Jimmy Carter Supports Bush on Port Sale

That's all the evidence you need to know that this is a bad idea. If Jimmuh Carter is for it, then we should probably run the other way as fast as we can.

The administration seems to be completely tone deaf on the significance of putting an Arab organization in charge of some of our major ports. The Dubai company may be full of nice people with no connection to terrorists whatsoever, but in this day and age, can you take that chance? Certainly, from a political standpoint, this is a perfect storm.

The White House now has a situation in which it has very few allies, even within its own party, and have handed their political opposition a perfect opportunity to beat them over the head. Jimmy Carter's statements are completely incredulous:

President Bush is taking a battering from fellow Republicans, even the governors of New York and Maryland, over the administration's support for a decision that gives an Arab company control of some commercial operations at six major seaports -- including Miami-Dade's.

But he got a boost Monday from an unlikely source, frequent critic and former president Jimmy Carter, who downplayed fears that the deal poses a risk.

''The overall threat to the United States and security, I don't think it exists,'' Carter said on CNN's The Situation Room. ``I'm sure the president's done a good job with his subordinates to make sure this is not a threat.''

The former peanut farmer has traveled the world spreading hatred toward Bush and the GOP and often siding with our enemies. Now all the sudden he approves of something Bush is doing. Is that not a sign of a coming apocalypse? It must be.

Bush has just handed the Dems an opportunity to look tough on homeland security, and though they'll probably screw it up eventually, for at least a while their public perception of being soft on security will be tempered. If the deal goes through, I don't think Americans will sleep more soundly, and the Bush White House will get the blame for the unease.

UPDATE: Scrappleface has some appropriate comments on the sale:

The new measures, based on the popular Transportation Security Administration (TSA) protocols, “will keep the homeland safe while demonstrating our cultural sensitivity by allowing our Arab friends to control these major access points to our country,” according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

“Every friendship requires vulnerability,” Mr. McClellan said. “We demonstrate our love for our friends in the United Arab Emirates by trusting them, without regard to previous wrongs.”

The White House spokesman acknowledged that love, by definition, often results in pain, but added, “it’s better to have loved and lost a major metropolitan area, than never to have loved at all.”

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: One wag suggested that if you want to kill this deal stone dead, just get Al Gore to endorse it.