To be fair, it doesn't take much to flummox Matthews.

I particularly love the "this was mishandled by the White House" meme, which is apparently code for: "I completely bollixed this up by screaming my extreme but completely uneducated opinion about what turns out to be a routine matter from the top of my lungs, based entirely on xenophobia and my ignorance of how port security is organized, and now that I've gone too far to retreat, I need someone to blame."

David:

Sort of like Dick Cheney should have held a press conference then checked to see if Whitinghton was bleeding?

Last week we had The Great Texas Shotgun Massacre of The Century. This week we have the The Great Arab Nuclear Terrorism Smuggling Waiting to Happen. This sure is exciting, isn't it?

Of course it doesn't take much to flummox Matthews or any of the "chattering classes". They have no knowledge or skill or talent beyond chattering, which is why reality is constantly proving them to be foolishly stupid.
And because that's all they know, they've come to believe it's that not chattering is the first sign that a person isn't serious or doing anything constructive.

The real problem is that most of this chattering on ports has been factually and objectively wrong, and none of the Matthews of the world have bothered to learn the minimum about this subject that would lead to skepticism. They just assumed that since what they were told fitted their worldview, it had to be true. Sure it was "mishandled by the White House." They couldn't possibly have thought so many people could be so ignorantly and agressively stupid. (The again, this pattern has become so expected that that is their real sin.)

Though this is one of those wonderful situations where folks both on the left and the right find themselves perplexed over their positions, percisely because the regular allies aren't breaking down on their normal battle lines (some on the right like to say that Jimmy Carter's support for the UAE deal is game, set, match against it, only to turn around and see themselves allied with Chuch Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. Their actions may not make you support or oppose the deal, but it should at least mandate a few more moments of reflection at the very least on why Jimmy or Nancy is on your side).

Jimmy Carter doesn't hate Arabs for being Arab.

David - Obviously, the White House was mistaken not to anticipate that people would be completely bollixed up by screaming extreme but completely uneducated opinions about a routine matter from the top of their lungs, based entirely on xenophobia and ignorance of how port security is organized, and should have taken steps to be sure that people didn't get any routine news that might cause them to react that way.

Well, if they were really the ultimate Machivellians the barking moonbats say they are, the Administration would merely have informed Congress that this deal had been proposed; then here is the review of the deal; then here are the relevant agency rules and stautes on this - the deal has been approved.

Would have driven the chattering class nuts.

Since some screamers are already moderating their tone on the deal, it's done.

More precisely, Jimmy Carter never met a deal for the Arabs he didn't like. That makes him a reliable supporter of a UAE deal, but a useless weather vein as to whether or not the deal is actually good for the U.S.

(I suppose Pelosi works the same way on the other side, in that whatever position Bush takes, she's against. If GWB told reporters today the sun rises in the east, Nancy would have her binoculars trained on the Golden Gate Bridge Friday morning, awaitng old Sol's appearance through the fog at the edge of the Pacific horizon to show once more that the president's an idiot.)

pj: That's too convoluted for me.