John Dickerson on Incurious George

".......shouldn't he have asked something?"

John Dickerson on Incurious George

Was I surprised to learn that President Bush had absolutely no questions to ask on the eve of the Hurricane Katrina disaster? Hell, no. He's proven himself incurious one too many times.




It's precisely why I do not trust that he is an apt leader. Were you surprised to hear he'd made the noise of a Pet Rock at the Katrina briefings?

At Slate, John Dickerson says:

"....the president's question-free briefing is more than a momentary bad piece of public relations. It's a blow to a key Bush myth. The Bush management philosophy relies on him as an interrogator. He delegates, but that's OK because he knows how to question those he empowers to make sure they're focused. Question-asking is also a central public tool in the "trust me" presidency. We aren't supposed to worry that the NSA wiretapping program goes too far because the president has asked all the questions. When the president was wrong about the level of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or the strength of the insurgency, it wasn't because he didn't ask enough questions, we have been told, it was because he was given the wrong answers.."

I suspect that President Bush has depended on his chosen staff and cabinet members to do too much of his thinking for him. He "just trusts them".....and when they screw up, he asks us to "just trust him." It's no wonder he has a 34% approval rating at the present time.

We don't trust the incurious. It's not the American way. We expect fully engaged, interested, decisive, and responsible leaders.

Dan Froomkin reminds us of George W's incurious nature when caught on tape on the awful morning of 9/11/01. Our Pet Rock meets My Pet Goat.

Democrats Seek to Punish War Profiteers

Democrats Seek to Punish War Profiteers

A new bill introduced today by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats aims to punish war profiteers with tough penalties and to “force real competition'’ in bidding for lucrative federal contracts. Democrats have been critical of contracts awarded to companies like Halliburton for the reconstruction of Iraq and the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

*See the rest of my post today at AMERICAN STREET

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-Halliburton Strikes Again

UAE/US Ports Deal - Silence Says It All

UAE/US Ports Deal - Silence Says It All

Read this exchange on Capitol Hill between Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and members of the U.S. Treasury Department and other Federal agencies responsible for investigating and overseeing the UAE/American Ports deal (from a CNN/Lou Dobbs transcript March 1, 2006). It's bone-chilling to see what President Bush wants to shove down our nation's collective throat before he knows exactly who the the UAE players truly are:

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On Capitol Hill, a grilling for four agencies who approved the Dubai ports deal.

REP. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Here's my question. According to the 9/11 Commission, UAE top officials and royal family members associated with Osama bin Laden. Can you tell us absolutely that these very same people will not be running six major American ports in the United States? Can you tell me that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will pledge to get that information back to you, Mr. Sanders.

SANDERS: All right. Can anybody else tell me that we will know for a fact that some of these very same officials will not be running this company?

I'm not hearing it! And to my mind, it is beyond comprehension that if you cannot answer that simple question, I cannot understand why we would go through with this transaction.

CHRISTINE ROMANS (voiceover): So much for government scrutiny when foreign governments buy critical U.S. assets. Just last year...

KIMMITT (U.S. Treasury Dept): There were 65 notifications, of which 12 were government owned or controlled.

CHRISTINE ROMANS (voiceover): The Treasury Department won't disclose what governments or what assets they acquired. But many now fear an American giveaway is well under way.

These Federal employees have no idea who the foreign investors in the shadows really ARE - or what involvement they've had with terrorists or the funding of terror. They went silent as Pet Rocks when Rep. Sanders confronted them. They wouldn't "talk turkey."

If that doesn't raise an alarm for you, then you couldn't possibly care about America's National Security.