[Exsubmariner]

A I learn more and more about this, it seems like a blunder that just caught a lot of people off guard. There is an agency that investigates deals like this and has done so for some time. They vetted everything before the story broke. Perhaps that process should be more transparent and that is the lesson here.

This could be a signal, provided it goes through, to our allies in the M.E. that cooperation with us is a good thing. I don't know if it was my racism, bigotry, sexism, or homophobia that caused me to react as I did. I think this caught a lot of people completely unaware and GWB took a big big risk of pissing off his own party, making the statement that he did. I see he has not backed down. There are Republicans who are now using this as a platform to begin to distance themselves from him for the next election. I would very much like to see truely fiscal conservatives get some points for their stand on this issue.

Thanks for that link, Vulture.