Rush: Obama Doesn't Care About War in Afghanistan

Says he wouldn't expect real progress until at least winter

(NEWSER) - Robert Gates confirmed today that the US is in "preliminary" talks with the Taliban, reports the Hill, cautioning that they've only been going on for a "few weeks." Appearing on State of the Union and Fox News Sunday, the outgoing defense secretary said the State Department was handling talks—though not at the level of Hillary Clinton—but that he didn't expect "substantive headway until at least this winter. "I think the Taliban have to feel themselves under military pressure and begin to believe that they can't win before they are willing to have a serious conversation." Elsewhere on the Sunday dial, as per Politico: More»

He claims the president was not leading talks on spending cuts

(NEWSER) - According to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, President Obama had to be dragged “kicking and screaming to the table to cut spending,” he said on Fox News Sunday. Cantor says White House senior adviser David Plouffe is being dishonest in his claim that Obama was the one leading that discussion, Politico reports. Elsewhere on the Sunday dial:

• The president will make a major budget address Wednesday. He will lay out “his approach to long-term deficit reduction,” David Plouffe said on Meet the Press, adding that the president’s 2012 budget includes a plan to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion over the next decade. Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Schumer said on Face the Nation that details on the spending cuts included in the budget deal will be posted online tomorrow.

Says she's having too much fun, making too much money

(NEWSER) - Despite recent protestations to the contrary, Sarah Palin is blowing smoke and has no intention of running for president in 2012—at least, according to Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, who called the former gov on her intentions today. Palin is "having too much fun" and "making too much money" to toss her hat in the ring, said Wallace, concluding, "I don't think you'll run." Nonsense, responded Palin, "If the country needed me, and I’m not saying it does…I’d be willing to sacrifice." Elsewhere in the at-times combative interview, as per Politico: More»

Senators hit talk shows to talk Afghanistan

(NEWSER) - Had the US not missed its chance to nab Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 2001, there's a “good chance we would not have forces or need to have forces there," Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin told Face the Nation. Given the current situation, however, Politico reports that the Michigan Democrat says the emphasis needs to be on beefing up the Afghan army. Various lawmakers hit the Sunday talk-show circuit to offer their take ahead of President Obama's Tuesday announcement. More»

White House 'will expect more,' focused on defeating 'those who attacked us'

(NEWSER) - It's time for Afghan President Hamid Karzai to put up or shut up, Hillary Clinton said today, underscoring the White House's heightened expectations of Kabul. "We are expecting there to be a major crimes tribunal, an anti-corruption commission," she told This Week, adding that the original Afghan mission to "disrupt, dismantle, and defeat those who attacked us ... wasn't done over the past 8 years." More from the Sunday dial, per Politico : More»