Congress Saves GW

[Annie]

I agree with this, including the Mier's analogy. Some here have been missing the larger picture, screaming how others were 'falling for dem lies,' while ignoring that many were ahead of that curve.

I disagree though that Dubai said 'sell off', I believe the term was 'transfer' and that could be a devil in the making, time will tell:

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly...post.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/60733.htm

By JOHN PODHORETZ

DUBYA'S LUCKY LOSS ON PORTS
GEORGE Bush's enemies are excited. The Dubai ports deal is dead. The president had said he would veto any attempt by Congress to block it - but a House committee vote Wednesday with the insanely lopsided margin of 62-2 hollowed out his threat and left its husk to rot.

(The Dubai company sure doesn't see much hope: It announced yesterday that it will sell off its U.S. port work.)

Surely, his enemies say, this is curtains for Bush. Republicans are fleeing from him, he can't keep his troops in line - and he can't work his will. He's become a lame duck, they say.

Wrong. Just as with his last serious political miscalculation, Bush has actually been saved by the very forces in his own governing coalition that are opposing him.

When the president foolishly nominated the clearly unqualified Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, conservative intellectuals and pundits were so relentlessly negative that they forced him to withdraw Miers' name and appoint Samuel Alito in her place. That move simultaneously helped reenergize and calm a key part of the Bush coalition.

Republicans in Congress did Bush an even bigger favor. The president may have been right on the economic and foreign-policy merits of allowing the government-owned Dubai Ports World to manage stevedore operations inside the United States. But he was clearly wrong when it came not only to the politics of the deal, but also to its symbolic significance in the midst of the War on Terror.

The politics part is simple: No Republican running for re-election in 2006 was going to hand a challenger a stick the size of the Space Needle to bash him over the head with. And there could have been no easier or juicier Space Needle than "My esteemed opponent voted to give an Arab country that has supported terrorism control of our ports."

Now, Republicans on Capitol Hill owe Bush a lot. Without him, they would almost certainly not control the Senate and might not be the majority party in the House. But that doesn't mean the president had the right to demand they commit hara-kiri.

Not since the elder George Bush asked Republicans on the Hill to support his tax hike just before the 1990 midterm elections has such a fratricidal demand been made. The president was simply too high-handed, and he's gotten his hat handed to him.

But in handing the president his hat, his party did him a service. Republicans have made certain that a few months from now most Americans will barely remember the whole business, which really did threaten the continued viability of his presidency.

More important, the public reaction to the ports deal indicates that the American people are still very much committed to the War on Terror. They understand that Arab nations of the Persian Gulf cannot be and should not be deemed reliable colleagues in our struggle against militant, extremist Islam.

I have no doubt that Dubai has given us some assistance in pursuing al Qaeda. But it is still a cowardly emirate that will not do or say anything publicly to advance the fight against bin Ladenism, and while it may not be an enemy, it is neither a friend nor an ally.

It is wrong to ascribe popular feeling against the deal to isolationism. The American people can't make sense out of which side Dubai is on, and they don't think it should be that hard a call. They believe in the fight, and their continued support for it is the best news the embattled Bush presidency could have.

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[no1tovote4]

Does anybody else wonder if there will be some ideation that the US will not ever trust allies that might be Muslim?

 

[Annie]

Does anybody else wonder if there will be some ideation that the US will not ever trust allies that might be Muslim?

I had to look up 'ideation' thanks for my word of the day!

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ideation
I skipped the 'medical reference' one:

i·de·ate Audio pronunciation of "ideation" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (d-t)
v. i·de·at·ed, i·de·at·ing, i·de·ates
v. tr.

To form an idea of; imagine or conceive: “Such characters represent a grotesquely blown-up aspect of an ideal man... if not realizable, capable of being ideated” (Anthony Burgess).


v. intr.

To conceive mental images; think.

ide·ation n.
ide·ation·al adj.

[Download Now or Buy the Book]
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

i·de·a·tion (d-shn)
n.

The formation of ideas or mental images.

ide·ate v.
ide·ation·al adj.
Source: The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Main Entry: ide·a·tion
Pronunciation: "Id-E-'A-sh&n
Function: noun
: the capacity for or the act of forming or entertaining ideas <suicidal ideation>

Source: Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

ideation

n : the process of forming and relating ideas

Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

I would trust Dubai to buy into America, just not at 'points of entry' and 'essensential industries' regarding security of the US. Same with any 'friendly' nation. Yes, I think we must include UK, Israel, Canada, and Australia in the mix, for PC reasons. I would hope that the Dubai purchase of a military related industry in the South is also looked at.

There are massive opportunities for investment in the US, without bringing security issues up.

The Congress should be addressing all foreign ownership at all ports, including air. They should also be addressing the mafia ties, which go back way further than 9/11. :2guns:

 

[no1tovote4]

Saudi Arabia invests heavily in the US Stock market. I think that we should encourage such investment into areas that are clearly Amerocentric whereby their fiscal success would be indelibly entertwined within our success.

In other words, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

I just don't see the encouragement coming at this point, it seems we are willing to shut down one without encouraging the other. We need something to show the amount of trust we really do hold with our newest allies.

 

[Bullypulpit]

Does anybody else wonder if there will be some ideation that the US will not ever trust allies that might be Muslim?

No...Just those whose ruling families went hunting with Osama bin Ladine in Afghanistan...Whose banks funneled funds to the 9/11 conspirators...Who knowingly transshipped nuclear weapon components from A.Q. Kahn to North Korea and Iran.

And, as far as congressional Republicans treating Dubbyuh like he was radioactive waste, it won't do them any good at all. They've cheerfully rubber-stamped his policies until they rolled him on the Dubai Ports World deal. And that was an abberation. They are equally culpable for the disaster this presidency has become. They abdicated their oversight responsibilities, and forgot, or ignored, the fact that their first loyalty lies not with their party or even the president. Their first loyalty is to the Constitution and the Republic which is built upon it. They serve "<i>We the People...</i>", we do not serve them. But they have cast that notion aside as well. They now serve the highest bidder, and both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of this latter sin.

 

[Annie]

Saudi Arabia invests heavily in the US Stock market. I think that we should encourage such investment into areas that are clearly Amerocentric whereby their fiscal success would be indelibly entertwined within our success.

In other words, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

I just don't see the encouragement coming at this point, it seems we are willing to shut down one without encouraging the other. We need something to show the amount of trust we really do hold with our newest allies.

Then the administration and State need to be more clear, no?

 

[Bullypulpit]

I had to look up 'ideation' thanks for my word of the day!

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ideation
I skipped the 'medical reference' one:



I would trust Dubai to buy into America, just not at 'points of entry' and 'essensential industries' regarding security of the US. Same with any 'friendly' nation. Yes, I think we must include UK, Israel, Canada, and Australia in the mix, for PC reasons. I would hope that the Dubai purchase of a military related industry in the South is also looked at.

There are massive opportunities for investment in the US, without bringing security issues up.

The Congress should be addressing all foreign ownership at all ports, including air. They should also be addressing the mafia ties, which go back way further than 9/11. :2guns:

I agree. If they want to buy into America, let them buy into Wal-Mart, or McDonald's. Our key transportation and manufacturing infrastructure should not be controlled by foreign interests whether they are our allies or not. The UAE, after all, does not permit a majority ownership of ANY corporate entity by foreign corporations.

 

[no1tovote4]

Then the administration and State need to be more clear, no?

Yes. That was basically my point. Instead of just saying, "No." with no explanation wouldn't it be better to say something more like, "Not here, but over there is good..."?

 

[Annie]

Yes. That was basically my point. Instead of just saying, "No." with no explanation wouldn't it be better to say something more like, "Not here, but over there is good..."?

YES!

 

[no1tovote4]

They serve "<i>We the People...</i>", we do not serve them. But they have cast that notion aside as well. They now serve the highest bidder, and both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of this latter sin.

Which has been a point of mine since I first began posting... People who stand around with copies of the Constitution in their pockets constantly and significantly ignore that document without fear of reprisal from a largely ingorant population who are more than ever at each other over ideological viewpoints ignoring the similarities in the Demopublican singularity of leadership we currently keep voting into office.