Day: February 28, 2006

This sets a new standard.

A couple, aged 83 and 78 respectively, are suing their upstairs neighbor for bathing too early in the morning.

h/t Overlawyered via Coyote Blog

Joe Gandelman looks at the Cheney retirement rumor mill. I really couldn’t care less if the Veep retires before the ‘08 election cycle or not. From the day he was elected with Bush he made it clear that he wasn’t going to run for president. If Karl Rove believes that a sitting vice president makes the best possible presidential candidate, Cheney will step aside and someone else will be brought in. Where’s the controversy?

Forget all the statistics contained in the Zogby poll released today which purports to show that 72% of U.S. troops in Iraq say the war should end this year. It’s all suspect as far as I’m concerned. Yet, this paragraph stood out to me as important:

Different branches had quite different sentiments on the question, the poll shows. While 89% of reserves and 82% of those in the National Guard said the U.S. should leave Iraq within a year, 58% of Marines think so. Seven in ten of those in the regular Army thought the U.S. should leave Iraq in the next year. Moreover, about three-quarters of those in National Guard and Reserve units favor withdrawal within six months, just 15% of Marines felt that way. About half of those in the regular Army favored withdrawal from Iraq in the next six months.

So, what’s the one real take-away fact from this poll?

Reservists and National Guard troops are wimps.*

Marines rock.*

End of story.

Others: John Hawkins on another bogus poll – CBS’ Bush Approval Rating  – “For political purposes, any poll that doesn’t use likely voters and doesn’t have a breakdown of party affiliation that’s at least roughly similar to the numbers from the last election isn’t very important or useful.”

(*My statement on the abilities of a segment of our armed services is as valid as the results of the poll itself. Lighten up.)

Over the weekend, the Bush administration agreed to hold off execution of their contract allowing Dubai Ports World to manage 6 US ports for 45 days so federal investigators could take another look at the deal in light of potential risks to national security. Since then, more damaging information has come to light adding to the pile of existing damaging information which leads one to ask the question – why take 45 days? Everything seems to point to the fact that this deal is not only dead, it’s deader than dead. But that’s where it gets interesting. Even though the matter has been on high boil for more than a week now, President Bush continues to support the transaction.

Bush suggested there was no reason to think the second investigation would produce any different outcome than the first.

“I look forward to a good, consistent review,” he said as he and Berlusconi alternated in taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office.

He urged Congress to “please, look at the facts.”

“What kind of signal does it send throughout the world if its OK for a British company to mange the ports but not a company that has been secured — that has been cleared for security purposes from the Arab world?” he said.

I understand his point about the double standard, even though I think his example is a bit flawed. Wouldn’t we trust Britain quicker than a country with a history of harboring terrorists? But, I digress…

If after 45 days this 2nd investigation shows that the first looksee failed in some way, will Bush backtrack? Will he be forced to? Will this be a case where the political aspirations of a Congress facing mid-term elections get in the way of a President who needs war time cooperation from an Arab country?

I doubt it.

Bush isn’t the type to react to short-term political consequences when compared to long-term national security matters. If you believe that the UAE port deal is a safe one for the US, as the president clearly does, then you’ll stand with him as he bucks all arguments and uses his VETO pen as previously threatened to make sure the deal goes through. No matter the political cost, Bush will put long-term security issues ahead of anyone’s political career, and that includes Republicans.

And you know what? I respect him for that.