Why the Dubai deal collapsed

[ProSense]

USA > Foreign Policy
posted March 10, 2006

Why the Dubai deal collapsed

By Linda Feldmann and Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor

Snip...

One persistent question has been why Bush has clung so tightly to the DPW deal. "Part of it was arrogance," says Mr. Ornstein. "Bush did not want to admit a mistake."

Beyond that, Ornstein adds, is the question of whether Bush's loyalty to the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is an emirate, was mainly because of its cooperation in the war on terror, or whether other considerations played a role. "These issues are not going to go away," says Ornstein.

Snip...

Upon hearing the news, other senators expressed the need for continued vigilance on security.

"Dubai deal or no Dubai deal, it's clear that this is just the tip of the iceberg of the administration's failure on port security," said Sen. John Kerry (D) of Massachusetts.


http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0310/p25s02-usfp.html

[MADem]

1. Arrogance, and IGNORANCE--I swear, his staff is keeping him in a bubble

I honestly do not think this twit realizes how unpopular he really is. Though, looking at photos of Laura lately, she seems to be showing a strain. She must be reading the A section of the Sunday paper while wee cowboy is chuckling over the funnies...

After the failed Miers nomination, and now this, perhaps the twit will start to grab a clue.

[NYC]

2. What's the difference if he is unpopular?

He's not running for anything. Now is his opportunity to do the most destruction. What would be the consequences to him?

[MADem]

5. He won't be able to achieve his AH-Gennnnnnn-DAH!!!

Presidents make money AFTER they leave office. He wants to set conditions so that he can make a bundle after he is gone, and likely he will want a protege warming the seat behind him. In order to make that happen, he has to get his little agenda of tossing lucrative contracts to his pals (likely he has a blind trust that is about as sightless as Bill Frist's) and cutting social services to the bone to pay for his war without end, amen. That way, the corporate pigs who benefit from his largesse can kite money through corporate AND individual donors to go towards the next election.

The way things are going though, it is looking increasingly less likely that that will happen for him. It's a real bitch when they start talking back to ya, ain't it Georgie? And when it is your OWN crew, too, that's a knife in the back. King of the Hill, no more!

He can't do JACK without the Congress...and the GOP are running scared. They want to keep warming THEIR seats. They just found out that they can give the little cowboy a hearty FUCK YOU and get away with it...they'll likely be emboldened after this little business, because Frist is weak, a lame duck, with ethics problems, and Trent Lott, the real GOP cat herder (as opposed to cat killer) in the Senate, will probably be VERY disinclined to do the Monkey's bidding. If it makes the Monkey look bad, old Trent (who still stings from the way the WH dumped him on his ass after the Strom business) will probably just sit back and smile. Revenge, after all, is a dish best served cold.

[Kahuna]

8. Yeah. Laura looks really pissed lately..

:applause: :bounce: :applause:

[kentuck]

3. The reason it collapsed :

The 2006 Congressional elections.

[madmunchie]

4. Bingo!

That exactly is why the Congress heard us! They are worried about the elections around the corner. Duh!

[NYC]

6. But did it collapse or just go underground?

I suspect it has just gone underground.

[0007]

10. ....and then "here comes Johnny"

This thing isn't over yet.

[pretzel4gore]

7. Napoleon lost the battle of Waterloo

cuz of hemorhoids, accoding to some guy in a bar.....bush lost this battle cuz he was too busy playing video games, or maybe some vile medical situation(??).....and like history conveeniently overlooks why napoleon never called marshal boucher in time to reinforce ney, it's likely bush was fukking around in his juvenileish way (i mean, c'mon, does anyone think that goofball cares about the usa ports, or the uae?)

[Nite Owl]

9. Not so much just about admitting

a mistake he didn't like getting caught at a mistake. We weren't supposed to really know that this happened. They weren't prepared for a discussion on this and if it didn't come out even if the repukes in Congress knew they would have gone along.

[abburdlen]

11. Set up for failure?

I just have a nagging suspicion that the Administration planned for this to fail.

The whole story started brewing three weeks ago when it was beginning to look like there might be some real consequences for the White house over the wire tape story. The Republican congress couldn't simply back down without it being obvious that they were lap dogs for the President.

Now they can go out on the campaign trail and show that "they can hold the President's feet to the fire" on an issue that ultimately doesn't mean much. Meanwhile the illegal wire tapping gets swept under the rug, they can continue to underfund port security, generally screw the country and still attempt to come out smelling like roses.

Now if Abramoff happens to have a heart attack before he sings like a canary then they might actually pull it off in November.