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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Port Security as a Republican scam.

UPDATE/RETRACTION: The early consensus seems to be that I am totally wrong on this speculation, so I'm going to abandon it. So, in the ethics of blogging, I'm going to retract it, but leave it up. Read it if you want, but understand that I think I may be wrong on this one. - Mike

Shoot me down if you want, I sometimes see things that aren't there, but I see a political play for the midterms in all this. Let's step back a month or so, when Karl Rove came out of hiding to lay out the Republican strategy for maintaining control of Congress. His plan came down to two words, "National Security."

Other analysts have pointed to the drag that Bush has been on incumbent Republican polling and that the best strategy for the incumbents would be to establish some "independence" from Bush.

So, now, we suddenly have an issue on which incumbent legislators can claim both. "I am so concerned about protecting you from terrorists that I am willing to be independent of the president." That's an awfully convenient confluence. Also in this, Bush gets to come out in defense of Arabs.

Now, I recognize there are downsides if this is indeed a strategy including further political damage to Bush, but what if you were to compare that to what would happen to the Republicans if they lost a chamber of Congress and the Dems suddenly had the ability to call hearings, launch investigations, and issue subpoenas? What would that due to the Republican's standing?

Also, I still consider this somewhat of a non-issue for the reasons in the post below, but I also find the response strangely racist. All that would effectively change through this sale is the ownership and perhaps a few management positions. The on the ground staff would still be the same Americans that were working for the previous British owners.

But the imagery being created around this seems to be of brownskinned men conspiring with Al Qaeda to manage the transfer of "the package." It's movie-like and not real. It's plays upon a stereotype that has been planted in all of us by movies and TV shows since the eighties. So, I see this as a soft appeal to racism in all the rhetoric.

And whenever I see an appeal to racism no matter disguised, I see a Republican ploy for votes. Who was against interracial marriage, same sex marriage? What party hosts the people against affirmative action? Those who paint welfare as a black phenomena? Which party supports racial profiling? Those who want to repeal the voting rights act? Immigration?

Maybe I'm just a cynic, but when I see bigoted sterotypes being ginned up around an issue, I see the ugly side of the Republican party.

(I recognize that there are other ways that the Repubs could claim national security credentials. But the issues they would use Iraq, Patriot Act, NSA spying are not proving all that popular. If you're looking at an election, do you seriously want to sign up for what Sen. Roberts has been getting over the past week for caving to the Bush admin on the NSA spying? Do you really want to take a strong position for Iraq right now?

No. Let's find a brown bogeyman to rally against. That's always been an effective Republican ploy. Willie al Horton.)

So in this theory, Bush takes a hit, but holds onto both houses of Congress. That, I would argue, is far more important than his approval ratings at this point.

This is just an off the top of the head conjecture, and I'm more than willing to change or abandon it in the face of good argument, so....

Whattya think?

8 Comments:

  • The whole thing seems overblown to me, but what I can't square with my opinion is Bush's willingness to use his first presidential veto over the issue. Why dig in so hard on this one?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:59 PM  

  • This move by the administration seems odd. The republicans have a very short time to get some kind of legislative momentum before the elections and they don’t need to be mired in this fight over ports. They have been stalled by the NSA controversy and the battle over the Patriot Act.

    They need more pork to take home, and the time is short.

    I can’t help but think that there is a bigger payoff here regarding the UAE. Why would Rove risk so much to get this finalized now? I am beginning to think that this is some kind of reward to Dubai for services rendered or expected.

    But then again it could be like picking Miers for the Supreme Court.

    By Blogger MadMustard, at 12:04 AM  

  • well, bush doesn't have to worry about re-election but with a house and senate full of Democrats he might have to worry about impeachment. I like your plan although it does seem like an overly cynical move. Then again, these are the same people who convinced us to go to war with a country that supposedly was 45 minutes from nuking us all to kingdom come.

    By Blogger Justin, at 12:36 AM  

  • There may be a grain of trueth in your idea about this. However I lean toward the idea that Lew clued me in on in my post about this. Carlyle Group is involved and that means big Bush bucks.

    By Blogger Yukkione, at 2:10 AM  

  • I'm with LOC. Everyday explanations are always best. What could be more mundane than money?

    By Blogger Justin, at 5:08 AM  

  • Group consensus is that this is all hooey.. I'll accept that.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 6:37 AM  

  • I'm not so sure it's all hooey.

    The GOP commonly stumbles onto such winning strategies. Maybe it wasn't "planned", but that doesn't mean it won't be used that way. And I wouldn't put it passed Rove as a strategy. Rove's allegiance has never been to Bush. It's been openly to the creation of an ongoing controlling Republican majority. Throwing Bush under the bus at the appropriate time is not beyond Rove at all. He knows Bush is quacking, and Rove still has a career. There are already very strong signs of the party lining up behind McCain. The port issue would be great for polishing McCain's cred's.

    The port deal is still in the works. Anyone who thinks it's going to come to a showdown between Congressional Republicans and Bush hasn't been paying attention. I'm predicting the deal will be passed ... very quietly after the uproar has passed in ... what, 48 or 96 hrs.? There'll be some sort of "compromise" with "security oversight" that is "acceptable" to Republicans and perhaps brokered by McCain. It'll be sufficiently strong enough to make it look like Congress got something, make McCain look "tough", when in fact they'll get nothing.

    A few bloggers will dig through the details and expose the lie, but the media will be focused on the latest missing white woman by then.

    By Blogger Greyhair, at 11:09 AM  

  • Well put.

    And I see this as somewhat of a missing white woman story in that it conjures up the images of the dark skinned man sneaking around trying to kill us in our sleep.

    The assumption in the rhetoric is that all brown skinned males are susceptible to the rhetoric of terrorism.

    Just my opinion.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 1:05 PM  

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