2/24: The Dubai Brothers

Concern about the UAE port deal is waning, now that Pres. Bush has announced a temporary, length-unspecified cooling-off period. As we've noted before, concern about the actual deal has been on the wane since opposition was at near-unanimity earlier this week -- but that doesn't mean it's settled. Some insist the deal still should not go through and are upset at being labeled bigots. Some who support the deal still want Bush to explain himself better. The right is somewhat divided on the merits and the rhetoric; the left is somewhat amused by this and wonders whether port security can be a good political issue.

Meanwhile, a relatively small but activated group of (mostly) conservative bloggers are pursuing the long-dormant Able Danger story -- that is, participating in conf. calls with those challenging the DoD to investigate the program -- atty Mark Zaid and Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA). There's a harmonic convergence here -- Beltway players using bloggers to get their message out, and bloggers using them for access to info they wouldn't have otherwise.

The trouble in Iraq remains a big story, a move by the SD legis. to ban abortion is getting some nat'l attention, an employee of Rob Reiner's gets caught trolling on a critic's blog, and after that, this Friday edition pretty much descends into an mesmeric medley of miscellany.

PORT SECURITY: The Above Headline Refers To No One In Particular ... We Just Wanted To Be First To Go With That Pun

With the Dubai port deal on hold for the moment, some of the wind has gone out of the sails on this issue. But it remains the top story:

Left-of-center bloggers took great exception to Dep. Defense Sec. Gordon England's statement that controversy over the deal could benefit America's enemies: "They want us to become distrustful, they want us to become paranoid and isolationist." AMERICAblog comments: "Bush has spent the past five years making Americans paranoid for purely political reasons. Now, apparently, if Americans do worry about national security, they are aiding the enemy." A header at Hullabaloo echoes the sentiment: "Live By Demagoguery, Die By Demagoguery." Daily Kos' SusanG, with snark: "Got that, Tom DeLay? Mayor Bloomberg? The rest of you sissies? If we don't allow a country that sheltered Bin Laden access to our major ports, we're emboldening the terrorists!" England isn't the only admin. official whose words are getting parsed. The Liquid List quotes State Dept. Undersec Robert Joseph calling the UAE "a stalwart ally" in the war on terrorism, and Sec/State Condoleezza Rice last year putting them on a list of countries not doing enough to stop human trafficking.

The racialMickey Kaus chastises Bush and other conservatives for casting skeptics as bigots. He snarks: "Voters love being called racists when they have legitimate concerns! Too bad Bush couldn't have made his accusation from the stage at Bob Jones University." A skeptic himself, Kaus calls out Rice for saying: "We have to maintain a principle that it doesn't matter where in the world one of these purchases is coming from." Kaus rejoins: "Really? So it's perfectly all right if Iran, say, decides to go into the port operating business?" At Irish Pennants, syndie columnist Jack Kelly is disappointed with his fellow conservatives on this point: "Boiled down to its essence, the argument for opposing the deal is: Dubai Ports World is owned by Ayrabs, and it was Ayrabs who attacked us on 9/11. The rationale for rejecting the sale is comparable to one President Franklin Roosevelt used after Pearl Harbor for forcibly relocating Japanese Americans from the West Coast to concentration camps in the interior. Blocking the sale will no more help us win the war on terror than Roosevelt's concentration camps helped us win World War II."

Border hawk Michelle Malkin stands firm as a critic of the deal, and sounds almost like lefty Josh Marshall in her questioning of the process: "Many retreating politicians, pundits, and bloggers are all too eager to overlook the dubious business-as-usual approval process that supposedly vetted the deal's risks thoroughly." But not entirely: "The supporters of, and retreaters on, the deal are also silent about the unprecedented, Islamic law-compliant funding scheme that allowed state-owned Dubai Ports World to force its more experienced rival to drop its bid for P&O." As for Marshall himself, he hasn't brought the issue up since we quoted him on it in our last edition, and he's turned his focus to revelations that Rep. Don Young (R-AK) had closer ties to disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff than he had earlier claimed.

But a few other prominent conservatives are now coming around to support the deal, though they remain concerned that Bush hasn't done enough. Hugh Hewitt had strongly opposed the sale, but is now open to changing his mind: "The Administration was wise to call for a pause for persuasion. Good arguments win debates, and leave everyone better off, and there is zero downside to being persuaded when it is a national security issue. Interesting test case: Someone ask [VA Dem SEN] candidate James Webb what he thinks. If the former Reagan-era Secretary of the Navy gives a green light, the deal will be a go, and the Dems will know the spirit of Scoop Jackson lives." James Lileks is also backing off his initial reaction, but thinks the Bush admin. botched it: "The crafty response would have been to acknowledge the worries, assure a complete and total review and disclosure, and let the facts speak for themselves." Lorie Byrd is in the same boat, and hopes Bush will: "Hold a brief address to the American people and in it say that he is aware that there are many misconceptions about various issues currently in the news, admit that he has not done a good enough job communicating and say that to remedy that he will be addressing the American people more frequently and that he hopes the national networks will make the brief addresses available to their viewers live when they occur. I guess what I want is an updated version of the fireside chat."

Byrd's Polipundit colleague DJ Drummond sees 4 main groups of pols engaged in the debate: those favoring the deal, those opposed to it based on security issues, those opposed so they can score points, and those who "just love a fight." Drummond himself supports the deal, and places Senate Maj. Leader Bill Frist in the point-scoring category, along with other "low-life" GOPers with their eye on '08. Another disgusted with Frist is Mark Noonan from Blogs for Bush, who stands up for the POTUS: "I'm not the cleverest guy in the whole, wide world -- but I smelt the political rat here a mile off. I was unimpressed by the first tremors of this furor last week because, quite honestly, it didn't seem that big a deal. Who, after all, would think that an Executive Branch run by scourge-of-terrorism George Bush would do anything to allow terrorists a new foothold in the United States? It was too absurd to contemplate -- but not too absurd for the MSM... and, God help us, not too absurd for it to be used to roll the Congressional GOP." Macsmind agrees: "You can't argue with success. It's amazing but every time Bush says 'trust me,' the same group of snivelers -- snivel! From the left I expect it. From the right it's enough to make me hurl." On the other side of the issue, Rick Moran of Rightwing Nuthouse stands by his criticism of the deal, and hits back at his critics: "I don't like waking up in the morning and discovering that I'm an 'Islamophobe' or 'Un-American' for calling the Administration a bunch of rabbit heads for the way they've managed the unveiling of this idiocy. ... It bespeaks a certain kind of intellectual laziness when the best one can do to counter an argument is to indulge in an orgy of name calling and finger pointing." He adds: "What those of us who oppose this deal are criticizing is the way in which the decision was reached in the first place and that the decision has to be looked at in the much broader context of the cavalier way in which this Administration has handled some -- not all -- key homeland security issues." Nick Nordseth at The RCP Blog writes, "there is a strong opposition that will not be won over so easily on the merits of the agreement ... So far, though, it is the pundits who are doing the backtracking, not the President."

The Left Coaster sees a political opportunity for the Dems: "The Democrats will now have the opportunity they have lacked to turn Rove's boast on its head, and show voters this fall that it is they who have a post-9/11 view of the world, while it is the GOP that hasn't changed its spots at all: it was, and always has been a GOP priority for cash to trump national security. And it is on full display with this deal." Fairly well persuaded that the current Dubai deal is not itself a problem, left-leaners Matt Yglesias, Kevin Drum and Ed Kilgore want to "pivot" the debate toward the overall laxity of port security post-9/11. Writes Kilgore: "Some of you may recall that John Kerry talked about this a lot during the last presidential campaign, to little avail. But then he didn't have the kind of 'news hook' supplied by the Dubai lease controversy, right? And that's why it's important right now that we move as quickly as possible from that hook to the underlying vulnerability of our ports to the most critical threat post by terrorists: a nuclear 9/11."

Fed'l Ex-Fed'l Maritime Admin. head Helen Delich Bentley has said there are no security implications while ex-DHS Inspector Gen. Clark Kent Erwin writes in the New York Times that it does. Mark Kleiman, for Huffington Post: "A good reporter ought to be able to resolve this question with a day of phone calls and a day on site at one of the ports. Don't hold your breath."

Trying to guess where it goes from here, Tom Maguire's theory is that "Congress will prefer not to have the final say -- that would make them accountable for the result, which is never a Congressional objective."

IRAQ: We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Avoiding Mosques With Our Families

Iraq the Model reports that Sadrite militias have seized Sunni mosques, particularly the Wahhabist ones, and are playing "Shia religious mourning songs from the mosque's loudspeakers." Conservative UNC-Chapel Hill prof Cori Dauber: "The situation in Iraq is just flat bad, and there's no point trying to sugar coat any of it. All we can do is wait and see how things break." She adds, "this current crisis might be easier to deal with if, during that one, Sadr had been dealt with in a more permanent manner. (Say, by having the original arrest warrant against him for murder served.) He always managed to back down at just the right moment to preserve his options and keep himself in play, and he's never been anything but an enormously destabilizing influence." Liberal Univ. of Michigan prof Juan Cole: "Sunni Arabs in Iraq blamed US troops for not protecting Sunni mosques and worshippers from violence. The US military ordered the US soldiers in Baghdad to stay in their barracks and not to circulate if it could be helped. This situation underlines how useless the American ground forces are in Iraq. They can't stop the guerrilla war and may be making it worse."

Publius Pundit: "For once it looks as if the Shia political leadership will have to decide if it wants a unified, cooperative, and peaceful Iraq. They will eventually have to accept that their position of power is on the wane, and how they continue to respond in the aftermath of the attack on the Golden Mosque will be an important barometer of this." As others have recently Arianna Huffington advises Dems to finally get behind Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA): "The time has come for Democrats to can the excuses and realpolitik maneuvering, and take the lead on getting our troops out of Iraq."

More commentary at Confederate Yankee; Desert Rat Democrat; The Heretik; Decision '08; Neo-Neocon; American Future; In From the Cold; MaxSpeak, You Listen!.

ABLE DANGER: Wag The Blog?

Just a few days after the last Able Danger conf. call (see 2/21 Blogometer), another was held last p.m., again organized by Mike Kasper of TOPDOG08 and the Able Danger Blog. On the call this time was Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA). Flopping Aces: "Lots was said, and we should have audio up in the next day or so but I will run down a few interesting tidbits. First, he needs any help any can get in keeping this story on the front burner. Contact your local representatives, your Senator, and your Congressman. Contact the press and let them know you feel this is an important story." AJ Strata: "Weldon noted that the DIA held an agency wide conference recently in Florida -- pulling many of their people in from their posts -- and a top level DIA person said one of the Agency's top priorities was to shut down the Able Danger story. Not terrorism -- Able Danger. I live and work in DC and that has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard."

The Jawa Report contributor Bluto accuses Washington Post online columnist William Arkin of "character assassination" against whistleblower/Lt. Col. Anthony Schaffer. Bluto notes the harrassment Schaffer claims he's received, adding: "I have a different perspective from Arkin. When I was a Federal employee, I had occasion to blow the whistle myself. Shaffer's testimony rings true. Every word. This is how bureaucrats cover their asses." Arkin's latest is based on the recent testimony of Defense Undersec. Stephen Cambone. But Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill questions Cambone's credibility: "Looks like Stephen Cambone has some splaining to do. Like why wouldn't he swear in for his testimony in front of the House Committee? Was he worried about being busted for lying under oath?" Rory O'Connor held a roundtable discussion with other Able Danger bloggers on WTVN in Columbus, OH; he makes the audio available in 5 segments as MP3s.

An unnamed source of Ed Morrissey's writes in to say that, at the recent hearings, 9/11 Commis. exec. dir. Phil Zelikow "was excoriated in his testimony during the closed session by the Representatives present. He was called a liar to his face." Morrissey: "If this is accurate, it appears that Congress has also found Zelikow's role to hold some interest in how Able Danger got buried. Perhaps more of this curiosity will be evident in the public hearings to come."

MIDTERMS: Charlie Wilson's War

State Sen. Charlie Wilson (D-OH) has failed to qualify for the primary election, collecting just 46 of thee 50 valid signatures required. At Swing State Project, DavidNYC considers other ways Wilson might get onto the ballot, and finds all of them lacking: "Wait until after the primary, then convince the winner to step aside and let Wilson take his/her slot. This might be legally permissible, but good luck making it work in practice. And any move like this will also surely garner negative media attention." Chris Bowers: "Frankly, I feel that if he can't win the primary as a write-in candidate now, then he has no business being the Democratic nominee in the district. A mistake of this level speaks of massive campaign incompetence that almost certainly would lead to his defeat in November."

ABORTION: Such A Rush(more)

The SD Senate has approved legislation that would "impos[e] some of the strictest limits on abortion in the nation," according to AP. Conservative Captain's Quarters interprets: "The primary aim of this bill isn't to outlaw abortions -- it's to challenge the Supreme Court on Roe v. Wade by presenting them with such a law so clearly at odds with the original decision that the court will have to explicitly review the ruling." He's not sure, however, that the new Roberts court will overturn Roe. Bring it On! sees silence among conservative bloggers on the issue, and suspects it's because of the impact overturning Roe would have on the GOP: "I firmly believe that countless conservative women would suddenly move away from the Republican agenda to stand solidly with the left to defend a woman's right to choose." Running Scared: "Oh yes.... elections do have consequences, whether they are decided openly and fairly or not. Buckle up, campers. It's going to be a bumpy ride." Oliver Willis looks ahead: "This will be an intriguing question that should be asked in the 2008 election: Do you support the imprisonment of doctors for up to five years for the alleged 'crime' of performing an abortion, as South Dakota's legislature demands?" Atrios: "Contrary to what seems to be received wisdom in Washington, a strong majority opposes overturning Roe v. Wade. Even more than that, lots of people who want abortion to be illegal in some abstract sense are usually rather reticent about saying just who should be punished and what the punishment should be. There's a tendency to equate "make it illegal" with "stopping it" without recognizing that there would actually have to be state-imposed prison terms for the law to have any bite."

Jane Hamsher blames NARAL and Planned Parenthood for losing ground on the abortion issue. "They sat back, bilked their membership like an ATM then didn't show up to fight Alito's confirmation, frolicking in their mountain of hoarded cash even as they pissed and moaned. Worse yet, afterwards they told their members to thank those in the Senate -- like Joe Lieberman -- who cast their votes to let this happen."

IN THE STATES: Arnold Got Run Over By A Reiner?

As AP reports, film dir./long-rumored CA GOV candidate Rob Reiner (D) is coming under fire for serving as chair of a state commis. while that very commis. has approved $23M to support his pro-pre-school init. Also of note is that Reiner's term has technically expired and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) could remove him, but has not done so. Non-Knick/non-ex-Sen. Bill Bradley of L.A. Weekly and New West Notes notes that he's been trying, without luck, to get in touch with Reiner. What he gets instead is an apparent Reiner employee, "Charlie," posting pro-Reiner messages in the comments section at NWN. Bradley: "'Charlie,' I asked you if you got it. You said you got it. But you don't get it. You are so busted." Hugh Hewitt comments: "Maybe Reiner needs a new team?"

Iraq war veteran/IA state Sen. Chuck Larson (R) is currently appearing in a TV spot featuring Iraq veterans supporting the war. The ad is running in MN, and funded by pro-GOP 527 PFA through MidwestHeroes.com and Families United. As covered at MN-based Power Line in recent days, DFL chair Brian Melendez has called for the ads to come down for allegedly being "un-American, untruthful and a lie." Iowa Bacon explains why this is trouble for Larson: "Several groups that are active in lobbying Larson at the legislature -- and would be interested in currying favors from the former chairman of the Republican party and chair of the Nussle campaign -- have contributed" to Families United. More: "It's uncertain whether they would be as eager to contribute if Larson didn't hold some sway in the statehouse. It's also uncertain whether Larson draws a salary for his work." Iowa Underground Blog calls on Larson to resign, explaining that it's "very simple -- either lobby or govern. It's not that difficult -- and one that Larson himself seems to notice by not running for re-election to his Senate seat this year."

WHITE HOUSE '08: Messing With Texas

Dallas Blog informs us that ex-VA Gov. Mark Warner (D) met with local party leaders and elected officials 2/23. "A number of those in attendance praised Warner's answers to specific questions put to him by some of Dallas's most savvy political activists. Others noted that such meetings were an indication of Warner's political acumen because Texas, although having a history of voting Republican in the last many general elections, is nevertheless a major player in securing the Democratic nomination, with a national convention delegate strength exceeded by only a few other states."

MISCELLANY: Message Disciplinarians

• At Whatever Already, National Journal contributor Murray Waas notes that Senate Intel Cmte ranking Dem Jay Rockefeller has sent a letter to DNI John Negroponte charging that the Bush admin. "authorized" leaks of classified info to Washington Post's Bob Woodward for his '02 book "Bush at War." Rockefeller thinks this may have been done for political purposes and that it might have damaged nat'l security. Think Progress posts the letter [PDF].
• Tom Maguire fires the latest missive in the Glenn Greenwald-launched debate over whether mere opposition to certain Bush policies is enough to get one labeled a liberal by the Bush "cult" -- see 2/14, 2/17 and 2/22 Blogometers. Maguire seizes on this Greenwald line: "Tom ... exhibit[s] a good amount of intellectual cowardice by purposely refusing to say whether they actually dispute the existence of this phenomenon or whether they simply think that I provided insufficiently clear examples of it." Maguire: "[D]on't you have to love a guy who thinks it is intellectual cowardice to hold off on forming an opinion until facts are presented?" Maguire also indicates that he doesn't think Greenwald's latest examples amount to much, either.
• Matt Stoller points out that while bloggers in general were covering the mosque bombing in Samarra and the "brewing civil war" in Iraq, the blog at GOP.com focused on a report about a modest improvement in mail delivery. A veteran of the Jon Corzine GOV campaign, he explains: "Having been in a blogger capacity in a few organizations where the communications department ran the show, I can tell you a few things happen during a panic situation. In organizations like the RNC where the internet department has little clout, the blog gets silent. The message hasn't been built yet, and it's very clear that the stakes are too high for some random junior staffer to say a little something like they usually do. That's what it looks like is happening right now at GOP.com. They don't know how to respond to the port fiasco and the brewing Civil War in Iraq. And they are not even allowed to change the subject, probably because the Communications shop is too busy to even approve any new post even though it's been a day since they put anything up." In contrast, Tim Tagaris at the official DNC blog is able to stay on-message and on-topic, running with the header: "An Apocalyptic Day In Iraq -- An Out Of Touch Administration."
• Brad Friedman, a tireless monitor of voting technology controversies -- including Diebold's legal and corporate setbacks -- since the '04 election, calls attention to an AP report about Sequoia voting machines in Palm Beach, FL, recorded 100K "reboots" and re-calibrations during their time in use.
• At RedState, Mike Krempasky calls attention to the fact that the FEC will hold its final vote on new rulemaking for Internet political activity (see 6/30 Blogometer).
• For MyDD, Jonathan Singer interviewed Hennepin Co. DA/MN SEN candidate Amy Klobuchar (D).

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Even In The Blog Era, There's Still A Limited Number Of People Who Care About Politics

Programmer Tristan Louis has posted a blog trend study titled Technorati 100 Here Today Gone Tomorrow. He compares the Technorati Top 100 blogs (by links) for now to the top 100 from 9 months ago. Tech-oriented blog Boing Boing remains #1, but the 99 other places have changed. Notably, political blogs no longer dominate the top end; only Daily Kos remains in the top 10; Instapundit has fallen to #12. It's not that these blogs are losing traffic -- generally, they are growing -- but that they are being replaced by faster-growing non-political blogs such as PostSecret. But a few political blogs are bucking the trend: relative newcomer Michelle Malkin has risen to #10 overall, and less than a year after its debut, Huffington Post is #6.

LEST WE FORGET: Not-So-Grand Rounds

It's a Friday guess-who's-in-our bookmarks edition:

• Boing Boing addresses voluntary disemvowelment.
• Fafblog on mirage pie.
• Iowahawk dabbles in Onion-style fake news: "Bush Inks Irish Firm To Guard National Whiskey Reserve."
• Faux right-winger Jesus' General reviews a David Horowitz book on left-wing professors: "Mr. Horowitz failed to mention the mind control this professor exercised over students like me. That's the most important part of the story. I can't give the book more than one star."
• At Blowing Smoke, Jim Treacher posted a President's Day round-up of one-line reactions to Hollywood movies featuring fictional U.S. presidents.
• Steve at The Sneeze, points out that "Tired, Fat, Spent" is an anagram for "William Howard Taft," as well as other fat Taft tidbits.