Posted on 02/23/2006 10:36:41 AM PST by mathprof
PRESIDENT Bush is now putting his en tire presidency at risk, thanks to incompetence by his staff — and his own I-know-best stubbornness on the port furor.
Bush has landed fellow Republicans in Congress with a nightmare choice: They can create a diplomatic incident by blocking the United Arab Emirates takeover of ports like New York, or they can commit political suicide.
"No member of Congress is going to risk a TV ad run by their opponent showing Arab street thugs burning American flags and waving AK-47s superimposed over port icons like the Statue of Liberty," says a veteran Republican strategist.
No wonder both House and Senate Republicans yesterday predicted that Bush will lose big-time if he tries to veto a bill to block the port takeover — every Democrat will vote to override his veto and so will most or all Republicans.
"If the president vetoes it and the veto is overridden, it certainly is going to weaken his presidency," said House Homeland Security chairman Peter King (R-L.I.), normally one of Bush's top go-to guys in Congress.
Said independent pollster Scott Rasmussen: "Even through the worst political storms of his administration, the president's national security credentials have been his trump card. I am surprised he is risking those credentials on this issue."
Yes, the UAE feels insulted. But Bush is stoking the flames by claiming only anti-Arab bigots oppose the takeover.
Unfortunately for Bush, the UAE isn't likely to do a Miers and voluntarily withdraw to protect him. And Republicans aren't going to commit political suicide.
He is out on a limb — and busy sawing it off all by himself.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I feel he's handled this very badly even if it might have been the right thing to do.
I don't think it's that black and white, and at the end of the day I bet the deal gets approved by all the blowhards.
Yep, all they want to do is bloviate and get their few seconds on the evening news.
Stubborn Bush knows political nonsense when he sees it. This is it.
"But Bush is stoking the flames by claiming only anti-Arab bigots oppose the takeover."
Hmmm that's funny, I never heard him say any such thing.
PRESIDENT Bush is now putting Congress and the people at risk.
More RAT wishful thinking. What amazes me is the chicken little attitude of so many freepers.
"I don't think it's that black and white, and at the end of the day I bet the deal gets approved by all the blowhards."
I think so too... part of the issue is actually shipping with china.
But there is real risk here, from several fromts.
Bush will come out of this as the great leader that he is!
LLS
Vigilantes and racists, oh my. The president has been possesed by Jessie Jackson.
Like I said, this whole thing is stupid, stupid, stupid. Worse for Bush than the Miers fiasco.
I opposed Miers a) because she was unqualified; b) because she was pro-abortion and pro-affirmative action; and c) because the appointment was seriously damaging Bush politically. For Bush's own good, she had to go.
The same is true here. This is stupid from a security point of view, stupid from a political point of view, and stupid from Bush's own point of view. If he pushes much longer, it will kill him politically.
Or, as I said on an earlier thread: stupid, stupid, stupid.
There's no way to back out of it gracefully now. But the least of evils is to limit the damage, admit that a mistake was made, send a sincere letter of apology to the Sheik of UAE, and kill it.
Sometimes he just needs a little help, like when we helped him realise his lawyer wasn't the best choice for the Supreme Court.
Bush may have put the Congress critters at political risk, but I do not think he is putting us, the people, at risk.
Sometimes, you just have to trust the people you trust.Bush knows about any possible risk/benefit of this deal and he certainly knew that there would be a fight. I don`t think he`s going to go through all this unless he feels that it will benefit the country. Till somebody with real knowledge of this deal can PROVE it endangers America, I have to support the President
He has implied it (he made some comment to the effect of, "I wonder why they would oppose a middle-eastern company controlling it and not Great Britain"), and his acolytes have stated it explicitly.
Ole bloviating bill, last night, had peter king on his show and said that king was like moodowd. King had a cow, but the bloviator pointed out the facts in this case and king started to waffle and back pedal. Too many politicos went off half-cocked without any facts....suprise, and now have to re-position. Watch the back pedal, it's the washington two-step, in reverse.
you better have your flame suit on.....
I meant we are at risk if the democrats win the Congress. I was not very clear at all.
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