Medieval Philosphy 101

Goodbye Dubai and farewell Frist. At the end of the 45 day review, cooler heads are likely to prevail and, for the good of all parties, this ports operations deal will sink into the massive national sink hole that is swallowing all things Bush. And by flip flopping on the issue, Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist with a perfect swan dive has sent his presidential aspirations into that same bottomless pit

The actual merits of the ports deal are inconsequential. The Republicans outside the White House moat and away from the Majority Leader’s radioactive cave in the Capitol instantly sensed that ignoring this deal would cede the national security and defense leadership card to the other side. Adept at reading polls even if the White House is totally blind, astute Republicans saw that jettisoning the fast sinking Bush, Cheney, and Frist would serve them better in November than playing along with the charade.

The Republican base is cracking and crumbling faster than an awkward Humpty Dumpty landing, and the long time party enmity for all things Bush is resurfacing. The realpolitik foreign policy types broke with the president when he went into Iraq and only their fear of his clout kept them relatively quiet these past three years. Bret Scowcroft and James Baker did their best to save him, but he was completely in the thrall of the neocons and they were sent on their unhappy ways.

The fiscal conservatives have been grumbling for years as the deficits ballooned, and the Libertarians have been frothing over the NSA spying and The Patriot Act. So George is left with the neocons and the Evangelicals. And deep in their hearts, the Republicans know that they’ve been conned by the neos who are really Democrats dressed up in elephant costumes and by making hay with the Evangelicals who are intent on selling Creationism which looks more like a loser every day.

I’ve enjoyed running errands since the ports deal surfaced. While in college so long ago, I was taken with Medieval history and culture, and now listening to the right wing pundits on talk radio brought me back to the days of: how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? I don’t know how many times I heard that the deal with the UAE company is a direct violation of the Bush Doctrine that states that we will not deal with governments that recognize terrorists, and Dubai supports Hamas and everything else Bush said he stood for.

In the end the deal will be aborted because the Republicans know that even a firecracker going off in a port will spell the end of them forever. They say they’re tough on terrorism but have been gambling by under funding the security of our ports since 9/11. They know they’ve been wounded by this issue and if it goes through they’ll be held responsible for anything that goes wrong now and evermore. So lashing lead weights to Bush, Cheney, and Frist and tossing them over the side is really giving them warm fuzzy feelings

So it’s goodbye Dubai and farewell Frist, the tinniest ear on the Hill. That’s FLIP FLOP Bill. Surely the Democrats will point that out to you in the months ahead.

Oh, Jeb, there's no harm in going ahead with that kitchen makeover in Florida; the flight to Washington's been overbooked.

Blog on!

Wild Bill