More on Portgate

The two lessons that Michelle Malkin learns from "Portgate" (see below) demonstrate the same pattern this White House showed in the Harriet Meiers debacle. Remember how anyone who raised substantive issues based on questions about her resume was dubbed a "sexist" or an "elitist". With some people this worked, but with the bulk of her right-of-center critics the tactic failed and her nomination was withdrawn.

This smear the opposition strategy will probably fail in this case as well. The Party of Treason is so insanely glad to have an issue which will finally let it appear to the right of the President on a national security matter that you won't be able to separate them from this controversy with dynamite. The Right, aside from some of the inside-the-beltway Republicans who make the mistake of actually reading the New York Times and the Washington Post (that isn't what those papers are for, they are provided as a service to fish mongers and parakeets) is used to brushing off these kind of accusations. The Left has been labeling anyone who opposes its plans to ruin the country as a racist/sexist/homophobe that doesn't care about The Children ™ for decades. If the people who want America to continue as a free and prosperous nation weren’t willing to be called names the US would have become a Stalinist gulag state 30 years ago.

Another tactic that those in favor of the port deal are using is to remind everyone that the port managers are not in charge of security at the port. That is the job of the Coast Guard and Customs. The port management is only involved in every step of drawing up the security plan and knows every detail of it. No cause for worry there. We are also told that the port manager will only be involved with “the loading and unloading of cargo”. Again no reason to worry there (no reason not to hire the convicted bank robber to drive the armored car since he will only be involved in the loading and unloading of the money).

Finally we are reminded that the port in Long Beach California and one of the terminals at Newark are run by COSCO (otherwise known as Communist China). Let me get this straight. If the Germans had bombed New York City on Dec. 8th that would have not been any big deal because the Japanese had already bombed Pearl Harbor in the 7th? Guys, you aren’t helping your cause. It also doesn’t help to remind us that only 2% of the containers coming into the country are ever inspected. The “our port security is already so lax that it couldn’t get any worse if Osama bin Ladden were personally put in charge” doesn’t inspire us to turn over and go back to sleep.