(Wm Kristol on Fox "News") Rove Asked DPW To Drop Deal

[Mark E. Smith]

News Hounds

William Kristol says that the United Arab Emirates dropped the plan to operate six major U.S. ports because the White House asked them to "pull the plug."

Appearing on "Your World with Neil Cavuto," Kristol lamented the loss of the deal by which Dubai Ports World purchased the contract for operating the ports from a British corporation, P&O.

Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, said he thought Bush could have won over Congressional Republicans to the matter if he had been around to fight the issue. But instead, he issued a veto threat and then went overseas to India and Pakistan for two weeks, allowing opposition to grow unchecked, Kristol said.

"Karl Rove calls the people in Dubai two nights ago and tells them to pull the plug on the deal, and I think as a result, the president looks weak, frankly," Kristol said.

http://www.newshounds.us/2006/03/10/fox_news_alert_rove_asked_dpw_to_drop_deal.php#more

OK, couple ways this thing breaks down:

Either Rove perceived that the situation was hopeless and acted on his own to fix it, once again showing that Georgie really doesn't have much control over what is supposedly his administration.

-Or-

Rove convinced Georgie that it was time to pull the plug on this mess, making the Little President's later protestations about how unfortunate it all was yet another act of his patent dishonesty.

And if Kristol is right and Rove did go to the Guys From Dubai to get them to pull out of the deal, won't they perceive Shrub's after the fact protestations as being ridiculous lies? Or the words of a man who hasn't a clue as to what is really going on?

Strange place that Bush White House.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. The president looked weak over the Dubai issue.

Reality check: Cheney got him into the mess and Rove pulled him out and both things happened BECAUSE the president IS weak.

[Skittles]

2. sans glasses I read DROP DEAD

LOL

[Cassandra]

5. I had the same thought except...

I had my glasses on. Hmmmmmm...

[LizW]

11. I thought it was "DROP DEAD" until I read your post!

Should not read DU before coffee.

LOL!

[Skittles]

14. I felt foolish

I actually read the article thinking, "Where is the part where he tells them to drop dead ???" :o

[LiberalHeart]

12. Another one who thought it was Drop Dead....

Maybe we were just reading Rove's mind.

Maybe the ports deal was dropped simply because the powers that be figured out a way to get the ports into Halliburton's hands, or some other Bush-friendly corp.'s hands. I hear Carlyle has specifically denied they're after the ports in question in the deal, even though they are looking to buy some. Hmmmm .... how long till there's a follow-up on that, and we learn they have control?

[wordpix2]

21. Carlyle will create some susidiary so it doesn't look like Carlyle Grp

is taking over.

That's what they've done with Halliburton.

[pnorman]

3. I've been posting on this topic on my union BBS

Since it's a maritime union, the thread had elicited considerable interest. I'll add this morsel.

I haven't watched TV for at least 8 years, and I rarely read the newspapers, except on-line. But I'm far ahead of the pack, largely due to DU (and Google).

pnorman

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. DU is...

One of the best newswires available.

[valerief]

4. I think they're trying to make Bush look weak so that

their Repub '08 candidates look strong.

[Dover]

6. What ever happened to the case against Rove ?

Seems to me he ought to be receiving orders from a jail keeper, not giving them.

[cantstandbush]

7. Oh, so it wasn't Clinton afterall. The thugs can't have it both ways.

They can't deride Clinton for having influence on this deal and then say Rove did it.

[cantstandbush]

9. Obviously, then Rove got us into the deal because Bush didn't know about

it until people started raising hell. No one elected Rove!! This news ought to take Bush down another 5 points in the polls and the Republicans with him. When Republicans are in office it is obvious that they turn the government over to foreign nations, lobbyists, and cronies because they are incompetent to run it on their own. This should be the calrion cry of the Dems going into 2006 and 2008 elections.

[cliss]

27. I noticed that too!

Why in the hell is Rove making these decisions? He was never elected.

Here's what Randi Rhodes says about the hierarchy of power:

1) President - Dick Cheney

2) Vice President - Karl Rove

3) Clown and all-round Court Jester - George Bush.

[pretzel4gore]

10. kristol belongs in jail

why anyone discusses this seditionist's bs is a mystery-if anyone deserves a cell on death row, it's william kristol-he has plotted to destroy the country, and he's succeeded, through an endless litany of lies offering distraction to the fascists' actions

[JPace]

13. "The Little President"

I love the description, it is exactly what Rove would hate to have "stick" as W's description.
It points out that he is now small, relatively powerless, ineffective and easily overlooked
as an unimportant factor in decision making.

[leesa]

15. Doubt it. UAE pulled the plug...and it ain't good because they pull so

many financial strings here. You can bet The Boy King was on the phone pleading with them to reconsider. If they think he's lost control, it may be more than his Presidential power at stake.

[Blaze Diem]

16. Ha Ha....

"If they think he's lost control, it may be more than his Presidential power ..."

First thought here is: Boy King upgrades to Super-sized Pampers.

[Whoa_Nelly]

17. Could it be that the DPW deal was actually "saved" by putting

Carlyle Group, with its strong connection to Dubai Company, in place to take over the ports? That way everyone's a winner: DPW, Carlyle Group, and the Bush family's greed.

[glitch]

19. Carlyle involvement isn't a done deal, is it? I hope for more outrage

and bfee exposure and ultimate failure on this.

[Whoa_Nelly]

20. Don't know if it's a done deal, but

wouldn't surprise me if it is and this whole ports debacle just goes bye-bye in the media attention wind.

[wordpix2]

23. I wrote my senators about this and sent them links on it

[glitch]

24. That woudn't surprise me either as far as the corporate media is concerned

but for the rest of us, and our group is getting bigger, and for the war profiteering trials, {{{{visualize them}}}} I am hoping not.

[truthisfreedom]

18. this is spin. rove is trying to take credit to "strengthen" the wh image.

in reality, the whole deal stunk, made bush look weak, broke the ranks, and now they're scrambling to create a new story. they were floundering. completely.

[wordpix2]

22. UAE finances US deficit--link here--so Rover had to do some smooth talking

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2006/March/theuae_March303.xml§ion=theuae&col=

snip: 'The vote in the House of Representatives has not change anything in that respect. We are not at that point,' one Dubai-based source said.

Analysts said the political furor was bound to provoke businesses in the world's biggest oil exporting region, which is an increasingly important source of financing for the huge US current account deficit.

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. I think Rove set the whole deal up in the first place

as a smokescreen.

[NVMojo]

26. well, if he did it, it was an insider deal ...

[gauguin57]

28. Did we elect Karl Rove to something? I mean, really.

Yeah, yeah ... I know nobody even elected Georgie Boy in 2000 or 2004, but ... Karl Rove is even less elected (?) than Bush.

What in the hang is he doing mucking around in international diplomacy, seemingly behind the president's back?

It continues to be very unsettling to know that we have no idea who is running our country at any given moment. We've always known Bush wasn't running the ship, but every time it's blatant like this, it give me a Supreme Pepcid Moment.

[King Coal]

29. My thoughts exactly.

[NastyRiffraff]

30. I always thought the DPW deal had Cheney written all over it

And possibly Bush Sr. I still think Halliburton will gain, somehow in this thing. There was rumor about Halliburton acting as DPW US advisor or some such even before DPW pulled out.

There has been tension between the Cheney/Rove factions, so I'm not surprised that Rove pulled a "fuck you" on Cheney, while doing what he sees as his complete and only job: making Chimpy look more...um...evolved. (He hasn't been doing such a great job lately.) However, I do think Rove panicked here. He saw what was going down in Congress and made a choice of the lesser of two evils: Bush being embarrassed because of a DPW pullout, or being politically slayed by Congress if he vetoed any bill stopping it.

In any case, the boy is losing his touch.

[Virginia Dare]

31. The deal is not dead...

the UAE is not going away quietly. There is still a debt to be paid. This is all smoke and mirrors. The lies and deceptions are catching up to them. All I can say is Rove had better be the genius everybody thinks he is.

[The Stranger]

32. Probably neither -- with someone like Bill Kristol, if he were to say the

sky was blue, one would have to go outside several times to make sure.

[yurbud]

33. Cheney is in charge of foreign policy, Rove does domestic, what does

Bush do besides coke and man hos?