Hooboy.
Who ever thought that Hillary's political Tin Ear was communicible?
President Bush MAY be absolutely right on this, or maybe it is another strategery that is beyond my grasp... But given the entire political and social situation in the USA, it was a totally foolish move, at least the way it was done. WORSE than Harriet Miers.
Generally, (other than border security) I WANT to give President Bush the benefit of the doubt... But the fact that Jimmy Carter is about the only other person 'with a name' who thinks that it is a good idea should send up warning flags to everyone who has any more than half a functioning brain cell.
And the fact that President Bush, who NEVER has felt the need to veto any bill that has been sent to him, finds this the only thing important enough to veto really bothers me too. Why is this more important than something like Constitutional issues like the stifled 'free speech' through McCain Finegold?
I can see just about everyones points on this; except that I don't see this as racism. That they are Arabs doesn't bother me. That they (from the CEO down to the janitor) MAY be Muslims who believe literally and totally in a Quran which demands that people be converted or subjugated to mohammedism or killed violently DOES worry me.
Even if no one in the UAE company will be directly involved in port security, they will still be briefed or be able to closely observe security operations. And even if they personally are good guys, no telling who they will talk to; They will have family back in sandy places who may be threatened if they don't cooperate with terrorists.
All I know for sure is that this is a funny thing for President Bush to 'draw a line in the sand' over.
I'm against it, barring further information... If it is some sort of grand strategery that will benefit Americans, well, I guess that I and the other reasonable people who oppose it will have to be embarassed by failing to trust President Bush's grand plan.
But in the mean time, better safe than sorry, I say.
And if it is strategery that can't be made public, then President Bush has to 'toss the dice' and suffer the short term political fallout if it is the right thing to do, and hope that we don't have any real fallout in either the short term or the long them because of it.
Please take a look at pickrell's post of 9:45 last nite (21st). I'm not saying that that applies. Bush has been A total idiot about Mexican border security, and it is now exploding out of control, with mexican MILITARY incursions into the US (FOREIGN MILITARY ATTACKS ON THE US HOMELAND) and GWB just sits there like he's cool with everything.????????
Harriet Miers was not a bad move. It galvanized the right and got Alioto almost clear sailing through Congress. It got our attention when it was needed much better than any exhortation to support Alioto or influence your Dem congressman to not oppose Alioto would have been. Miers may not have been a planned operation but I truly believe that as soon as W saw the conservative indignation begin to take form, he chuckled at a realized opportunity and played it for all it was worth and got Alioto through fairly easily. W's political sense is at least as good as Clinton's and and a lot more politically useful because he is getting his program enacted where Clinton was reduced to abandoning most of his(well, hers) and signing things like welfare reform.