Liberal Talk Radio

Bruno and I and the rest of the blogosphere spent a lot of time today talking about Port-gate.

No wonder Bush is so confident that this deal won’t negatively impact security — he nominated Dubai Ports World executive Dave Sanborn to serve as Maritime Administrator within DoT. As head of MARAD, Sanborn’s responsiblities will include ensuring the security of US ports.

From MARAD’s website:

Mission: To strengthen the U.S. maritime transportation system - including infrastructure, industry and labor - to meet the economic and security needs of the Nation.

So, who better to keep watch on the company operating US ports than someone who’s been personally invested in managing that company?

It’s likely that Bush has been reluctant to talk about this source of his confidence, judging the inevitable — and correct — charges of nepotism to be more damaging in the long term than this short term squabble. Still, I think it’s further proof that Bruno and I are on the right side of this one — let the sale go through and focus on the real issue, which is the need to improve top to bottom security for all US ports. [although given Bush's propensity to appoint nitwits and incompetents, maybe I should be more concerned knowing about the nepotistic angle here]

Link to the Dubai Ports World press release announcing the appointment is here.

Thanks to Bryan D. for this.