Is the Port Reaction really displaced frustration by CONNEDservatives?

[Armstead]

I'm wondering if the psychological issue of displacement is what's driving the Republican rebellion over the port issue. And maybe the reason it has also spread to moderates.

Here at DU and elsewhere on the left half of the spectrum, there is a constant refrain. "How do Americans stand for this stuff?" Iraq, Patriot Act, battles against science, corporate rip-offs and blind globalization, deviousness, arrogence, leaking names of CIA agents for revenge, delibrate politcal polarization, etc. etc. etc.....the whole litany.

We express bafflement how anyone could accept all of this, even if they believe in the basic conservative ideology.

Well, maybe the degree of uprorar over last week's relatively minor hunting accident and this week's revelations over the port deal are a relerase value for all of the underlying anger that has been building up in them....Perhaps their anger isn't so much about that one deal or hunting accident.
Maybe they are merely symbolic "Straws that broke the camel's back" among many of those people.

Maybe it also is a vehicle for all of the repressed anger over the Iraq debacle and all of the rest of it. Maybe the rebellion among Congressional Republicans is actually a passive aggressive response to five years of being whipped into line.

Perhaps it's difficult to acknowledge to oneself that they've been conned and used and abused, so they transfer it to something else.

I dunno. Just a theory. But it seems like there is a lot more behind the public reaction to this than just the specific circumstances of a hunting accident and a politically tone deaf deal over the ports.

[Pirate Smile]

1. I think it is just a common sense reaction to this - nothing else.

It just doesn't make sense. Doesn't pass the smell test.

[Canuckistanian]

2. I think the average person is beginning to see..

...what we've been observing all along. The secrecy, the lies, the media manipulation, the greed.

These latest incidents are just more blatant than most (although not as egregious as others).

Still, the Downing Street Memo should have been all they needed.

But the majority of Americans never saw that.

[Armstead]

3. What I wonder is if this is really about all of that

Like really being angry about the iraq War, but not admitting it to themserlves or otehrs. So they pick the next thing that comes along to vent that on.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. I don't understand how anyone could doubt the ports sales is stupid

What's so hard to understand?

[combat rock]

5. I think...

what is happening reflects what happens when you're forced to tow the party line since we're in a 'war against evil.' I think the Senators and Representatives are sick of this Presidency and his cronies. This is a backlash for the times they've lockstepped to Bush's beat against the best interest of the people. They are outraged at the audacity. As well they should, for it is shameful to see debate stifled and dissent silenced when these are the key ingredients to a successful republic. And to have a President finally and ultimately say "Get the *hell* back in line, I own you, I will veto" really strikes a nerve with anyone who loves this country and it's processes of checks & balances.

I get what he's saying, there's a lot of people with a conscience eating away at them with guilt, so they jump on the next opportunity to be outraged. I just hope they have enough outrage left when we attack Iran.

*tried to keep it family :)*

[Armstead]

7. What Combat Rock said

Combat Rock gets what I'm saying.

Sure this port deal is stupid, but no stupider than many otehr things, and a lot less stupid than invading Iraq under false pretenses.

My point (question) is simply wondering if the reaction is so boig because people are channeling buried frustratioins with all of the rest into it, which they have been denying for so long.

[calimary]

10. Frankly, nobody out in Der Homeland finds it hard to understand.

This hits 'em straight where they live - in the deep-down-fear department. It's simple - easy to grasp on a civilian level. There are some things that just aren't done. Period. Especially if you're always going around talking tough about how invincible you are in the national security deparment, and if you've been yammering nonstop about arabs/Muslims being basically bad. bush is the one who set the bar at this level. All that terror talk "catapulting the propaganda."

That's the thing that's made this such an explosive issue with everybody - they DON'T doubt the ports sales are stupid. They go immediately to that conclusion. It's NOT hard to understand at all.

Once again, the bushies miscalculate. I think that comes down, again, to arrogance - the same that's motivated them all from the beginning: they just figured that, with the blank check and cloak of invincibility that 9/11 gave them, they could do anything and say anything, AND get away with anything. And it worked. That's what happened - for a long time. It became habit, and what they came to expect. And they just assumed it'd stay that way - just a few times too many. They're running out of people still willing to trust them and give them the benefit of the doubt, because they've cried wolf too many times. And you DON'T cry wolf on the American people when it comes to terrorism and national security. They wanna be safe. Period. Non-negotiable. Member FDIC.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

11. Perfect explanation.

This is the first time that very important, huge parts of our own soil are being sold so blatantly and openly to people who had financial and human connections to the terrorists of 9/11. Not to mention that they are anti-Jewish to the core.

[Cosmocat]

6. Two things ...

1) They know midterms are coming up, and they know the gravy train is coming to an end ... It served the purposes of keeping them in office, and enabling the K street process, to have a totally enabling relationship with the white house ... If this had happened a year ago, Frist, Hasert ... ALL OF THEM would have backed his play ... They would have gotten behind some talking point, and hammered the Ds ... BUT, they now know that this admin will be a liability come November, and that "party unity" card has been played out ... That they have to show that they are not just blank checks for this idiot ...

2) In light of the above, they got their butts handed to them by Rove and company over the wire taping issue ... They we testing the water for the above, and Rove witch slapped them, threatening to cut of money ... THAT is why the reaction has been so strong, and so united, from the Rs in congress ... They want to teach Bushco a lesson ... Rove got out in front of them on the wire tap issue, they were beat and rolled over ... This is the payback for that ...

[combat rock]

9. Can't deny grandstanding at all ...

because on the face it looks like a softball lob pitch to those seeking re-election. They can possibly stand in July saying "Look, we defeated this presidents only veto, we don't always agree with him but when he is wrong and puts us at risk, we take action and succeed!" I foresee rising approval ratings for the republicans who oppose this, while Bush's sinks another point or two.

I pray though that they really are waking up to this administrations Straussian tactics to line their own pockets.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

8. The Bush Administration worked hard creating fear of Arabs...

... in order to attack and occupy Iraq. Now that fear just bit them in the ass.

(Never mind that I genuinely think that it's f****** stupid for our ports to belong to Arabs who are and have been cozy with the Taliban and Al-Qaida).