'I voted for Bush, but I'd sooner die than vote for him again'

More from that Rolling Stone roundtable discussion:

Youssef Ibrahim (managing director of the Dubai-based Strategic Energy Investment Group; former Middle Eastern correspondent for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal): I voted for Bush, but I'd sooner die than vote for him again. The neocons are vampires through which we have to drive a wooden stake. Neoconservatism must end as an ideology if you want America to recover its position as leader of the world.

Bob Kerrey (member of the 9/11 Commission and former senator from Nebraska): We need a coalition of the pragmatic in the White House, not of the religious or ideological. John Kerry will be much more capable of making the tough deals necessary to bring in the allies and make it work. In an odd way, that's good news for Bush. I predict that in the end, the two of them will celebrate a great bipartisan foreign-policy victory in Iraq, begun by President Bush and finished by President Kerry.

Sen. Joseph Biden, Senate Foreign Relations Committee: About six months ago, the president said to me, "Well, at least I make strong decisions, I lead." I said, "Mr. President, look behind you. Leaders have followers. No one's following. Nobody."

Linda Whitener (proprietor of this blog): I'm surprised Bush didn't have a stroke when Biden said that. Dubya does not like it when people aren't deferential.