BREAKING: GOP UNEASE SPREADS TO SECURITY ISSUES

[Halliburton]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/28/AR2006022801607_pf.html

<snip>
Now the Florida delegation's third-strongest Bush supporter is on the front lines of the Republican revolt against the president on the deal to turn over key operations at six U.S. ports to a United Arab Emirates company. Republicans who once marched in lock step behind their president on national security are increasingly willing to challenge him in an area considered his political strength.

The signs of GOP discontent have been building in the past few months. Dissident Republicans in Congress forced Bush to sign a measure banning torture of detainees despite his initial veto threat, blocked renewal of the USA Patriot Act until their civil liberties concerns were addressed and pressured the White House into accepting legislation on its secret eavesdropping program. By the time the port deal came to light, the uprising was no longer limited to dissidents.

"We simply want to participate and aren't going to be PR flacks when they need us," Foley said. "We all have roles. We have oversight. When you can't answer your constituents when they have legitimate questions . . . we can't simply do it on trust."

The breakdown of the Republican consensus on national security both reflects and exacerbates Bush's political weakness heading toward the midterm elections, according to party strategists. Even as Republicans abandoned him last year on domestic issues such as Social Security, Hurricane Katrina relief and Harriet Miers's Supreme Court nomination, they had largely stuck by him on terrorism and other security issues.
<snip>

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Horseshit.

"We have oversight.."

"We've never used it but we have it," Foley added.



:grr:

[Beetwasher]

2. Nice To See This On The Front Page

n/t

[JulieWisc]

3. Tommorows headline...

Republicans set date for the start of impeachment hearings... I wonder if we will EVER see that in the post??:crazy:

[stop the bleeding]

4. I like this part

The release of a new CBS News poll showing Bush's approval rating dropping to 34 percent, a low for him in that survey, sent tremors through Republican circles in Washington. Scott Reed, who managed Robert J. Dole's presidential campaign in 1996, called the results "pretty shattering." Most distressing to GOP strategists was that Bush's support among Republicans fell from 83 percent to 72 percent.

[malaise]

5. Fugg all of them

This $hit started in Florida 2000.

[stop the bleeding]

6. Now doubt I have lived in the Tampa area since 1996

so needless to say I haven't been the same since 2000

[FreedomAngel82]

7. This is just for 2006 and nothing more

Watch right after the midterms they'll be right back with Bush. They're the biggest, excuse the term, flipfloppers around. Ugh. It's so they can appear "tough" on security. We can not let them escape Bush. They helped him get to power and all this on us so they deserve to be thrown out too.

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. RUBBERSTAMP Republican Congress trying to get the ink off their hands

It's a fucking lie, of course. These douchebags RUBBERSTAMPED and OK'ed every frigging hare-brained scheme the neo-cons could hatch, and they all led to massive, treacherous failure. Now they want to pretend that they are an independent and coequal branch of government after kowtowing to the Bush people for six goddamn years? RUBBERSTAMPERS don't change. They just feel their jobs slippping away, and know it is because they are nothing but a RUBBERSTAMP Republican congress.

[sofa king]

9. I'm getting tired of this "six ports" thing.

At first I thought it was just an accident, but at this point, it can't possibly be. So someone is wrong.

Here is a Mooniecorp article that notes the discrepancy, but does not explain why such a discrepancy exists or how it was misreported in the first place:

http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060223-051657-4981r

and a Kos article about the article:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/2/24/193911/943

So what in the hell is going on here? Who is benefiting from this strange error?

[magellan]

10. Congressional Republicans have seen the light!

And they'll turn it off after the midterm elections.