What's another trillion amongst friends?

President Bush likes to mention is his stump speech that John Kerry wants 2 trillion dollars in new spending, and then claims the only way to pay for it is by raising taxes. I wonder how Bush plans to pay for this:

Bush's pledge to make permanent his tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2010 or before, would reduce government revenue by about $1 trillion over 10 years, according to administration estimates. His proposed changes in Social Security to allow younger workers to invest part of their payroll taxes in stocks and bonds could cost the government $2 trillion over the coming decade, according to the calculations of independent domestic policy experts.

And Bush's agenda has many costs the administration has not publicly estimated. For instance, Bush said in his speech that he would continue to try to stabilize Iraq and wage war on terrorism. The war in Iraq alone costs $4 billion a month, but the president's annual budget does not reflect that cost.

Yup, that's a three trillion dollar agenda the man in the White House has proposed for his second term, not including costs for his failed war in Iraq.

How does he propose paying for it? Blatant lies, apparently:

Discussing his agenda during an "Ask the President" campaign forum in Portsmouth, Ohio, Bush said Friday that he has "explained how we're going to pay for it, and my opponent can't explain it because he doesn't want to tell you he's going to have to tax you."

The Kerry response:

Jason Furman, Kerry's economic policy director, said that Bush "wants to hide the true costs of his plan" and that taxpayers "would be shocked" to find out what he was really advocating.

Which is precisely why the Kerry campaign should hammer this home at every stop. That whole lie about Kerry raising everyone's taxes has been fairly effective for Bush, but now the shoes on the other foot, and it's a whole lot bigger.