more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/21/155725/916All Hell Breaks Loose in GOP Land - Updated Again!!!
by RenaRF
Tue Feb 21, 2006 at 01:57:25 PM PDT
Well. The President has strongly indicated, during a press junket on board Air Force One, that he will veto any attempt to block the Dubai Port deal.
But the troops aren't standing strong behind him on this one.
Make the jump.
RenaRF's diary :: ::
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN White House reporter, said this about the President's public statements:
He would veto any legislation to hold up this deal and warned that the United States was sending mixed signals by going after a company from the middle east when they said nothing when a British company was in charge. He goes on to say that it is the lawmakers - members of Congress - that have to step up and explain why a middle eastern company is held to a different standard. He also took issue with a reporter's question aboard the plane saying what is the - kind of the politics of all of this - and he says that this is not a political issue.
Clearly, Tony, we've all been waiting to see what the President was going to do, what he would say, and how he was going to come out on this issue. He has spoken very strongly aboard Air Force One essentially saying he would veto any legislation that would put that deal on hold.
In another shocker, Dennis Hastert has issued a "strongly worded" letter encouraging the President to back away from the port deal. Via Ed Henry at CNN:
Even as the President is now declaring that he wants this port deal to go through and that he would veto any legislation the Congress passes to try to block the deal, CNN has also just learned that the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, a key Republican ally of the President, of course, has just fired off a letter to the President saying he should halt the port deal. He's saying he should also "conduct a more thorough review of the matter before it goes forward." Hastert is also warning that he might introduce legislation if the President does not follow through on that.
This letter almost directly mirrors... what Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist sent to the President earlier today. A prepared statement - not a letter - a prepared statement telling the President - complaining - that there had been very little Congressional consultation in this whole process.