IT'S GETTING PRETTY DEEP AROUND HERE ...

It seems rather apparent, in retrospect, why Rove and his trained chimp -- that would be George W. Bush -- would've allowed this United Arab Emirates port nonsense to assume the proportions it has. Since everything these filthy bastards are involved with is precisely calculated, politically speaking, the Republican machine would never permit criticism of the "administration" to percolate from its own rank and file; unless, of course, there were specific political reasons for doing so. And these reasons are plain and patently obvious, even to a half-pickled souse such as myself.

The immediate objective in allowing this Dubai thing to fester is, naturally, to effectively divert what little public interest there might be away from the rubber-stamp Congress and its re-authorization of the so-called "Patriot" Act, among other criminal travesties. Admittedly, that's not a particularly difficult proposition, what with the corporate media's virtual stranglehold over the American imagination and attention span, but it's clear that master manipulator Rove decided not to take any chances in this case. Ably goaded by the regime's stenographers in the press, most people are still in a contrived froth over the "startling" revelation that Arabs are set to take over the operation of several US seaports, even as the Senate overwhelmingly endorses the continued right-wing destruction of the United States Constitution -- as embodied in the ill-named "Patriot" Act -- with very little notice or fanfare of any kind. The nation has its collective boxer shorts in a wad over the red-herring prospect of foreigners running our ports (conveniently forgetting that the Saudis, the Chinese, and others have been doing just that for years), while seeming strangely unconcerned about the demise of representative government and the establishment of an overt corporate-Republican dictatorship. Rove's success with such a bread-and-butter political operation can pretty much be taken for granted, given the current state of American society.

On the other hand, the deeper and longer-term goal behind this artificial UAE controversy -- in my jumbled opinion -- is to provide congressional Republicans an easy, ready-made issue around which to base their bamboozling re-election campaigns next fall. Since Rove and his coterie of wire-pullers and chain-yankers are, if nothing else, brutal power-mad cynics, they obviously view George W. Bush as a convenient empty-headed stooge who is rapidly wearing out his welcome. This fake administration is in the crapper, for all intents and purposes, but that's not what's at issue for these slugs. Rove understands what's most important at this point: preserving Republican control of Congress, not salvaging an obscene disaster of a regime that's already been consigned to the historical slag-heap in any case. No, furthering the corporate-fascist agenda, in all its foul and debasing glory -- regardless of figurehead and/or totemic focus -- that's the number one priority for these evil scumbags.

So, in this context, allowing congressional Republicans to openly lambaste Bush over this DP World fiasco is a shrewd and well-calculated political maneuver. The Repugs get to tactically distance themselves from a thoroughly unpopular, lame-duck President, thereby giving the lie -- at least in their view -- to the obvious fact that they're nothing but a corrupt gang of sleazy automatons who only say and do what the party bosses tell them to. In addition, by appearing to take the lead in the largely fictional Protecting-The-Homeland-From-The-Evil-Arab-Terrorists campaign (never mind that the ports sale is a done deal, no matter what anybody says), they're able to co-opt what little real Democratic opposition there is to Bush generally, and seriously dilute the already questionable likelihood of a fundamental leadership change in the Congress next November. It's a sophisticated, far-reaching plan -- which will surely be supplemented and enhanced continually as the year unfolds, skillfully adapted to changing situations and circumstances -- that endeavors to consolidate and firmly entrench the over-arching medieval intentions of the Neo-Con/PNAC crowd, with or without the pin-headed buffooneries and dry-drunk embarrassments committed by current poster child GWB.

In sum, Rove and his henchmen are already laying the groundwork for the far-right's post-Bush contingency plans for the complete destruction of the American republic ... which is, of course, the same plan they've always had, but, whatever. Anyway, with the weakling Democratic "opposition" struggling along ten steps behind Rove's wrecking crew, I'd say that being optimistic about the future is just about the stupidest fucking thing anyone can do. Boy howdy, the shit sure is getting deep around here.

Remember, people: drink up while you can ...