White House Says Bush Clueless About Portgate
The bipartisan rage continues to boil as the nation is stunned to discover that Bush is taking a 'soft on terrorism' stand on Portgate. The White House insists that Bushie knew nothing of the deal until his Administration approved it, which reminds some of us that the real pResident is the one with the gun.
While everyone from Tom Delay to Hillary Rodham Clinton unites against Bush's plan to outsource port security to the UAE, John McCain proves once again that Rove has some serious dirt on him.
McCain's response to Portgate? We should all just lighten up, and "trust" Bush, reports CNN. Toward that goal, the UAE has hired former Viagra spokesman Bob Dole to 'sell' Congress on the idea of trusting the pResident with the lowest approval ratings since tricky Dick, er, that's Nixon, not Cheney.
Here's the round up from bloggers and the MSM:
"President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday."
"Nobody seemed to know about the ports deal but U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow and the committee he controls. And Snow stood to benefit financially from the exchange, according to some reports."
"Rummy didn't know. Pace didn't know. Senior anyalysts at Homeland Security weren't consulted. And now we learn that even George W. Bush didn't know about the Ports deal until after it was approved."
"'I can understand why some in Congress have raised questions about whether or not our country will be less secure as a result of this transaction,' the president said. 'But they need to know that our government has looked at this issue and looked at it carefully.'"
"'..[When] the acquiring company is controlled by or acting on behalf of a foreign government,' it requires a 'mandatory,' 45-day investigation. That was never done, and what's more, 'Administration officials ... could not say why a 45-day investigation did not occur.'"
"Scott [McClellan] is hoping no one will notice the difference in legal scrutiny standards for the transaction that are required for a state-owned business as opposed to a private company -- and that the Administration didn't follow the law for the state-owned UAE company."
"Bush administration officials "could not say why a 45-day investigation did not occur."
"FRIST CALLED FOR DELAY OF DUBAI DEAL BUT VOTED AGAINST PORT SECURITY SIX TIMES -- This week, Republican Senators have come out in force against a controversial deal through which a company based in the United Arab Emirates would take over six major American ports. But these are the same Senate Republicans who have repeatedly voted against Democratic efforts to invest in improving the security of America’s ports after 9/11. In fact, most of the Senate Republicans speaking out against the deal have voted against port security at least SIX times since the 9/11 attacks."
"Ports are essential pieces of the infrastructure of the United States, and they are best run by public authorities that are accountable to elected officials and the people those officials represent. While traditional port authorities still exist, they are increasing marginalized as privatization schemes have allowed corporations -- often with tough anti-union attitudes and even tougher bottom lines -- to take charge of more and more of the basic operations at the nation's ports."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "For almost five years President George W. Bush has warned Americans to fear terrorism, but now those words may come back to bite him. . . 'Politically, for the president, it is a huge mistake for him to be defending this decision. The president will be overturned,' said U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, the former number two Republican in the House of Representatives."
"Bush's veto threat sought to quiet a political storm that has united Republican governors and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee with liberal Democrats, including New York Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Schumer."
"CNN is reporting that the UAE company involved in this has hired Bob Dole to lobby Congress to calm their outrage over the deal and get things to go through. Gee -- how is Liddy Dole going to deal with that conflict along with running the RSCC? Wonder what the folks back home will think?"
Bush Portgate Ports Dubai Impeach Bush Empire UAE United Arab Emirates Imperial Presidency
