Six Ports In A Storm

I'm sure you've seen the coverage of the sale of the British company P&O to Dubai Ports World, who would then operate six US ports. Let's take a look at the political ramifications of the deal that has been approved by the Bush administration.

As far as the political side goes, Bush really stepped on his dick with this one. Republicans in Congress are rightfully pissed over the approval, because Bush really cut their throats in an election year. Now he's actually threatening to veto any legislation they may pass to stop the deal.

The polling shows it, and Karl Rove has actually stated it, the republicans have to run on national security this year. It's the ONLY issue people believe republicans have ANY credibility on. Now, they are being seen as giving the key to six American cities to the enemy. That's not going to sit well with many voters who simply aren't going to be able to understand this complex issue. They'll also probably be shocked to find out that a lot of our other ports are operated by foreign companies, including Chinese ones, who by the way, actually have nuclear weapons.

You see, that's what all the backlash from the American people is all about. They're worried that an Islamic terrorist could smuggle a nuclear weapon into this country through these ports, no matter that American customs agents and workers actually staff the ports, and that the odds of that happening are no better or worse than any other port in America.

This deal shines the light brightly on port security though, which the Democrats have been trying to make an issue ever since 9/11. Port security has been vastly underfunded by the republicans ever since then, but now the DPW deal gives us a canvas to paint this failure on that has now been burned into their minds by the news coverage of it.

This will also have the effect of making it harder for Bush to raise money for Congressional republicans, none of which should be wanting to have their picture taken with him right now. They're going to have to run far away from Bush or face diminished chances of winning re-election. All good.

Lastly, here in Ohio, we get a little added bonus. Remember Rob Portman, the rising star in the republican party that used to hold OH-02 before that wacko Jean Schmidt? He's now the US Trade Representative, and as a member of The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, he signed off on the deal. That's an albatross he will carry into any future campaigns he should choose to mount.