So the Bush administration screwed up again. They didn’t pay attention to a deal being made that could affect port security, and they got caught with their pants down. You may not think that the UAE controlling the company that controlled the ports would be such a big deal, but this is the bed that Bush made for himself. He painted the scenario of fear, he made terrorism the bad guy, he touted even the thinnest connections of a Middle Eastern country to terrorists as a major threat–and then he approved the sale of U.S. ports to a country which has ties to 9/11.

So then Bush has to posture, because we all know the party line: Bush never makes a mistake. So instead of admitting that he was asleep at the wheel, he has to act like it’s no big deal. So when Democrats in Congress say they’ll try to block the Dubai ports deal, Bush says he’s going to use the veto for the first time in over five years. But the some Congressional Republicans see that this looks bad in the press, and that Bush is taking a major hit on this, and so they start turning against the deal. Soon enough there’s enough opposition to the deal that even a veto would be overridden.

Which means Bush is in a bind: he looks bad to the American people, is on the wrong side of the terrorism issue he himself defined, and then he’ll look weak and ineffective when Congress overrides his only veto. So does he finally admit a mistake? Or does he stand on his principles and back up his initial claim that it’s not a big deal and Congress is doing the wrong thing?

Neither. He goes behind the scenes and begs the UAE to take the initiative and pull out themselves. And so they do.

Politically, it was the best thing for Bush to do. But it does reveal what a shallow, inept, and superficial bunch these guys are. Bush will continue to pay for this, losing approval from his own base. Like I said, it doesn’t matter if you think that foreign control over U.S. ports is a harmless thing. Bush chose to make people afraid of terrorism; he chose to make people see links based upon tenuous evidence; he chose to make this all about perception rather than fact. He made his bed, and now he’s got to sleep in it.

Nitey-nite, George.