Political Divergence

Reading this article about Dubai Ports abandoning their deal, this quote struck me:

The company's announcement gave Bush an out.

An out? Really? So this whole thing ended with our president wanting to hand over control of our ports to a muslim theocracy, and that's an out? The Bush administration must be hurting for outs, because that sounds like a really bad one. That's like me saying "sorry, mom, that I got my girlfriend pregnant. I was on heroin."

Meh. Election year '06 continues.

Posted on Friday, March 10, 2006 by

RCR |

12 Comments |

3 References

References (3)

References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.

Response: Pondering The Dubai Ports Firm's Pullout's Impact

at The Moderate Voice on Mar 10, 2006 at 03:00AM

You could also FEEL the sigh of relief coming from the White House when Dubai Ports World, a company based in the United Arab Emirates, announced it was transferring management operations at six major U.S. ports to a "U.S. entity."That wo...
Response: Properties

at Properties on Dec 24, 2007 at 01:58PM

Thanks. I learnt so much.
Response: timeshares

at http://timesharesdome.info on Mar 12, 2008 at 09:21PM

timeshares level items

Reader Comments (12)

Now I'm no politicizationinatorer, but I'm thinking if he blocked it he would be accused of racial/religious profiling, and if he didn't - - well, we saw what happened when he didn't.

The "out" was not having to choose. His out was to have the theocracy 'offer' control of the ports to an American entity.

That said, this should have been something that every single one of those stupid sabre-rattling politicos (including Gee-Dub) should've thought up on their own and not been "offered" by some dustbowl Gov't.

Mar 10, 2006 at 08:24AM |

AUA

Have you see the bumpersticker that says "Is it 2008 yet?"

Mar 10, 2006 at 08:43AM |

Reya Mellicker

I'm no fan of the administration, but W had it right on this one. Congress screwed the pooch. Post editorial today is right on. And I would love to be a fly on the wall in the ambassador to Dubai's office this past week. What a clustersmurf.

Mar 10, 2006 at 08:58AM |

Megarita

I just don't think there was any out, except to admit that this was a mistake and call the thing off. The fact that this deal was negotiated and approved *without* the president's knowledge is so mindblowingly disturbing that I want to crawl under my bed and sob. Anyway, going to the mat so that a muslim theocracy can make money running our ports was a huge waste of political capital on his part, and this surely isn't sitting well with the Nascar dads. I like to watch Bush fumble, until I remember that he's running the country. ::Shudder::

Mar 10, 2006 at 03:06PM |

RCR

Side note: I find it rather humorous that in the article referencing this post that I'm quoted next to Glenn Reynolds and Andrew Sullivan. Maybe I should do more political blogging.

Mar 10, 2006 at 03:15PM |

RCR

It was an interesting conundrum to watch--the reaction was pretty clearly anti-Arab and racist, but Bush didn't dare call his opposition on that because then he'd be exposing his own use of anti-Arab racism as a scare tactic. . .

That makes sense in my head. Not so much on paper. Blog. Whatever.

Mar 10, 2006 at 03:26PM |

JordanBaker

I'll just say the obvious: All of this is extremely problematic for so many, many reasons.

Mar 10, 2006 at 03:49PM |

M.A.

This deal actually wasn't very distrurbing. At all. It was a non-issue siezed upon by members of congress, mayors and other politicians who saw a political opportunity in an election year to portay themselves as protecting us. The deal didn't really impact operations related to security, and the UAE and Dubai have been quite cooperative in the U.S. anti-terror programs, including being the first port to sign onto DHS' container security initiative. This is how a global economy works.

Other than vague generalities, can you elaborate on what you found problematic with the deal?

Mar 10, 2006 at 04:39PM |

sqdc

Okay, now I remember why I don't do political posts. I don't think I ever said that I was disturbed by the deal. I am disturbed that the president didn't know about it, considering the potential political impact. I don't think it makes Bush look good, especially to the Bomb The Towelheads base that he panders to. I think this was a huge political fumble, and hardly an "out." Other than that, no comment.

Mar 10, 2006 at 05:57PM |

RCR

The real problem is that he allowed them to purchase timeshares in the White House.

Mar 10, 2006 at 09:16PM |

Phil

Damn, I knew I'd eventually regret walking out halfway through that "White House Time Share" promotion.

Bastards never even sent me my free sports watch.

Mar 11, 2006 at 08:26AM |

JordanBaker

That was hilarious, Phil. Beautiful.

Mar 13, 2006 at 11:52AM |

mass

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