I’m No Bigot
23 February 2006 12:08 pm by Taylor Marsh
I'm No Bigot
"I will fight harder than ever for this legislation,
and if it is vetoed, I will fight as hard as I can to override it," said
Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.(snip)
Against this backdrop, the administration "should
have recognized that there was going to be a problem" with acceptance
of the port deal, said David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative
Union. "It seems to me that they have a tin ear someplace within the
administration."Keene said the president was ill-served by aides who
did not prepare for the assaults on the port deal. And he criticized Bush's
decision to defend the agreement so vehemently."Now he's got his manhood on the line," Keene
said. "You've got allies saying, 'How can you back down?' It's going
to get very nasty, and there are no political benefits in it for Bush."
GOP
Allies Abandon Bush in Fight Over Arab Port Deal
I'm with Rep. Sue Myrick. Not only "NO — but HELL NO,"
to the port deal. So, according to the new strategy by GOP central, that makes
me a bigot. Today Rush talked about Democrats being for racial profiling. All
of a sudden, President Bush's party has gone politically correct, all over a
port deal with Dubai. It's a bad move all 'round.
Grover Norquist thinks it's an issue that will fade in time.
"The only whiners left by
next week will be the registered bigots," Norquist said.
The aim here is to shame anyone against Bush's bad faith port
deal.
But let's face it, as the New
York Daily News reports today, the Republicans won't be able to keep a veto
over-ride together in the Senate, because a defeat for Bush at this point would
flatten his presidency for good. Eriposte
has more.
That doesn't mean the Republicans are right, because they are
not.
The UAE is the wrong company to be leasing our ports. Yes, the
wrong company, because DP World is a state-owned corporation.
Democrats should fight this deal, while trying to push forward
more funding for the Coast Guard, as well as pump up the security budgets of
our nuclear, chemical, railways, subways, etc. On our side is the reality
that we only inspect 5% of the cargo coming into our ports, 5%. That means we're
putting 95% of our trust in a nation that had ties to two of the 9/11 hijackers,
helped hide bin Laden's money, the list goes on.
The Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday provides the foundation
for the Republican attack, which is to say we're not hawks, but just trying
to posture. This is absurd, because last time I looked this argument was bi-partisan.
Just because the money wing of the GOP, Grover Norquist, thinks our outrage
is based in bigotry doesn't make it so.
No foreign-owned corporations should have control over the mass
cargo loads coming in and out of our ports, most of which are not inspected.
Again, like Bush, we're being asked to trust a foreign government with a dubious
past with our port cargo. Yes, the Coast Guard will be in charge of security,
but DP World will be in charge of everything else.
Earlier, I also found this paragraph that set off my 9/11 alarms.
Under the deal, the government asked Dubai
Ports to operate American seaports with existing U.S. managers "to the
extent possible." It promised to take "all reasonable steps"
to assist the Homeland Security Department, and it pledged to continue participating
in security programs to stop smuggling and detect illegal shipments of nuclear
materials. Arab
Co., White House Had Secret Agreement
Then I went searching to see if anyone else thought it was odd.
Josh Marshall
calls the above paragraph a "beaut" for the White House.
"To the extent possible"?
"All reasonable steps" to assist Homeland Security
Dept.?
The more I learn, the less I like this deal. But it's not about
Arabs. Again, for the dense in W.'s camp, it's about a foreign-owned corporation, with ties to two of the 9/11
hijackers, who will have to be trusted with 95% of the cargo coming into our
ports, because we only search 5%.
Republicans want to brand Democrats bigots, with their "There
are Arabs and then there are Arabs" lines. Let 'em try.
If Bush and the Republicans decide to back the port deal, I say
we take this issue and ram it down their throats in November. The people will
not only side with us, but they'll come out in droves.
Homeland Security is more important than political correctness
and cash.
