Bush officials brief lawmakers on Dubai port deal (only 1 Repug came)

[rodeodance]

to this party.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060223/pl_afp/usattacksuaeport_060223194602;_ylt=AoZLMxfAgNRdeCH1gSClOoGs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

Bush officials brief lawmakers on Dubai port deal

54 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government took its public relations offensive to Congress, hoping to quell a public backlash over a controversial deal allowing a Dubai company to run several major US ports.

Officials from a dozen federal agencies took part in the briefing on plans for a United Arab Emirates (UAE) state-owned firm, Dubai Ports World, to acquire a British firm which currently manages the six US ports.
....

At Thursday's briefing, Senator Hillary Clinton called the deal "a failure of judgment" by the White House.

"Port security is national security and national security is port security," the New York Democrat said at the briefing by representatives from the departments of State, Commerce, Defense,
Homeland Security and other federal agencies.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

1. That Article Fails To Mention That Only 1 Repug Attended nt

[rodeodance]

2. and repug names omitted from this doc. also (critical of Port deal)

Thu Feb-23-06 01:28 PM
Original message
RNC release omits ALL Republican comments from WSJ Ports article

While Bush says he’ll veto any attempt to block the port deal, congressional critics have threatened to derail one of the president’s nominees. Last month, in an unfortunate bout of timing, the White House nominated David Sanborn, a former Dubai Ports World executive, to head the Transportation Department’s Maritime Administration. Sanborn was the focus of a confirmation hearing earlier this month, but critics, including Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., have threatened to block the nomination.

In a sign of how stormy the politics is, the Republican National Committee forwarded reporters excerpts of a Wall Street Journal editorial slamming critics of the deal. While the RNC release highlighted portions of the editorial critical of Democrats, it omitted every mention of Republicans—including the editorial’s opening paragraphs which highlighted the opposition of Frist and other GOP critics. “This behavior of Republicans strikes us as peculiar coming from people who claim to support the war on terror,” the WSJ opined, in a sentence not included in the RNC release. President Bush always wanted to make Washington a more bipartisan place. Unintentionally, he seems to have succeeded.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11508962/site/newsweek/page... /

[MadMaddie]

3. Wow ...the Repugs are really taking Port Security Seriously...

:sarcasm:

[rodeodance]

5. it is strange--what is going on?

[radfringe]

8. seems to me that a back door deal in the works

the bushies are making some deals with GOPers, let the Dems get out in front of the issue and then the bushies/GOPers pull the rug out from under the Dems

watch out for more of the "ANGRY DEMOCRATS" spin

[rodeodance]

12. Blitzer was commenting on a Rove comment of today-who said that

even after UK regulatory issues are passed (next week)--the deal does NOT have to go through.

[rodeodance]

13. a reported said that everyone is wondering what Rove meant by that

comment (Rove is out and about--he said it at some conference today)

[BR_Parkway]

16. Hell yeah I'm angry, and if more people were paying attention, they'd

be angry too. Don't they care enough about their country to look at what's happening?

Who runs this things anyhow?

• Shrub didn't know they might use planes as terror weapons
  
• Shrub didn't know where to find bin Laden
  
• Shrub didn't know Saddam didn't really have WMD
  
• Shrub didn't know those tax cuts would create such a deficit
  
• Shrub didn't know critical info about the flooding in Katrina
  
• Shrub didn't know Cheney shot a man
  
• Shrub didn't know we were selling our ports to his family business partners (but he was all set to veto any move to stop it before he claims to know the facts about the deal)

What the hell does the man know? Who's running things? And why aren't you as angry as me?

[rodeodance]

4. AP ---(Dem) Senators Voice Concern Over Ports Deal

Senators Voice Concern Over Ports Deal

WASHINGTON - Two Senate Armed Services Committee Democrats lashed out Thursday at permitting a state-owned company in the United Arab Emirates to take over half a dozen major U.S. seaports, suggesting that it could open a window of opportunity for a terrorist attack.

Brushing aside President Bush's assurances that security concerns have been addressed by his administration, Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, the panel's ranking Democrat, said the UAE backed the Taliban and allowed financial support for al-Qaida.

Levin also charged that the UAE has an "uneven history" as "one of only a handful of countries in the world to recognize the Taliban regime in Afghanistan." He added that millions of dollars in al-Qaida funds went through UAE financial institutions.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., also was critical, calling the approval process "a failure of judgment" because officials "did not alert the president, the secretary of the treasury and the secretary of defense" that several of our critical ports would be turned over to a foreign country.

Earlier Thursday, Bush sought to calm the uproar over the ports deal, saying "people don't need to worry about security."

[A Simple Game]

6. Even if they were the most secure company in the world

as an Independent voter I oppose this deal. If I were a Republican I would still oppose this deal. Does the term STATE-OWNED mean anything to these supposed capitalists?

Now I can support nationalized companies, in fact I can even hope for some in our own country, but that is where they need to stay, in their own country. State owned companies should serve their own country.

[Megahurtz]

7. What a Joke!

>>>but the Senate committee's Republican chairman, John Warner, called for calm, saying that "just, fair, equitable treatment (must) be given our allies and coalition partners in a wide range of transactions."<<<

How about just fair and equitable treatment be given to the citizens of the United States,
you idiots!

All that this Administration cares about is their $$$financial transactions$$$!
They could give a rats ass about The People!:argh:

[rodeodance]

10. (Bush) said the briefings were "bringing a sense of calm to this issue."

gee, warner and bush use same words.

[rodeodance]

9. Even Wolf B. said only attended by Dems. on cnn a bit ago he gave

a good segment on this 'open briefing'

[MadMaddie]

11. Randi just said that after 9/11 the UAE...

Wouldn't let the US track the money trail to their banks...one of the hijackers flew there often and was financed through the UAE....

The US is the laughing stock of the World!!

[rodeodance]

14. Levin brought up a lot of 9/11 today--but panal admited they had not

consulted the committee or the report.

[MadMaddie]

15. What the hell are they getting paid for ....

They don't read the reports...they don't do anything do they..Why are they there?