Republicans and the UAE port deal
By jsteele Posted in User Blogs — Comments (14) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
I have followed the DPW deal and commented on it in a number of diaries. I've thought quite a bit about what it means for our security and national interests. I've seen and heard comments about abandoning national security, endangering our Middle East strategy, betraying our friends, etc. I don't see this as a betrayal of the UAE; frankly that doesn't bother me all that much, the guys in charge of DPW are adult businessmen and they will deal with this much as they would any other business setback and move on. There may be strategic impacts but if the US and UAE have a real alliance it will weather this; if it doesn't we couldn't count on it in the long pull anyway.
No, what bothers me is the complete, utter, absolute abandonment of reason by members of Congress. Of the large number of them who came forward and made speeches and comments about the deal, not one, not one, of them bothered to learn anything about the nature of the port business, the companies involved, the reality of terminal operation, nothing; they simply put their mouths in gear, out poured idiocy, and followed the Democrats off the cliff, egged on by Michelle Malkin, Michael Savage and others. Aided by a increasingly irresponsible, but unfortunately still influential, press they managed to conduct this entire affair in an environment totally devoid of fact.
The port deal is not just a travesty, it unfortunately exemplifies the lack of knowledge, thought, understanding, honesty, interest and intellectual curiosity with which politicians conduct the people's business. Not once during the entire affair did a single fact manage to sneak in or out of their closed little domain. From Day One this entire affair has been conducted in a sea of hyperbole from both sides of the aisle, accompanied by a storm of misstatement and distortion from what passes for a free press.
Ever since the 2000 election we've come to expect the Democrats to be irrational and irresponsible. We know the press cannot be trusted to bring anything approaching the truth to the table. But our own party? Of all of the people who should have anchored reason in this affair it should have been Republicans. But what did we get? Proof positive that politicians, regardless of their party, are devoid of anything but their own egos and self-interests.
Excellent, a must read main post.
It is going to be a long election season, with Chuck Schumer as the puppetter and the rabid, republican/conservative/talk radio/blog-o-sphere as the marionettes.
The worst thing to come out of the Harriet Meirs fiasco may be this lynch mob mentality that Schumer managed to exploit.
I don't see this as a betrayal of the UAE; frankly that doesn't bother me all that much, the guys in charge of DPW are adult businessmen and they will deal with this much as they would any other business setback and move on.
The trouble is that they will deal with it. They, and every other foreign investor with a bucket of money, will judge that the U.S. is an investment risk.
China owns US ports. Will Chuck Schumer, on his upcoming trip there, demand that they divest? Will he stand at the gate of Tiananmen and beat his breast about the security of the nation he loves? The U.S., that is?
the security of the nation he loves? The U.S., that is?
I might not have been sure otherwise!
yes, foreign businessmen will take it into account in their judgments. The US is hardly and investment risk. At the end of the day it is still the safest, easiest, most desirable place to invest and this is not going to change that. It will have an impact but foreign investment will not flee simply because of this.
And China does not own any US ports. American cities, counties, states, etc., own US ports. China operates terminal facilities in the same manner as P&O, Maersk, Saudi, and DPW would have had Congress not ^&*^%&%&^ it up.
Schumer loves America --- he just loves Schumer a bit more.
I know "own" the port is not the right word. Sorry for saying it that way.
And I think you've nailed Chuckie. Perhaps if I had a better handle on priorities I, too, could make a fool of myself on the news.
I felt I needed to weigh in. I have posted diaries and comments on this subject myself. My "hair has been on fire" over this...so, while I have tried to just get over it I cn't get past this comment you made:
what bothers me is the complete, utter, absolute abandonment of reason by members of Congress
and for me this is the core of it. I am a tried and true Conservative stuck with the only party available to me these days aligning themselves with the principles of conservatism whether they practice them or not. None of our political heroes have handled themselves appropriately over this issue, and while they thumped their chests about security, not a (expletive removed in deference to the Posting Guidelines) thing has been said or done about port security since DPW pulled out.
I'm a Texan. I live with security breaches every day. I would love to anger a foreign country over wanting and needing to improve our security, but we end up where we started-a porous border, business as usual with container checks at the border, and a whole lot of political thugs in fancy doo-dads hinging their election campaigns on either how they stood up to, and apart from, the President...or how firm they "will be" on security...and either way, we lose.
... and I mean that most duplicitously.
They didn't do this, anyway, or perhaps in the amendments to the budget resolution they courageously failed not to avoid not doing something:
By 43 yeas to 53 nays (Vote No. 59), Lieberman/Mikulski Amendment No. 3034, to protect the American people from terrorist attacks by providing $8 billion in additional funds for homeland security government-wide, by restoring cuts to vital first responder programs in the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, by providing an additional $1.2 billion for first responders, $1.7 billion for the Coast Guard and port security, $150 million for chemical security, $1 billion for rail and transit security, $456 million for FEMA, $1 billion for health preparedness programs, and $752 million for aviation security.
And how can you callously ignore this vital piece legislative glory?:
Gregg (for Stabenow/Levin) Amendment No. 3156, to protect the American people from terrorist attacks and threats to public health by collecting a fee for inspection exclusively of international trash shipments at the U.S. border generating $45 million in receipts. The fee will help defray the cost of increasing the number and quality of inspections of these potentially dangerous shipments at the border. The fee for inspection service will be implemented to be fully compliant with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and other applicable trade agreements.
Gregg (for Stabenow/Levin) Amendment No. 3156, to protect the American people from terrorist attacks and threats to public health by collecting a fee for inspection exclusively of international trash shipments at the U.S. border generating $45 million in receipts. The fee will help defray the cost of increasing the number and quality of inspections of these potentially dangerous shipments at the border. The fee for inspection service will be implemented to be fully compliant with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and other applicable trade agreements.
Trash has been a hot botton issue for years. Our politicians at all levels of government have wanted to find ways to tax, tax and tax those shipments of trash coming across our border from Canada into our landfills. They are going to drive the cost of trash collecting so high in this state (it won't JUST be the foreign operators who get taxed, that everyone is going to start dumping their trash on the side of the road, like I do! (just kidding!)
I find it very interesting that Stabenows name is on a bill. Levin hasn't lived in Michigan for years, I'm curious if he even knows where the Ambassador Bridge is. Granholm, that dim-wit will see this and add a tax to our garbage collection. She is having a great time with property taxes. Oakland Co. is catching up to Genesse....
We need major change in Michigan. The Republican COWARDS in Michigan went along with raising the Minium wage.
Do you ever wonder where the money from the lottery goes......
faith, family, and my saturday tee time...
has finally figured out that she has done NOTHING for six years, and she'd better get her name on SOMETHING that she can point to and say, "SEE, I showed up!"
I was NEVER so disappointed as when they passed that minimum wage increase...anything to keep it off the ballot in November!
to lay the facts on the table and debate the issue. Instead, they followed the easiest/laziest path. Most of the people in this country were reactively uncomfortable with the deal, it is too hard to educate the masses with technical info and most just don't want to learn anyway. So whether security at the ports would be threatened or not by this deal, it is easier to just keep the perception up of protecting the public, and move on to the next issue.
They are, after all, politicians. I happen to view the Republican politicians as the lesser of the evils. My motivation to vote is that I can't fathom liberals in charge, especially now.
Because he lives out a different reality every day. He and Durbin and Murtha, etal.