Posted on 03/01/2006 4:59:32 AM PST by FerdieMurphy
Last week, I skewered Democrat opportunists who have turned into tough-sounding profiling advocates to exploit the White House ports debacle.
Today, I must express bottomless disgust with those on the Right who have turned into mush-mouthed race-card players to shift blame away from President Bush for his miserable mishandling of the situation.
It's one thing for feckless grievance-mongers on the Left to accuse Americans genuinely concerned about national security of Islamophobia. It's quite another for the Right to sink to such a level in accusing all good-faith critics of demagoguery. Reasonable people can disagree on the process pitfalls and security implications of the deal. But the elite Right has simply lost its marbles:
Here's GOP strategist and Muslim voter outreach architect Grover Norquist in the Los Angeles Times dismissing critics of the deal: "The only whiners left by next week will be the registered bigots."
Conservative commentator Larry Kudlow: "This whole brouhaha surrounding the Bush administration's green-light to a United Arab Emirates company slated to manage six major U.S. ports has nothing to do with protecting homeland security. Allow me to give it its proper name: Islamophobia."
New York Times columnist David Brooks: "This Dubai port deal has unleashed a kind of collective mania we haven't seen in decades. First seized by the radio hatemonger Michael Savage, it's been embraced by reactionaries of left and right, exploited by Empire State panderers, and enabled by a bipartisan horde of politicians who don't have the guts to stand in front of a xenophobic tsunami."
The UAE is our "friend," we are told, and to question that assertion, we are scolded, is to engage in reckless prejudice and life-threatening insult. Yes, well, some friends are more equal than others. To instinctively trust a longtime, stalwart Western democracy more than an Arab newcomer with a mixed record on combating terror, international crime and Islamic extremism is not "Islamophobia." It's self-preservationism in a time of war.
We are at war, aren't we?
President Bush himself is ultimately responsible for encouraging the race-card players, thanks to his stunning comment that "those who are questioning" the deal need to "step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company."
Yes, there are countless homegrown terrorists across England, where Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., the maritime company purchased by state-owned Dubai Ports World, operates. So what? So, now, a peaceful Western democracy that is infiltrated against its will by al Qaeda is on the same plane as an Arab federation whose ruling emiratis ran interference for Osama bin Laden before Sept. 11, which continued to be a logistical hub for al Qaeda for years after, which refuses to recognize the existence of Israel, bans our textbooks as "racist" because they point out Syria's state sponsorship of terrorism, and is boycotting Denmark over the Mohammed Cartoons?
Now, all the proselytizers who tell us to collect the dots and connect the dots want us to throw them all away lest we give offense?
Yes, the UAE has taken steps to cooperate in the War on Terror after the Sept. 11 attacks. Give them a pat on the back. But don't tell me that their actions over the past four years elevate them to the same level of partnership and trustworthiness as Great Britain.
That's offensive.
Perhaps Bush should consult with his own Justice Department, which understood the need for heightened scrutiny of Middle Eastern illegal aliens in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, and instituted temporary targeted fingerprinting and registration policies for Middle Eastern tourists, businessmen and students.
Bigots!
Perhaps he should ask his own Border Patrol, which is on heightened alert for illegal Middle Eastern border-crossers.
Bigots!
Perhaps he should ask his own FBI, which is zeroing in on mosques and Muslim charities instead of Lutheran churches and the March of Dimes in the domestic War on Terror.
Bigots!
(But don't bother asking Transportation Department Norm Mineta anything -- well, other than "Why the heck are you still here, Normie?")
The sad lesson of Portgate: Scream "racism" loud enough, and people will blame the messengers and back down. By the Bush standard, we who put American security above Arab sensitivity are all bigots now.
She left off Karl Rove, who has also been playing the race card to silence port critics.
He's used that rhetoric before, to attack critics of his illegal immigration fetish.
Bookmarked for later reading.
Looks like a great find!
"If we acknowledge that the new principles of war are no longer "using armed force to compel the enemy to submit to one's will," but rather are "using all means, including armed force or non-armed force, military and non-military, and lethal and non-lethal means to compel the enemy to accept one's interests."
LOL! Well said. Blackbird.
Singlaub and Moorer were two of the best.
-The UAE is far closer to Iran as an ally, then they are to the U.S. The Crown Prince of Dubai is reported to have excellent relations with the Iranian dictatorship:
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-18/0602025066004651.htm
Is Iran with us in the WOT?
But, yet they share intel with us, what is said in private is different from what is said in public.
That applies to what our govt officials say about the UAE, Dubai in particular.
We need the port of Dubai, for military operations in Iraq and it's cooperation, as best we can get it. Our officials may just be blowing diplomatic smoke for all you and I know. We're not privy to what and anything the UAE shares with us.
We do know that the UAE has shipped nuclear hardware to Iran, we do know that the UAE is on VERY friendly terms with Iran.
Take a look at this, in the "Islamic Republic news Agency":
Iran-UAE-Trade
Iran and UAE explored here Wednesday ways of expanding bilateral trade relations.
"Iranian Commercial attache in UAE Qassem Mirzaie told IRNA that the meeting focused on expansion of trade ties between Iran's Mazandaran province and Dubai."
Yeah, she's an idiot /sarcasm on/
Funny how you always show up to attack Coulter, Buchanan, and now Malkin.
What's the difference between you and DU?
I know, and it disgusts.
From some reason Bush and bots are never happier than when they are attacking their conservative base as bigots and racists.
They attacked the opponents of Miers as "Sexists".
Just stupid.
They are so friendly with Iran that they have helped us surround Iran with allowing us to use their ports and air bases, last time I checked we have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, looks like Iran is between a rock and a hard place.
We could use Afghanistan and Iraq, and yes I don't think the UAE would kick us out if we were to take such an action, for their public political concerns they might say some things but they would look the other way.
yep
AND the COSCO deal.
AND the Motorola deal.
AND the LORAL deal.
AND the Panama Canal deal.
AND the Nuclear reactor/North Korea deal.
AND Able Danger. What happened to Able Danger?
Sorry, but you have two entirely separate issues now. One is the ports issue. The other is the sudden emergence of the race card as a Republican debating tactic. Even if Jesus himself descended from the heavens and said it was a great idea to have our ports managed by some Islamic entity, what the debate revealed about the character of the Bushbots will still remain.
As soon as George Bush gave his tacit approval for it (in his aw gee whiz comment about "why would a middle eastern company be held to a different standard than a British one"), his sycophants have taken to using the race card with great enthusiasm, like it just comes naturally to them.
As if that weren't enough, we had a Bush defender on another thread trying to portray Great Britain as anti-semitic, as if to say the UAE doesn't hate Jews any more than our other "allies". This is absolute nonsense, but illustrates the depths to which the defenders of the ports deal have had to sink.
Finally, we have the ever growing list of conservatives that the Bushbots now hate, with William Bennett being just the most recent addition.
Excellent post.
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