Thursday, March 09, 2006

Look at Me!! I Need More Time in Front of the TV!

Okay, so we all expect Chuck Schumer to be out there yapping away in front of the cameras, sneaking legislation into completely unrelated bills (Bring back line item veto, bring back line item veto). But Pete King? What is he doing? In case you're one of the many who are on the fence or are trying to decide what you really think about this whole Dubai Ports thing, think about this: "Conservative" Congressman, Pete King is not only in the middle of playing "Who's the Bigger Dancing Monkey" w/ Chuck, he's playing chicken with the President.

As you know, George Bush said he would veto any bill blocking the ports deal that came across his desk. So, the House Appropriations Committee attached legislation that would block the transfer to a $91 billion bill that provided funds for hurricane recovery and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let me spell this out for you: Pete King dared the President to deny not only hurricane victims, but to put our men and women overseas at risk by vetoing the bill. And his threat was very clear when he said, "[by vetoing the bill] he would be putting the United Arab Emirates in front of the welfare of American troops."

Are you kidding me? That's tantamount to blackmail. Is this the sick level the Congressman has stooped to? Using the welfare of the military and innocent hurricane victims as political pawns? Shame on him. I hardly think this was Congress' last and only option to block the ports deal. What happened to the 45-day cooling off period, anyway??

Whether the ports pose a threat to national security or not, threatening to block funding to our troops is, and using them to muscle your way around is a despicable act.