Way to go Howard Dean!http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/28/AR2006022801433.html<snip>
Even the U.S.S. Ken Mehlman, an agile vessel, could not successfully navigate the port deal's shoals. Appearing before the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Republican National Committee chairman tucked a one-sentence, indirect reference to the fuss nearly 20 minutes into his speech --"We have a military presence in the United Arab Emirates that is vital to stability" -- then left before he could be questioned about the deal.
Mehlman's Democratic counterpart, Howard Dean, wasn't about to let Mehlman off the hook with that. Next on the JCPA stage, Dean reordered his speech, which usually starts with a jeremiad about Republican corruption. "I want first to speak about defense," Dean said, pivoting to the ports.
"Today we see the specter, as reported in the Jerusalem Post, of a company who is about to take over American ports, which actively continues today to boycott Israel," the Democratic National Committee chairman declared. "Foreign governments of any kind ought not to be controlling American ports, especially when the Coast Guard already recommended that they could not guarantee the security of the ports."