Bush, The Puppet President

The Associated Press has a story out that confirms what many of us have suspected for some time now. President Bush is not in control of his White House and has divorced himself from the responsibility of running this country.

President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday. Defending the deal anew, the administration also said that it should have briefed Congress sooner about the transaction, which has triggered a major political backlash among both Republicans and Democrats.

According to the AP story, the President only recently found out about the sale of U.S. ports to the United Arab Emirates. The deal was signed, sealed and delivered before he ever found out. Now he's asking us to trust him and trust his people who vetted the company and approved of the deal.

The first-ever sale involving U.S. port operations to a foreign, state-owned company is set to be completed in early March. It would put Dubai Ports in charge of major shipping operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. "If there was any chance that this transaction would jeopardize the security of the United States, it would not go forward," Bush said.

Of course, these are some of the same people who failed to secure our country in the first place. They helped lie us into a war, planned the exposure of a CIA operative, watched while New Orleans disappeared under water and helped spend our nation into a massive debt load. We're supposed to trust these people?

Dan Bartlett says Dubai Ports is a reputable firm. Well, Dan, Jack Abramoff was reputable....until we found out he wasn't. Tom DeLay was reputable....until we found out he wasn't. Duke Cunningham was reputable.....until we found out he wasn't. Bill Jefferson was reputable....until we found out he wasn't. Achmed Chalabi was never reputable and the entire administration fell for his lies. Hell, Dan, even Saddam Hussein was reputable back in the 80s. Ronald Reagan and Donald Rumsfeld just loved Saddam then.

Bartlett also said that we would send "a dangerous signal to people overseas that America plays favorites." Um...Dan....now's not the time to decide you aren't a bigot. If there was ever a time to be against a middle east company owning US ports, NOW would be that time. I am all for being fair and doing what is right. Putting our ports into the hands of a state-owned company from the United Arab Emirates isn't the right thing to do. Not now and probably not ever.

It's funny. Vice President Cheney and Karl Rove did their best to set the Democrats in Congress up to look weak on terrorists in the upcoming elections. Who looks weak on terrorists now?

Hat tip FireDogLake.

Update: The Washington Post article is here.