mr. forbes, -- a break, girl mr. forbes, how will we get this straight? i am one of these guys that worked hard all my life, put four companies together, and it is being destroyed right now? by whom? it is the federal government, and more specifically the community organizer in the white house. he has never even run a lemonade stand, and he is going to tell me how run my business. host: steve forbes, who would -- steve, we like to see run against 20 -- see run against president obama in 2012? caller: i would vote for donald duck before i vote for president obama again. host: is there a republican candidate you are leaving -- leaning toward? caller: we need the government to get out of our hair. host: steve forbes? guest: i am looking into 2012 field, and one of the things we need to keep in mind is there is no front-runner. a lot of the new candidates who have not done it before, they will stumble at the beginning, but i think they will get stronger as the process goes on, and the gop will have a strong candidate in the spring of 2012. in terms of taxing,

mr. forbes, -- a break, girl mr. forbes, how will we get this straight? am one of these guys that worked hard all my life, put four companies together, and it is being destroyed right now? by whom? it is the federal government, and more specifically the community organizer in the white house. he has never even run a lemonade stand, and he is going to tell me how run my business. host: steve forbes, who would -- steve, we like to see run against 20 -- see run against president obama in 2012? caller: i would vote for donald duck before i vote for president obama again. host: is there a republican candidate you are leaving -- leaning toward? caller: we need the government to get out of our hair. host: steve forbes? guest: i am looking into 2012 field, and one of the things we need to keep in mind is there is no front-runner. a lot of the new candidates who have not done it before, they will stumble at the beginning, but i think they will get stronger as the process goes on, and the gop will have a strong candidate in the spring of 2012. in terms of taxing, t

mr. forbes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general, thank you for being here. we know that you are not just a good soldier, you're a great soldier, and that's not a plug. that's just factual. madam secretary, we know how hard you work and that your heart is at the best interest of this country. general, you did mention that the gains we've had over the last decade are now fragile and reversible, but we've got the right inputs. we are headed in the right direction. but, you know, for the last decade everybody that sat where you said has told us basic with the same thing. we think we've got it right. we have to hope you're right that realize the possibility we are wrong. madam secretary, you also mentioned something that was active. you say we lost our focus on afghanistan. but that can be a little misleading to some people just hear it because it seems to suggest that maybe we went to sleep while we were not paying attention. the reality is you know, and i know you said this before, is we can focus everywhere. we have to pick our priorities and we have to focus,

mr. forbes, mr. wittman, mr. schilling and mr.griffin. >> thornberry thornberry from the 14th district of kent texas. our time has come to deal with a lot of these issues straight on, not put a band-aid over at cannot give a wink and a nod and do one thing and say another but to deal with them head-on. one of the issues is the authorization for the use of force which as you recall was passed by congress in september, 2001, and focused on those who were responsible for the 9/11 attacks. as a part of what the bill does is to recognize the world has changed some in the last ten years. but as we have put more pressure on al qaeda central than the various offshoots and affiliate's have sprouted out in various places around the world, and this bill makes it clear that we are engaged in a continuing armed conflict and the president has authorized to detain those who are a part of or are supporting al qaeda, taliban come and associated force is engaged in hostilities against the united states. this approach is along the lines that both bu

mr. forbes, mr. wittman, mr. schilling and mr.griffin. >> thornberry thornberry from the 14th district of kent texas. our time has come to deal with a lot of these issues straight on, not put a band-aid over at cannot give a wink and a nod and do one thing and say another but to deal with them head-on. one of the issues is the authorization for the use of force which as you recall was passed by congress in september, 2001, and focused on those who were responsible for the 9/11 attacks. as a part of what the bill does is to recognize the world has changed some in the last ten years. but as we have put more pressure on al qaeda central than the various offshoots and affiliate's have sprouted out in various places around the world, and this bill makes it clear that we are engaged in a continuing armed conflict and the president has authorized to detain those who are a part of or are supporting al qaeda, taliban come and associated force is engaged in hostilities against the united states. this approach is along the lines that both bu

mr. forbes. >> thank you, general, for being here. we know you are not just a good solettier, you are a great soldier. that's not just the fluff. that's factual. madam secretary, we know how hard you work and your heart is in the best interest of this country. general, you did mention the gains we had over the past decade are now fragile and reversible but we have the right inputs, we're headed in the right direction. but you know for the last decade everybody that sat where you sat had told us basically the same thing. we think we have it right. so we have to hope you right but realize the possibility maybe we're wrong. madam secretary, you also mentioned something that was accurate. you said, we lost our focus on afghanistan. but that can be a little misleading to some people who just hear it because it seems to suggest that maybe we went to sleep or we weren't paying attention. the reality is you know, and i know you said this before, is we can't focus everywhere. we have to pick our priorities and we have to focus and we moved our

mr. forbes, -- a break, girl mr. forbes, how will we get this straight?i am one of these guys that worked hard all my life, put four companies together, and it is being destroyed right now? by whom? it is the federal government, and more specifically the community organizer in the white house. he has never even run a lemonade stand, and he is going to tell me how run my business. host: steve forbes, who would -- steve, we like to see run against 20 -- see run against president obama in 2012? caller: i would vote for donald duck before i vote for president obama again. host: is there a republican candidate you are leaving -- leaning toward? caller: we need the government to get out of our hair. host: steve forbes? guest: i am looking into 2012 field, and one of the things we need to keep in mind is there is no front-runner. a lot of the new candidates who have not done it before, they will stumble at the beginning, but i think they will get stronger as the process goes on, and the gop will have a strong candidate in the spring of 2012. in terms of taxing,