[mburbank]

A 45 day review is entirely appropriatte, seeing as hw te administration says the ENTIRE deal was conducted by undersecretaries without even consulting any of their bosses. Based solely on the performance in other matters of the appointed crony pool that is the administration, I would at very least prefer some less easily scarificed cannon fodder to know what was going on, and I'd love it if some branch of government other than the executive had a look see.

THAT is what I think is problematic here, and hopefully this waiting period will make some headway toward resolving that issue. Once the whole thing is out n the light of day, if it smells clean and safe, fine. I think this is symptomatic of the way the administration makes key decisions, and it's a bad, potentially dangerous way. To me, this is far more imprtaant than the fact that the buyers in question are Arabs, and it's a much larger picture. THAT's what I want the administration hammered for, THAT's what I think it needs to pay a political price for. If this was the very first instance of the administration being cavalier about demonstrating the degree to which it doesn't give a fuck about the people it represents, I dout this woud be such a big, bipartisan issue.

Think about the way this careless move screwed Republicans in congress who actuyally have to get reelected. The one issue the corrently have going for them, rightly or wrongly, is security. The Presidents second tier players, rightly or wrongly, make a decision that any political science major could have told you would rightly or wrongly be hugely controversial, a move that puts R's who need to get reelected in a tight spot. Does ol' W say "Whoah, now, I don't think they shoulda done that wiffout a-talkin to me. Ah'll take 'em out behind the woodshed and we'll get a looksee at thuis here deal, see if it's all hunky dorey."? No. He threatens his first veto over a deal he didn't even know about till someone read it to him from the paper.

This level of careless, callous stupidity IS a security issue, all by itself, the same way Brownie running FEMA and Chertoff being his boss was a security issue, and it doesn't matter if Dubai or the Taliban or the fucking Lucky Charms Leprechaun is unloading ships.

So do the 45 days thoroughly and KEEP SAYING that this is no damn way to run a country. Any politician that does that has my interest.