** Major Update at End: Sen Reid Endorses Michael Savage **

Mark this on your calendars, I am with Richard Cohen on the DPW issue.

There are times when President Bush sorely disappoints. Just when you might expect him to issue a malapropistic explanation, pander to his base or simply not have a clue about what he is talking about, he does something so right, so honest and, yes, so commendable, that – as Arthur Miller put it in “Death of a Salesman” – “attention must be paid.” Pay attention to how he has refused to indulge anti-Arab sentiment over the Dubai ports deal.Would that anyone could say the same about many of the deal’s critics. Whatever their concerns may be, whatever their fears might be, they would not have had them, expressed them or have seen them in print had the middle name of the United Arab Emirates been something else. After all, no one goes nuts over Germany, the country where some of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists lived and attended school.

It is no surprise where I stand, but I am glad to see more and more people from across the spectrum have stood firm and said ‘we will not go there’ – meaning we will not fall into irrational fear.

What is interesting about this issue is the Democrats are bashing Arabs indiscriminately (something Bush fought against since 9-11) yet Bush has been able to show compassion, resolve and takn the high road right out from under them.

Somewhere in the White House, a political operative must have slapped his head in consternation as Bush made that remark. The politic thing for a President with a dismal approval rating (about 40%) would have been to join with the critics, get ahead of the anti-Arab wave and announce that he, too, was concerned about the deal. Instead, the White House stuck to its guns.

That Bush has done this should come as no surprise. He refuses to pander to anti-immigration forces and, shortly after 9/11, if you will remember, he visited Washington’s Islamic Center. He reassured American Muslims and the worldwide Islamic community that neither America nor its government was waging war on an entire people.

He has taken position on what was the left’s only ground – that being the respect of people no matter how different. The Democrats are simply playing a parody of conservatives by pretending to be xenophobes. They are trying to ape a Buchanan or Savage, thinking these isolationists represent the core of conservatism.
What they do not understand is the Buchanans and Savages are simply the loudest. Not the most admired, or most followed. And definitely not the best and brightest!

UPDATE:

Senator Harry Reid is now idolizing Savage and his Ayrab bashing in his lame attempt to ‘act conservative’ on this issue! I cannot find the link but I heard it on the Tony Snow show. Did I mention something about being ‘bright’? OK, here is someone else who heard the same thing on Free Republic.

Oh, the wonders of the internet. Here is the congressional record of the statement:

Now, the President said he would not allow any legislation to go forward; he would veto it. Of course, there has been a change of tone because even Michael Savage–I was in Reno and I wanted to listen to the news, and I flipped it on about 10 to 9 or 8–I don’t remember the hour. Michael Savage was on. I never listen to him. I heard a lot about him, so listened. He spent that 10 minutes berating the President. Michael Savage does not very often do that. It is not only Michael Savage, but everybody in America is so upset about this port situation. Their decision to outsource our ports to Dubai shows they still don’t understand the realities that exist in this world.

LOL! ‘Outsourcing’ our ports to Dubai! You know folks, it is scary to think how little our leaders now what the hell is going on. After all this time dingy Harry has dust clogging is synapsis if he is still ranting about the wholesale give-away of our ports and their security to The UAE. No wonder Democrats can’t win any elections. You know, when I wrote this, I was joking about the Democrats trying to act like out of control conservatives… I had no idea how serious the Democrats were to look so silly.