February 26, 2006

FRIST STOPS SAWING FIRST:

A Face-saving Dubai Deal in the Works?: GOP officials are apparently mulling over a deal that would allow for a new review of the Dubai Ports World contentious acquisition (TIMOTHY J. BURGER, MIKE ALLEN AND MATTHEW COOPER, 2/26/06, TIME)

If approved by all parties, the new deal would allow Bush to avert a GOP-driven bill to overturn the Dubai deal with enough votes to override Bush's threat of his first veto. Republican sources tell TIME that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee proposed the basic terms of a deal designed to give the White House a graceful way out, while also allaying the concerns of the many lawmakers in both parties who have said the deal could be a threat to our security. Under the Frist plan, the deal could stand a good chance of ultimately going through after the extended review. Frist aides apparently proposed the terms to representatives of the company and the White House late Friday. Neither has formally responded but both seemed interested in the idea, according to a Senate Republican aide. "This avoids a direct clash," the aide said. "It solves everyone's problem. The President doesn't have to cancel the deal or veto anything."

The deal goes through unchanged after a couple weeks and the yammerers get to pretend they achieved something. It's the kind of "compromise" the President specializes in.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 26, 2006 10:50 AM
Comments

What will be the next week's tempest in a teacup (bag? leaf?)? Does the Congress realize the political capital that's being misspent? The Reds have joined the Blues in a contest to see which side can be sillier and less consequential.

Posted by: ed at February 26, 2006 11:14 AM

No end of possibilities.

Posted by: erp at February 26, 2006 11:47 AM

This whole kerfuffle is a case of "stuck on stupid." A lot of people came out loudly against the port deal based on false reporting that we were outsourcing port security, Then it turned out we weren't doing that. Instead of saying "Never mind," these people are standing by what they said. Apparently, by coincidence, the same position applies, even though the cases differ on the crucial point.

A foolish consistency, indeed.

Posted by: Bob Hawkins at February 26, 2006 12:05 PM

Right now it's just a matter of trying to stand down as quietly as possible on the Republican side, while at the same time explaining your own actions to followers who you either whipped up into a frenzy, or tried to take advantage of that frenzy for your own political gain.

Democrats, on the other hand, may try to keep the outrage going a little longer, unless they suddenly see CAIR, James Zogby or some of their other nominal allies in the U.S. Muslim community launching barbs alleging bigotry at them (Hillary might go the Tancredo route and take this as a badge of honor, at least while running for re-election in New York, but most of the liberal Dems will end up caving, less they be forced to give up their titles as honorary EU intellectual sophisticates).

Posted by: John at February 26, 2006 12:50 PM
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