I am, quite frankly, a little bummed about this story.
Turns out, according to a story in today’s Financial Times, that former President Bill Clinton (D-AK) has advised Dubai’s leaders on how to deal with the PortGate controversy (the controversy is over the purchase by a Dubai-owned company of terminal facilities at six major U.S. ports)
The story states that the idea for Dubai Ports World to propose a 45-day delay (so a more intensive investigation could be done) was advised to them by President Clinton, who earlier this week called the United Arab Emirates a “good ally to America.”
(It should be noted that an official at the Treasury Department informed the Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee that the company has yet to file its paperwork for the delay)
The news of the former President’s involvement comes as Clinton’s wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has been very critical of the purchase, the process the Bush administration used to review the plan, and has now proposed legislation to block the deal while arguing that the US could not afford to “surrender our port operations to foreign governments.”
What’s even more satirical about this sordid little story, is that Clinton’s 1996 presidential opponent, former Senator Bob Dole, is representing Dubai Ports World in DC as it tries to salvage the deal. Add to this that Dole’s wife, Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) is a ranking-member of the aforementioned Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee that, today, is talking to Bush administration officials on the deal.
Ya add all of these together and you have yourself a good ol-fashioned political, bi-partisan, orgy going on.
Granted, it seems as though the advice he gave is the same advice that anyone in his position would have given to any company that would have called and asked advice for the best way to prevent a potentially bad deal from getting worse, but, I still have to say that if this Clinton business is true, then I’ve lost a lot of respect for him… though I am willing to hear what he may have to say about the situation.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Say it ain’t so Bill, say it ain’t so
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3 comments:
Hey I'm just glad there is something Clinton could do to lose your respect.
I mean signing the very law that allowed plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit against him to question his sexual history, and the sordid details that came from it, apparently didn't do anything to lower your esteem of this Great Predator, but some typical D.C. wheeling and dealing... suddenly he's pond scum.
Previous blogger implies that when a politician acts unethically, the noble course of action is to legislate so that his acts will remain undiscovered. Is this the “new ethics” of the right? It would certainly fit the Bush administration. If Clinton was guilty of pleasuring Monica, then so what? It would seem that by Bushface ethics the truly noble course of action would have been to pleasure her first, then shoot her in the face with a .38. Bushface, will you please leave my country now?
The economy, stock market, national debt (sorry I meant to say SURPLUS) were all great when Clinton was in office. I could care less if he was getting his knob polished.
At least his unethical action did not lose billions from the ecomomy or thousands of lives, both civilian and military.
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