McCain and Obama in tense final debate

The following are some of the key exchanges between Senator John McCain and Barack Obama, in their third and final debate:

George W Bush Hurt feelings Negative attacks Nasty supporters 'Terrorist pals'

Voter fraud Free trade Abortion Healthcare Closing statements

GEORGE W BUSH

McCain: Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago.

Obama: The fact of the matter is that if I occasionally have mistaken your policies for George Bush's policies, it's because... you have been a vigorous supporter of President Bush.

Return to top

HURT FEELINGS

McCain: Congressman John Lewis, an American hero, made allegations Sarah Palin and I were somehow associated with the worst chapter in American history, segregation... That, to me, was so hurtful.

Obama: I think the American people are less interested in our hurt feelings during the course of the campaign, than addressing the issues that matter to them so deeply.

Return to top

NEGATIVE ATTACKS

Obama: Two-thirds of the American people think that Senator McCain is running a negative campaign versus one-third of mine. And 100%, John, of your ads, 100% of them have been negative.

McCain: It's a matter of fact that Senator Obama has spent more money on negative ads than any political campaign in history. And I can prove it.

Obama: The important point here is, though, the American people have become so cynical about our politics, because all they see is a tit-for-tat and back-and-forth.

McCain: Every other ad was an attack ad on my healthcare plan. And any objective observer has said it's not true. You're running ads right now that say I oppose federal funding for stem cell research. I don't.

Return to top

NASTY SUPPORTERS

Obama: At some of the rallies that your running mate was holding, in which all the Republican reports indicated were shouting, when my name came up, things like 'terrorist' and 'kill him,' and that your running mate didn't mention, didn't stop, didn't say: 'Hold on a second, that's kind of out of line.'

McCain: I'm not going to stand for somebody saying that because someone yelled something at a rally. There's a lot of things that have been yelled at your rallies, Senator Obama, that I'm not happy about either.

Return to top

'TERRORIST PALS'

McCain: Mr [Bill] Ayers, I don't care about an old washed-up terrorist. But as Senator Clinton said in her debates with you, we need to know the full extent of that relationship... Senator Obama chooses to associate with a guy who in 2001 said that he wished he had have bombed more, and he had a long association with him.

Obama: When people suggest that I pal around with terrorists, then we're not talking about issues... 40 years ago, when I was eight years old, he [Bill Ayers] engaged in despicable acts with a radical domestic group. I have roundly condemned those acts... Mr Ayers is not involved in my campaign... And he will not advise me in the White House.

Return to top

VOTER FRAUD

McCain: We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama's relationship with Acorn [Association of Community Organisations for Reform Now], who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.

Obama: Now, with respect to Acorn, Acorn is a community organisation. Apparently what they've done is they were paying people to go out and register folks, and apparently some of the people who were out there didn't really register people... It had nothing to do with us. We were not involved.

Return to top

FREE TRADE

Obama: I believe in free trade. But I also believe that for far too long, certainly during the course of the Bush administration with the support of Senator McCain, the attitude has been that any trade agreement is a good trade agreement. And Nafta doesn't have, did not have enforceable labour agreements and environmental agreements.

McCain: Senator Obama doesn't want a free trade agreement with our best ally in the region [Colombia] but wants to sit down across the table without precondition to, with Hugo Chavez, the guy who has been helping Farc, the terrorist organisation.

Return to top

ABORTION

McCain: Senator Obama, as a member of the Illinois State Senate, voted against a law that would provide immediate medical attention to a child born of a failed abortion. He voted against that.

Obama: If it sounds incredible that I would vote to withhold lifesaving treatment from an infant, that's because it's not true... With respect to partial-birth abortion, I am completely supportive of a ban on late-term abortions, partial-birth or otherwise, as long as there's an exception for the mother's health and life.

Return to top

HEALTHCARE

Obama: Senator McCain, for the first time, is going to be taxing the healthcare benefits that you have from your employer... your employers won't be able to afford it... For the first time in history, you will be taxing people's healthcare benefits.

McCain: Senator Obama wants to set up healthcare bureaucracies, take over the healthcare of America through - as he said, his object is a single-payer system. If you like that, you'll love Canada and England.

Return to top

CLOSING STATEMENTS

McCain: I've spent my entire life in the service of this nation and putting my country first. As a long line of McCains that have served our country for a long time in war and in peace, it's been the great honour of my life, and I've been proud to serve. And I hope you'll give me an opportunity to serve again. I'd be honoured and humbled.

Obama: We need fundamental change in this country, and that's what I'd like to bring... But it's not going to be easy... I'm absolutely convinced we can do it. I would ask for your vote, and I promise you that if you give me the extraordinary honour of serving as your president, I will work every single day, tirelessly, on your behalf and on the behalf of the future of our children.

Return to top