When Newt Gingrich showed up on Sean Hannity's show last night, the two engaged in a friendly confrontation after Hannity castigated him for praising Barack Obama's decision on Afghanistan at a speech in Cincinnati.
Starts about 6 minutes in.
HANNITY: All right, we've got to get into an area — I have in front of me an article that just passed the wires. The headline is "Gingrich Praises Obama on Afghanistan." And in this you said that the president last night made a difficult decision that took considerable courage, because it will split his supporters. And I hate to disagree.
I'm going to lay out my case, and then I want you to just eviscerate me and tell me where I'm wrong.
GINGRICH: I'm not going to eviscerate you.
HANNITY: Well, you might. You're capable of it. All right.
GINGRICH: Well, I might. That's true. No, but you're my friend. How about beat on you a little bit?
HANNITY: You can beat on me a lot, if you want. But here's my take. Three quarters — he only gives General McChrystal three quarters of what he asked for. He says he's going to pull the troops out in 18 months. Does not put an emphasis on victory.
It seems to me the moral equivalent of his entire career or representative of his entire career of threading the needle and voting "present" instead of saying we're going to be in this to win it and we're to give the commanders the troops they need.
Tell me where Sean Hannity is out of his mind wrong and why the president deserves praise?
GINGRICH: No, look, I don't think you're wrong about what you just said, but I watched that — Callista and I watched that speech last night. And I'm an Army brat. My dad spent 27 years in the infantry. And I know that the young men and women who are sitting there who are cadets, who are going to risk their lives for this country, would like occasionally for politicians to find a way to get together.
The one big applause was when he said, "Surely we should find a way to work together." Now all of us hated it when the left found every possible excuse to beat up on George W. Bush.
I think that President Obama maybe only did 65 percent of what he should have done, but I think if you are a left-wing candidate, who defeated Hillary Clinton with the support of the anti-war left, and you walk into the U.S. military academy to give a speech announcing a 30,000 troops increase, knowing that your left is going to savage you — and they started it last night, they've continued it all day today — this is going to break up the unity of the Democratic Party. That's not a trivial decision.
HANNITY: But he had said during the campaign, "This is a war we must win," and he appointed General McChrystal. And it seemed to me that last night.
GINGRICH: Right.
HANNITY: If he did anything, I think he announced to the world when we're pulling out. Announced to our enemies, you just wait us out 18 months. That seems like a very dangerous idea to me.
GINGRICH: OK. Look, you were right all through 2008 on several big issues and I was wrong. So I am going to go out on a limb with some hesitancy. He has an escape valve on that promise. I don't believe they're going to pull out in 18 months.
I believe in 2012, there will still be troops in Iraq and there will still be troops in Afghanistan, and I frankly believe with General Jones as the national security adviser, that they are afraid — that they have a very realistic sense that they're in it for the long haul.
Full transcript here.
