Feel the xenophobia

The Bush administration is shocked - SHOCKED - at the visceral negative response to the DP World deal among right wing politicians and voters. Where have they been, exactly?

George W. Bush has spent five years nurturing and appealing to the basest emotions of the Republican base. At the beginning of his "war on terror," he actually described it as a crusade. The right wing noise machine has assisted him in conflating the word "Arab" with the word "terrorist." Did he not notice that this was happening?

Just days ago, beloved GOP icon Ann Coulter appeared at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, and referred to Arabs as "ragheads." She received a standing ovation. Now, Bush thinks his base is going to sit still for letting a company owned by the UAE government manage American ports? I cannot begin to understand how Rove allowed him to stand before those cameras yesterday and tell the Republican political base to go screw itself. If it is possible for a president to be off his own reservation, that is precisely where Bush is.

This is the most astonishing political miscalculation that this president has ever made, and that includes the Harriet Miers debacle. Bush's surprise at the reaction among his supporters is one of the most surprising things about the entire episode.