Bush is "completely adamant" about the UAE deal

UPDATE 11:33 PM: What a coincidence. Rove goes on Fox to say the deal may be delayed and, lo and behold, the UAE government-owned company makes a "surprise announcement" that they want to delay the deal.

"Completely adamant." Your President is not backing down. He's right and he knows it, damn it:

A senior White House official said, however, that Mr. Bush was still adamant that he would veto any effort by Congress to overturn the deal, and insisted that the president would stand by his threat to veto any legislation intended to kill the deal.

"He's completely adamant about this," another of Mr. Bush's aides said. If a Dubai company is treated as less trustworthy than a British one, the aide said, "he thinks that the signal in the Mideast would be disastrous."

So, now we have the standard for what Bush thinks would be a disaster in the Mideast. Not the Iraq war. No, a disaster is denying a contract to oversee American ports by a foreign country with ties to terror. Bad business deal -- that's a disaster in his eyes. Country we invaded on the brink of civil war -- not so much. This whole episode clarifies once again why Bush is a disaster. Read the rest of this post...

Remember the Victory Plan?

Today in Iraq:

As the country careened to the brink of civil war, Iraqi state television announced an unusual daytime curfew, ordering people off the streets Friday in Baghdad and the nearby flashpoint provinces of Diyala, Babil and Salaheddin, where the shrine bombing took place.

Such a sweeping daytime curfew indicated the depth of fear within the government that the crisis could touch off a Sunni-Shiite civil war. "This is the first time that I have heard politicians say they are worried about the outbreak of civil war," Kurdish elder statesman Mahmoud Othman told The Associated Press.

It was less than three months ago, November 30, 2005, that team Bush gave us the "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq." That's when they told us their strategy was working. And they defined victory:

Victory in Iraq is Defined in Stages

Short term, Iraq is making steady progress in fighting terrorists, meeting political milestones, building democratic institutions, and standing up security forces.
Medium term, Iraq is in the lead defeating terrorists and providing its own security, with a fully constitutional government in place, and on its way to achieving its economic potential.
Longer term, Iraq is peaceful, united, stable, and secure, well integrated into the international community, and a full partner in the global war on terrorism.

Not sure where civil war fits in to their "victory" plan. It's hard to find the words to convey how horrible this Administration is. He is the WORST PRESIDENT EVER. Read the rest of this post...

I really need to weigh in on this asshole Gordon England

Joe, in a post below, quotes our illustrious Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England:

If the furor over the port deal should go on, Mr. England said, it would give enemies of the United States aid and comfort: "They want us to become distrustful, they want us to become paranoid and isolationist.

Now, my mom reads this blog. And I don't like gratuitous profanity because it's the easy way to evoke emotion when you don't have the right words. But Gordon England, you're a total asshole.

How fucking dare you invoke Osama and September 11 in order to get us to support an administration policy that is in fact CONTRARY to our national security interests? Just because Bush is in bed with the Middle Eastern oil producers we're supposed to roll over and play dead while you guys just give away that store to your petro-buddies?

How fucking dare you preach to us about being distrustful and paranoid?

You son of a bitches have raised distrust and fear to a high art. You have repeatedly violated the legitimate shock and horror Americans felt after September 11, abused our collective grief and pain and psychosis in order to push your own petty, personal political goals, and now that we catch you red handed, you have the balls to invoke September 11 again?

Gordon England, how fucking dare you, you un-American piece of shit.

You want to talk about giving aid and comfort to our enemies? How about your boss single handedly ripping the US Constitution to shreds, spying on American citizens, lying to the American public in order to get us to support his failed wars of convenience that have now so overstrapped our military we're unable to defend ourselves where and when it really matters?

How many World Trade Centers do you think Osama would have been more than willing to bomb in order to achieve all that? You people fucking handed Osama the dismantling of our entire democracy, and he didn't even need to fire another shot. And you lecture us about aiding and comforting the enemy?

How fucking dare you even have the nerve to speak to us about what's best for American ports when your God damn administration still hasn't secured container traffic coming into those very same American ports from abroad? What's the latest figure of the percentage of foreign containers shipped into the US that are actually screened (you know, for innocent little things like nukes)? Is it 5% max that gets searched, all the rest just go merrily on their way into our country containing God knows what?

And you have the nerve to lecture us about port safety and paranoia?

When the president of the United States is so out of touch that he goes on vacation for three days while a hurricane is wiping an entire American city off the map, you better believe I get paranoid.

When the president of the United States is so out of touch that he doesn't even know until the next day that his own vice president nearly killed a man, you better believe I get paranoid.

And when the president of the United States runs and hides for the entire day on September 11 while millions of us are forced to turn to Peter Jennings and Rudy Giuliani to be our presidents-by-proxy because George Bush is too much of a chicken shit to show his face for 12 fucking hours while we thought the world was ending, you better believe I get paranoid.

Gordon England. Go fuck yourself. Read the rest of this post...

Rove on Fox trying to spin the deal the Bush Admin. made with a country that has links to terrorists

It's a serious political issue if Karl Rove is on the case -- and publicly no less. The mastermind of making national security a political issue went on the Bush/RNC/GOP network today to spin. Clearly, if Karl is going on TV, there's a big problem brewing. Looks like Rove's figured out the Bush team is getting their wish: national security is a huge political issue this year -- but it's working against them this time:

President George W. Bush would accept a slight delay in permitting Dubai Ports World to acquire a British company that operates six key U.S. ports, senior White House adviser Karl Rove told Fox News.

When asked if Bush would accept a slight delay in implementing the takeover of P&O;, Rove said: "Yes, look, there are some hurdles, regulatory hurdles, that this still needs to go through on the British side as well that are going to be concluded next week.

He didn't say much. But the fact that they had to haul out Karl -- who has his own issues with violating national security -- says a lot.

This means, of course, the Democrats need to keep up the pressure. Read the rest of this post...

Reuters analyzes Bush's "did not know" strategy

But what if it's not a "strategy"? What if he's finally admitting what we all thought? He just doesn't know what the hell is going on. The first line is a classic and it is a line that basically sums up his whole presidency:

What didn't the president know and when didn't he know it?

Faced with a rebellion in his own Republican party over an Arab company's planned takeover of operations at six U.S. ports, the White House says President George W. Bush was in the dark about it until last week.

While Bush adamantly defended the deal again on Thursday, the I-did-not-know strategy has puzzled some political analysts and communications experts.

"It's a disaster for him, I think," said Michael Hogan, professor of communication, arts and sciences at Pennsylvania State University. "It's never a good thing for a president to say he doesn't know something."

Read the rest of this post...

7 more US Soldiers killed in Iraq violence

The death toll for American soldiers continues to mount as Iraq teeters towards civil war:

Seven U.S. soldiers were killed in two separate incidents in Iraq on Wednesday when roadside bombs struck the vehicles in which they were traveling, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

Every day we see more evidence that Bush's Iraq policy is a colossal failure. 130 Iraqis have also been killed in the recent mayhem. Read the rest of this post...

Top Bush/Rumsfeld aide claims furor over national security helps our "enemies"

This is rich. It proves one more time that the Bush people will lie about everything. Bush has spent the past five years making Americans paranoid for purely political reasons. Now, apparently, if Americans do worry about national security, they are aiding the enemy according to our Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England:

If the furor over the port deal should go on, Mr. England said, it would give enemies of the United States aid and comfort: "They want us to become distrustful, they want us to become paranoid and isolationist."

It was actually Karl Rove who wanted Americans to become distrustful. Bush and Rove used distrust and paranoia to their political advantage. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

What are the top outrages of this day so far? Read the rest of this post...

Is it racist or just obvious to think of the United Arab Emirates as a bit less trustworthy than Great Britain?

Washington Post

Bush said that those attacking the sale were holding a Middle Eastern company to a different standard than the British port operator that is being acquired by Dubai Ports World.

Bush's position is cute, but reeks of race-baiting from a man who baits just about every topic he touches. After 5 years of treating September 11 like some kind of political blessing, it's no surprise that Bush has now discovered civil rights as the latest tool to stifle the opposition.

Problem is, it's not gonna work on this one.

The United Arab Emirates is not Great Britain. And what's more, I just don't believe it's racist to acknowledge that fact.

It's a bit like saying Nigeria is one of the most, if not the most, corrupt country on the planet. It just is. And it's not because its citizens are black. It's just because the country is corrupt, period.

Same goes with Britain, but in reverse. England is not America's traditionally closest ally because they're white. It's because of years of both countries working together on common goals, sharing a common language, and in many ways sharing at least parts of a culture. Aside from that little revolution and the time they burned down the White House, we go way back with the Brits. You just can't say the same for the United Arab Emirates.

I'm sorry, but pretending that every country in the world is at the same level of economic, political, and cultural development is absurd. It suggests that the Renaissance never happened in the West, or at the very least, it happened simultaneously in all countries across the world because we wouldn't want to say that any country or any region "advanced" quicker than any other. It's also like saying that the world is equally democratic, that Iraq's democracy is just as good as America's, because to suggest otherwise would be racist.

I could go on.

But I think it's incredibly naive, and not surprising from a president who never stepped foot outside of the US (or did he visit Mexico once to go drinking?), to suggest that every country is at the same level of development and just as "nice" and trustworthy as every other country.

It's not.

And as I recall, it's the reason we invaded Afghanistan, and it was supposed to be the reason we invaded Iraq - to stop "bad" countries who weren't as nice as us.

And regardless of the fact that Bush lied to us about Iraq, that doesn't disprove the underlying premise, that each country is different, and that includes differences in trustworthiness, corruption, and levels of development.

It simply is not racist to admit those differences and act on them accordingly.

And in any case, when George Bush's best defense for the United Arab Emirates ports deal is to cry racism, you know he REALLY must be hiding something. Read the rest of this post...

Bush didn't think people were concerned about port security before the UAE scandal

Is he really this clueless? Okay, we know the answer. But still:

Bush said he was struck by the fact that people were not concerned about port security when a British company was running the port operation, but they felt differently about an Arab company at the helm.

Port security has been a major issue on the minds of Democrats for years. It's been Bush and the GOP who have ignored port security. The DSCC has a primer on Majority Leader Bill Frist's record on port security. The key point:

In fact, Frist has voted at least six times against efforts to improve the safety of the nation’s ports.

Bush and the GOP haven't cared about port security because it didn't have a place in their political agenda. Now it does. Read the rest of this post...

CREW files ethics complaint against Santorum

This is big. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed an ethics complaint against Santorum for violating Senate rules. It's getting lots of coverage in the Pennsylvania press:

The flap over Sen. Rick Santorum's unorthodox $500,000 mortgage for his family home in Leesburg, Va., took another twist yesterday when a leading watchdog group filed a formal complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee - charging that the loan from a private bank was an illegal gift because Santorum did not meet its stated guidelines.

The complaint by the Committee for Responsible Ethics in Washington, or CREW, alleges that the mortgage from Philadelphia Trust Co. is a gift in violation of Senate Rule 35, which says that senators can receive loans or other banking services only on terms "generally available to the public."

Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, said in a statement that "Santorum's decision to accept a loan not available to other people in his financial position demonstrates his contempt for the rules. This is particularly ironic given that Sen. Santorum has long attempted to position himself as the poster child for public morality."

If you know CREW, you know they don't mess around. Ricky's in trouble. Big trouble.

You can find CREW's complaint here. Read the rest of this post...

Dubai port company hires Bob Dole as lobbyist

As if this deal to sell off control of US ports to the United Arab Emirates couldn't become any sleazier, we now have former Republican Senator Bob Dole being hired as a lobbyist to influence - who? - HIS OWN WIFE. Yes, Bob Dole's wife is a Republican Senator from North Carolina.

I'm sorry, but how much sleazier can you get than having a former member of Congress being paid by a foreign government to lobby his own wife? Not to mention, I'm not real sure of the propriety of our national security decisions being influenced by foreign money.

Jack Abramoff would be proud. Read the rest of this post...

Rampaging violence accelerating in Iraq

Getting uglier by the day -- by the hour:

A major Sunni Arab bloc Thursday suspended talks with Shiite and Kurdish parties on a new government after scores of Sunni mosques were attacked and dozens of bodies found in a wave of reprisal violence following the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine.

Violence continued Thursday with an attack on a Sunni mosque in Baqouba, where eight Iraqi soldiers were killed in a bombing and nearly a dozen people were wounded.

Read the rest of this post...

Checking in on the way to give a talk about blogs

Off to the John Adams Society to talk about blogs to the staff. Just a few photos I just shot, enjoy:





Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

What are you hearing? Read the rest of this post...

FOX's O'Reilly says it's time to cut and run from Iraq

Iraq is Bush's albatross and it ain't going away. The Democrats should have embraced the "withdraw from Iraq" strategy from the day Murtha put his proposal out there. Sure, the Repubs would have beaten the crap out of them, but it would have put Bush and company in a bind. Either stay in Iraq in order to prove the Dems wrong - and watch all hell break loose in Iraq, proving that we shouldn't be there - or withdraw eventually and whenever the withdraw happens, concede that the Dems were right.

That's called smart politics. Read the rest of this post...

Bush team chooses financial interests over national security

This news shouldn't really come as a surprise, but the Bush Administration puts financial interests before national security. While the Bush/Rove team talk a good game on national security and keeping Americans safe, they don't do either all that well. Security isn't on the top of their policy agenda, just their political agenda. For Bush and company, even in the post-9/11 world they're always talking about, money rules:

The Bush administration decided last month that a deal to hand over operations at major American ports to a government-owned company in Dubai did not involve national security and so did not require a more lengthy review, administration officials said Wednesday.

That pesky national security issue just gets in the way. Team Bush cuts deals to make money. Our security doesn't factor in to their decision making process:

In September, the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said the Treasury Department, as head of the interagency committee that reviews such deals, had used an overly narrow definition of national security threats because it wanted to encourage foreign investment.

Imagine what will be found when the money trail for the UAE port security deal becomes known. Read the rest of this post...