co." LARRY FLYNT, publisher of Hustler magazine, arguing against more stringent health and safety measures in the wake of an AIDS scare that has shut down production of most porn films

"Yes, physical fitness." RALPH NADER, presidential candidate, when asked if he saw any redeeming qualities in President Bush's Administration

Sources: CNN.com WashingtonPost.com New York Post; New York Times; New York Daily News; Los Angeles Times; Hartford Courant