dezeldog

Lary, that's one way to look at it.

Jim

bama

i stand by my first post,,,,,,,,,,,the majority of americans do not want this.........that IS the point....the president doesnt have any business deciding what is best for US .the majority IS what needs to happen,,,PERIOD,,,,,this is how our country is supposed to work.pure and simple.........bama

marine4life

actually, his job includes exactly that, deciding what is best for the people.if you want a pushover, maybe we should elect clinton again. half the the american people don't even know what is good for them. our cultures is getting fatter, lazier, and just aren't willing to work for the great cause. our country is very vulnerable right now, we are in a war in iraq, which will probably be going past the day i die. we soon will be involved in other conflicts in korea, the horn of africa, and numerous other places are hot spots for us going into next. we are at the verge of numerous conflicts and i think this port situation is the least of our worries. instead, lets focus on giving the boys over in the desert the proper equiptment to do the job they sent us to do. but hell, i'm just another leatherneck militarized by the machine and i love it.

OORAH

dezeldog

Do you mean King George sent you to the desert without the proper equiptment????What a tragedy that is.

Jim

Begle1

What!?!
NOOOO!
NO NO NO!
GOD NO!

The majority of the country is subject to sudden irrationality, as evidenced by the instant opposition to this port deal.

The Constitution has plenty of checks built against mob rule; the Founding Fathers held very deep convictions against the kind of simple democracy you advocate. The President, elected by electors appointed by congressmen, who cannot be recalled by popular opinion, is the biggest check.

This case is a great example of the way the Constitution was designed to work; immediately after the deal was announced, a massive grassroots protest was generated, mainly fueled by racism and ignorance. Congress, the branch of government closest to the people, responded to the public's cry to block the deal through legislature. This is what Congress is supposed to do; respond to the people's wishes. They did it flawlessly.

If the legislature actually stopped the deal as they had threatened to do, then we would be even more divorced from the UAE then we are now. We would have gained nothing, except a costly diplomatic alienation. But the legislature couldn't stop the deal.

Why couldn't Congress stop the deal? Because the President, who is totally removed from the whims of the people, is a voice of reason and vetos Congress' attempts to do so. The President protected the United States' diplomatic interests from the US public's ignorance, just as he is supposed to do. The framers of the Constitution are patting each other on the back right now because a mob-driven crisis was avoided by their careful balance of powers.

The President's job is to protect the public from the public. That is why the most important trait of a President is his integrity and wisdom, not his stands on wedge issues or his political leanings. Bush's standing in my mind increased greatly over this incident; he knew what was going on much better than the people and Congress, was unaffected by racism or fear, and acted logically for the good of the country.

The entire system worked perfectly. The fact that the UAE pulled out of the deal is irrevalent; this incident demonstrated that the American Constitutional seperation of powers is alive and well.

Your advocating of removing that system is an idea absolutely foreign to the Founding Fathers. If the country's decisions were left to the people and their Congressional representatives, then the consequences can be terrible. People in groups have precious little foresight. The mind of the nation is such that a terrorist attack will easily provoke an overreaction; imagine if a USN ship was blown up off shore of the UAE, like the USS Cole, and the media started blaming "Al Qaeda", only this time "Al Qaeda" was of course from the UAE and supported by their government and they want to attack the US and poison all of our steak. After seeing how fast the public responds to a port deal, Congress would probably be biting on the bit of a war within a day. It is the President's job to prevent this and act logically, even while the rest of the country wants to go and nuke something.

The USS Maine that blew up off of the coast of Cuba is a great example of how mob rule can push the US into a war. It was an accident that killed 266 sailors; Hearst and the media of the day blamed the incident on a Spanish attack, and within days the public was calling for war with Spain. McKinley held off the warhawks for weeks until a Navy investigation (falsely) attributed the explosion to the Spainards, and only then did McKinley go to war. He waited for the intelligence (however false), weighed the benefits and penalties of war, and acted rationally, and all the while the country wanted to attack Spain based on no reasoning at all other than yellow journalism!

The public does act like a mob; the President must know when to hold the mob back. Bush knows when to do that; I respect his actions greatly.

MikeyB

Begle1,
That is very good.

Pretty much proves that Americans are clueless to their surroundings. I don't see the bandwagons firing up to get the foreign firms out of the west coast shipping ports. And some members in congress/senate that are against the port deal have foreign firms owning ports in their own state.

MikeyB

P.J

Thats the thing though, the common response seems to be, "Hey, why not tell China to get out of the West coast now?"

Edited by Admin If I recall correctly, There were no Chineese radicals flying planes or recieving financial backing on the 11th of September 2001?????

Talk about the Democrats comparing apples to oranges, it's not about "Foriegn" IT'S ABOUT A COUNTY WITH TIES TO TERRORISM!!!

My Lord, with all the democracy that Pres. Bush feels responsible to spread, you would think the American public would be allowed to have an opinion about this without being labeled racist??

Com'on '08!!!
This guy has a few more tricks up his sleeve, can't wait to see whats in store next..................

MikeyB

And do you think the Chinese are our friends? Wonder where they get some of their weapons from, China, Russia perhaps?

MikeyB

marine4life

yes, it is a tragedy. especially when your best buddies get vaporized by an ied because we didn't have the equiptment to see it. i'd appreciate it if you'd leave the sarcasm out when were talking about my boys, as you can see it's a sensitive spot for me.

dezeldog

Marine4Life, By no means did I mean anything negative of you or your buddies efforts in the situation we have going there in Iraq. I think our military is doing one hellofa job with the equiptment they have. Unfortunately our gov chose to send you into that environment without the the proper tools to complete the mission and therein lies the tradegy.
Want to thank you and all of your marine buddies, and all of our service men and women for your service and dedication to our country. God bless all of you.

Thank You

Jim

marine4life

I apologize for shooting from the hip there, just a little sensitive towards the subject. thanks for the support.

dezeldog

I understand and I always did like a cowboy that can shoot from the hip Nota problem here with me. Once again THANK YOU!!!

Jim

bama

so you all want a leader to decide whats best for you?not what the people want?,,,geesh,,thats why we went into iraq,to remove a dictator.

jthorpe

This one is done.