The Ports: The Next Big Thing

I find some humor in the rising clamor over the Bush Administration's OK to agree to a deal allowing Dubai Ports World, a United Arab Emirates state-owned business, to acquire control of six major U.S. ports from London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.

Let me qualify that statement. I don't think that protecting our national security and guarding our borders is a laughing matter. It's deadly serious business.

What I find funny is the press coverage that the port deal is getting now. All of a sudden, it has become big news, after languishing in relative obscurity for days.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the deal last Friday.

The Washington Post also covered the story on February 17. It was tucked away on page 11, nowhere near front page stuff. Obviously, the Post didn't give it priority status.

Last week Thursday, White House correspondent Ann Compton was caught completely unaware of the story.

While speaking to WABC's John Gambling, Compton revealed just how uninformed she and presumably her colleagues were about the matter.

Transcript

GAMBLNG: What else [besides Cheneygate] is being talked about in the White House?

COMPTON: Absolutely nothing. This has sucked the oxygen out of President Bush's trip yesterday. He went all the way to the Wendy's hamburger headquarters in Ohio to talk about health care. . . . . Is that on the front page of any paper today? I did not do a single spot on it yesterday . . . .

COMPTON: [Cheneygate] really has dominated everything else . . . It is a fascinating story and one that ABC has reported very, very vigorously at the ground level and I think very responsibly.

GAMBLING: Ann, let me ask you a question. Is anybody talking about this story . . . about the Dubai Ports World Corporation running our major ports in the United States? You know anything about that?

COMPTON: Whooops. [Nervous laughter]

GAMBLING: The reason I ask you is exactly what you just finished talking about - sucking the oxygen out of the White House and Washington press corps . . . . This is like letting Saudi Arabia do security in our airports. And I think that Washington reporters need to jump on this thing.

COMPTON: Well, send me a quick email, John. It sounds like something I need to see. [END EXCERPT]

Way to stay on top of things, Ann!

Although the story got meager notice, New Media outlets and some Republicans were drawing attention to the issue.

How funny that Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer were so quick to jump on that bandwagon and turn the port deal into an opportunity to look as if they actually care about national security and being tough on terror, objecting to the acquisition by Dubai Ports!

Now, on Tuesday, it seems like everyone, other than Jimmy Carter, has decided to come out against the deal. Libs, conservatives, Old Media, and New Media are devouring the story.

Dennis Hastert released a statement to the press that detailed a letter he sent to President Bush on the matter.

He said, "I believe there should be an immediate moratorium placed on this seaport deal in order to further examine its effects on our port security."

Senate majority leader Bill Frist also demanded that the deal be put on hold.

"If the administration cannot delay the process, I plan on introducing legislation to ensure that the deal is placed on hold until this decision gets a more thorough review," Frist, a Tennessean and potential 2008 presidential contender, said in a statement.

The Republicans are positioning themselves, refusing to let the Dems seize the issue. It's no surprise that the lib media and Dems are salivating because of the dissension within the Republican Party. The libs can claim this difference of opinion indicates that the President is weak, and the Party is in disarray.

In a rush move, the President was forced to the South Lawn to deliver a statement defending his decision to stick with the deal in spite of mounting pressure to abandon it.

So, what's so funny about the ports?

It appears that the sale of London's P&O to Dubai Ports is what it took to get the focus off of Dick Cheney's hunting accident. Finally, some blessed relief.

It's amusing to watch our elected officials jockeying for position over this, and to see the media swinging aimlessly from one obsession to the next.

With a quick pivot, all attention turns to six ports, as if the future of the country hangs in the balance.

To me, that's as silly as a quail hunting mishap being grounds to call for Cheney's resignation.

I don't have a problem with Congress looking at the deal to fully understand the implications of Dubai Ports taking over. What I have a problem with is the frantic way that things are playing out in Washington and in the media.

Even Jay Leno led with jokes about the ports, bumping jibes at Dick Cheney's hunting prowess down his list of topics. (Don't worry fans of gun accident humor. I'm sure the Cheney jokes will have the staying power of the Dan Quayle "potatoe" jokes.)

The story of the port deal isn't new, but you wouldn't know it based on the media coverage and all the press releases coming from politicians within the last twenty-four hours.

There was so much posturing and grandstanding going on.

I think that securing our borders and monitoring our ports should be a priority because we have enemies that intend to hit us again. However, I don't think that this issue should be used as a political football or a means to advance the lib media's anti-Bush agenda. The matter is too important to be exploited that way.

That said, why did this ports deal cause an eruption of concern about security today?

It's not as if many cared last week, though the story was out there.

Not only did the libs not care about this matter initially, but they have been actively seeking to weaken homeland security by weakening the government's ability to fight terror.

Remember Harry Reid and the Dems bragging about killing the Patriot Act? Don't forget that the New York Times leaked the story of the NSA's terrorist surveillance program even after a personal appeal from the White House to not undermine it.

I can't buy the line that the libs sincerely care about which company manages the ports when they consistently undercut efforts to fight terrorism, at home and abroad.

More than anything else, I think the hysteria over the port deal is an outgrowth of the Attention Deficit Disorder that plagues the media and the government. They flit from issue to issue based on self-interest, not national interest.

Dick Cheney's hunting accident hoopla fizzled out after Harry Whittington was released from the hospital and David Gregory and company realized how ridiculous they looked last week.

Now, it's the ports. God save the ports!

What will the story be next week?

I guarantee that it won't be long and the ports will take the back burner, too.