RUSH: Now, Obama’s press conference today had nothing to do with Afghanistan, yet here’s the first question from CBS Radio’s White House correspondent, Mark Knoller.
KNOLLER: Mr. President, I suspect you don’t want my colleagues and I to rely on leaks until next week. So I’d like to ask you about —
OBAMA: Why — why stop now?
KNOLLER: Well, perhaps you’d like to help us set a new stage in our relationship by telling us where you stand on your decision on Afghanistan. You had what we were told was your final meeting last evening. Can you tell us how many more troops you’ll be sending to Afghanistan, how you’ll be paying for them, and whether you’ll be announcing a timetable and/or exit strategy for them?
RUSH: And here’s Obama’s answer.
OBAMA: I will be making an, uh… an announcement to the American people about, uh, how we intend to move forward. Uh, I will be doing so shortly. After eight years, uhhh — some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done — uh, it is my intention to finish the job. Uh, aaand, uh, I feel very confident that when the American people, uhhh, hear a clear rationale for what we’re doing there and how we intend to, uhh, achieve our goals, uh, that they will be supportive.
RUSH: This man is really small, really tiny. Once again, ‘After eight years — some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done — it is my intention to finish the job.’ This is a small man, folks. This is a small and petty, spoiled little man. Dick Cheney. Grab audio sound bite number four. Dick Cheney was on the radio out in Fargo, North Dakota. Question: ‘It’s been over a month that you spoke of President Obama putting politics over security and suggested that his failure to act on General McChrystal’s summertime request for additional troops in Afghanistan was ‘dithering.’ We’re now late November. Has this moved from dithering to dereliction in your view?’
CHENEY: The delay is not cost-free. It’s not one of these deals where you can just sit there and delay and delay and delay and think you are going to make a better decision. Every day that goes by raises doubts in the minds of our friends and allies in the region about what you’re going to do, raises doubts in the minds of the troops — and I worry that the delay and the time it’s taken to come to the decision will be very costly.
RUSH: So Cheney is hammering back. I think that’s why Obama had to get in his dig today because this was yesterday in Fargo, North Dakota. But this is a tiny man. This is a small, cold, petulant little man. (paraphrasing) ‘Oh, yeah, this country was all screwed up ’til I got here! We had eight years. Bush-Cheney screwed up the world and I gotta go in there. I have to finish the job. It’s my intention.’ He has no clue what he’s doing in matters like this. But he’s the president and this is what we have to deal with. I wouldn’t be surprised if he calls a national address to the nation to announce how he is going to ‘finish the job.’
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RUSH: By the way, we know how many troops Obama’s going to send. His administration’s leaked the number, 34,000. What did McChrystal want, 40? He didn’t get as many as he asked for, it’s a compromise, and the story I have here is from McClatchy: ‘President Barack Obama met Monday evening with his national security team to finalize a plan to dispatch some 34,000 additional US troops over the next year to what he’s called ‘a war of necessity’ in Afghanistan, US officials told McClatchy. Obama is expected to announce his long-awaited decision on Dec. 1, followed by meetings on Capitol Hill aimed at winning congressional support amid opposition by some Democrats who are worried about the strain on the US Treasury and whether Afghanistan has become a quagmire, the officials said. The US officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the issue publicly and because, one official said, the White House is incensed by leaks on its Afghanistan policy that didn’t originate in the White House.’ Well, where the hell did this one come from? They leaked it! They leaked it and then he gets all upset about leaks. He’s giving a speech on December 1st, a nationally televised address to the nation, it is being rumored.
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RUSH: Ed in Brooklyn, you’re next on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Good afternoon, Rush. Thank you for taking my call.
RUSH: Yes, sir.
CALLER: The way I see it, Rush, this is an administration that lives in a world where perception is always reality, that the facts aren’t relevant. It’s the perception of everything, and the way that they have so much of the media in their pocket, it just helps them complete that sleight of hand.
RUSH: Right. Well, they’re part of the Four Corners of Deceit. When you say ‘perception is reality,’ it means create an illusion and let the illusion be presented as reality. Whatever it is, they are a bunch of frauds. Now, by the way, this started last week. ‘We gotta look at the costs there of going into Afghanistan. You know, we gotta really be worried here about the budget deficit. Sending too many troops over there, why, it could cost us $50 billion. I don’t know if we can afford that.’ Fifty billion after this administration and the Democrat Party have run up a deficit this year alone of $1.4 trillion, and they now say all of a sudden say, ‘Oh, no, we can’t go to Afghanistan! The costs are too high. We have to be more prudent in our spending. This is not gonna work out there. We can’t do it that way.’
And David Obey yesterday proposed a tax on the American people to pay for any new troops that go to Afghanistan. I saw this. He’s calling it the ‘Share the Sacrifice Act.’ It’s a six-page bill. It exempts anyone who’s ever served in Iraq or Afghanistan since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as well as families who have lost an immediate relatively in fighting. But the Obey bill hits middle-class households earning between $30,000 and $150,000 a year. They would be required to pay 1% on top of their tax liability today, a more sweeping approach than many Democrats have been willing to embrace. A 1% tax on everybody, from $30,000 to 150.
Now, he’s not exempting the rich. They’re going to pay, too. What he’s doing is including the middle class. Now, I saw that and I thought, ‘Well, rather than feeling sick to my stomach, I almost got a wave of optimism.’ I was out there saying, ‘Thank you, Lord, for our enemies.’ A Democrat plan, a public Democrat plan to push an additional tax on people making as little as $30,000 a year to fight Obama’s ‘war of necessity’ because it’s irresponsible spending — and if we’re going to spend it then the American people had better be prepared to pay for it. Let that news circulate far and wide. Let the concept of tax increases for people making 30 grand a year get tied with Velcro to the Democrat Party.
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RUSH: Kara in Columbus, Ohio, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hello, Rush. Thanks for having me on today.
RUSH: Yes, ma’am.
CALLER: I basically wanted to make a couple comments. The first comment I’ll go over briefly. The tree data, my view on that is when you’re looking for BS, you’ll find BS. So I don’t believe a word of it.
RUSH: They can make it up, too.
CALLER: Absolutely. When someone is looking for drama they’re going to find it. My main point that I wanted to make is my disgust — and you had mentioned earlier that Obama is a small man, and I completely agree with it. This whole thing with Afghanistan, General McChrystal has stated that he needed 40,000 troops a month ago, a month ago.
RUSH: No, no, no.
CALLER: That’s my point.
RUSH: We’re coming up on three months. We’re coming up on the next hundred days.
CALLER: Exactly. So we have our troops over there that are low in numbers, fighting a war that is, I believe, necessary to wipe out these terrorists — and he is gallivanting in Asia! His wife is on the cover of Oprah, smiling, going down to Fort Hood after that complete and utter tragedy.
RUSH: You know what else, Kara? It’s nice to see somebody living large in America. I just saw a picture. They’re building a tent for the state dinner. The State Dining Room holds 140 people. He wants 400. So the state dinner guests in black tie in a tent. A tent! Outside.