Katrina, The Weaker Storm

Storm Does Little Damage, Twists Some Facts....

Katrina vanden Heuvel is known for her disdain of capitalism and George Bush. Now she gets two birds with one stone thanks to the Dubai Port deal. While Bush doesnt seem to be getting a lot of support from either side of the aisle on this one, thats not going to stop the Left from slanting the facts and presenting a lopsided version of history.

Katrina is obsessed with the conspiracy theory template which prostelitizes that anything President Bush does, he does only for profit, whether it be for himself or his cronies. In her Huffington Post blog today, she presents her latest paint by numbers fakery:

"Not surprisingly, the Bush administration has significant business ties to DP World. According to the New York Daily News, David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations, was named by Bush to direct the U.S. Maritime Administration just last month."

Well, lets take a look at this Sanborn fellow. He must be some unqualified lackey lining the Bush Family's pockets somehow, right? His bio reads:

Mr Sanborn, a graduate of The United States Merchant Maritime Academy, joined DP World in 2005. He previously held senior roles with shipping lines CMA-CGM (Americas), APL Ltd and Sea-Land and has been based, besides the US, in Brazil, Europe, Hong Kong and Dubai during his career. He has also served in the US Naval Reserve.

How dare George Bush nominate somebody for this position who is not only a graduate of the Maritime Academy, but also a US Naval Reserve veteran? And all those years of working as an executive for the largest shipping operations in the world, how does that help the U. S. Maritime Administration? I mean, all they do is regulate U.S. ocean commerce, supervise freight and terminal facilities, and administer Government funds to construct and operate commercial ships.

Katrina, you really strike out on this one. There is no evil subplot here, just a very qualified individual being tapped for an important role involving commerce and defense. I know the words commerce and defense make you wince, hon., but I fail to see how this constitutes 'significant business ties to DP World'.

Her second example of close financial ties to the Bush Administration is John Snow:
"...And Treasury Secretary John Snow, who headed the federal review of the deal, was Chairman of CSX which sold its international port operations to DP Word for $1.15 billion just one year before Mr. Snow joined the Bush cabinet."

Note that she says 'just one year before Mr. Snow joined the Bush cabinet'. If she was honest, she would have said, 'one year after Mr. Snow left CSX', but she wants to give you the impression that Mr. Snow's being appointed to the Bush cabinet was somehow related to the sale of CSX to DP World.

A little Dishonesty and the Twisting of Facts to suit a socialist agenda... Thats the only damage from this Katrina storm. You may return to your homes....