[JCEccles]

Frist said Tuesday, before Bush's comments, that he would introduce legislation to put the sale on hold if the White House did not delay the takeover. He said the deal raised "serious questions regarding the safety and security of our homeland. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., asked the president for a moratorium on the sale until it could be studied further. "We must not allow the possibility of compromising our national security due to lack of review or oversight by the federal government," Hastert said.

Although I am still not convinced this deal represents a true threat to security when the emotion is stripped from it and it is viewed dispassionately, I also see no way for Bush to persuade the American public to his position. This is the election issue democrats have been praying and sacrificing to their sick and twisted god for, and they will ride it with all their energy from now through November.

We can live without Dubai's controlling our ports. We cannot survive a resurgent democrat majority in Congress and a Hillary presidential win in 2008. Frist and Hastert have got to get out ahead of this and stay out ahead of it and rally the Republicans in the Senate and the House to lead the effort to defeat it. We cannot concede the larger and more important battle to the democrats.

[expat_panama]

...I also see no way for Bush to persuade the American public to his position....

That's what Rush has been saying and that's what I was thinking --until this morning.  Today I see an open debate on the freerepublic with the thinking people either saying they don't know (yet) or saying the deal is good.  I'd have expected the issue to be taken over by the nuke-Mecca crowd, but evidently they're becoming a dieing breed.

This is reason for hope.