Representative Cleaver (D-MO) may have set a record for distortions in a one minute speech:

the Bush-Dubai ports contract was a bad deal for national security when it involved six American seaports. Now it turns out the company would operate 22 U.S. ports for far more than the President said were included in the deal.

The “Bush-Dubai ports contract”? There is no such thing. Bush did not call up Dubai and tell them to purchase P&O. They decided to do so and the U.S. has no say in that sale whatsoever. The only thing we have control over is who leases terminals in our ports. The legislature set the proceedures and rules for approving such leases and the Bush administration followed it. That they now turn around and complain about that process is entirely their problem.

He then makes the absurdly false claim that “the company would operate 22 U.S. ports “. False. The actual number of ports to be operated by Dubai: Zero. Ports are operated by state government port authorities. Saying that a terminal operator would operate an entire port is like claiming Pakistan operates Dulles International because they lease a terminal there. He then goes on to claim that Bush made a false claim to the number of ports to be “operated”. Mr. Cleaver seems to be confusing the President with the press.

He then finished his tirade of stupidity with the incredibly obvious, yet utterly irrelevent, “American security should not be outsourced.” Of course, when one knows the actual facts involved and isn’t an opportunistic hack like most members of Congress, one knows that who does security was never at issue here.

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