Like Neal Boortz, I ask too: "What the hell is going on here?" The best issue going for this Administration and the Republican Party in the upcoming 2006 Congressional elections was their stalwart stand against Islamofascist terrorism. Then GWB decides to grab defeat out the jaws of victory by awarding the Arabs of the UAE with commerical control of six major American ports. This proved to be too much even for the appeasement Democrats who were given a chance to look like war hawks.
Some critical commentary from the Right Wing:
What we have here is a tsunami. We've got tsunami of coverage on this port deal that is disabling any reasonable debate about this, and I know it doesn't help this idiot Jimmy Carter has just come out for this port deal. I mean, if Bush really wanted this, Jimmy Carter has just screwed it. Jimmy Carter's just blown this deal sky high by coming out and endorsing it.
So this is where George Bush wants to use his first veto? How many budgets has he signed? Six? We've seen non-defense government spending increase throughout his administration at record rates, and never a veto. Never. Not even a hint of a veto. So now Bush has finally found something he wants to veto? He wants to veto any bill that would prevent the turnover of six critical ports to a Muslim government? Pardon me, but what the hell is going on here?
If Vice President Dick Cheney shot himself in the foot last week when he shot poor old Harry Whittington down on the Armstrong Ranch, President Bush is in the process of machine gunning both his legs off over this Dubai Ports World deal. What a total disaster this is! The President - just four and one half years after 9/11 - is now defending an Arab government against both political parties and the overwhelming majority of the American people. This latest incident is further proof that George W. Bush inherited the same political "tin ear" that his out-of-touch father had. Neither Bush has a clue what the American people are thinking.
NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL
By Michelle Malkin ·
Let's take a closer look at a rose-colored Wall Street Journal editorial on the port deal that is garnering favorable reviews from some of my friends on the right.
Sayeth the WSJ:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is the latest Republican to broadcast his "independence" from President Bush on homeland security, yesterday joining Senator Lindsey Graham, Representative Peter King and numerous state politicians in calling on the Administration to stop a deal that would allow a United Arab Emirates company to manage six major U.S. ports. The Democrats are also piling on, and we'll speak to that in a moment, but this behavior of Republicans strikes us as peculiar coming from people who claim to support the war on terror. Mr. Graham told Fox News that the Administration's decision allowing the state-owned Dubai Ports World to run commercial operations at U.S. ports was "tone deaf politically." The voluble Senator said this is no time "to outsource major port security to a foreign-based company" and that "most Americans are scratching their heads wondering, 'Why this company, from this region, now?' "
Some of us are scratching our heads all right, but we're wondering why Mr. Graham and others believe Dubai Ports World has been insufficiently vetted for the task at hand. So far, none of the critics have provided any evidence that the Administration hasn't done its due diligence. The deal has been blessed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a multiagency panel that includes representatives from the departments of Treasury, Defense and Homeland Security.
Malkin contnues:
Contrary to the Journal editorial board's assertion, critics have indeed provided evidence that due diligence was not done. As I noted on Monday, Rep. Peter King revealed the following: The House Homeland Security Committee chairman said that, despite Chertoff's explanation on ABC's "This Week," he still has strong concerns about the inquiry. "When I talk to the people actually involved in the process, it was very cursory, it was very superficial," King said. He said he found out about the purchase, which transfers operations at ports in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia to the Persian Gulf company, last Tuesday in meetings with senior Bush administration officials. "As I understand it, the whole process took only 20 to 25 days," he said of the transaction. "There's no way you can do a complete analysis in 20 to 25 days and that includes financial analysis."
No comments:
Post a Comment