Last week, the president made the following challenge.

"I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company.”

This leads Michael Reagan to respond as follows.

All of this begs the only legitimate question that can be posed by this deal: is it in the interests of the security of the American people? If it is, the deal is acceptable. If itÂ’s not, we ought to run away from it as if it were a case of bird flu.

Unfortunately, ReaganÂ’s response ignores the PresidentÂ’s point.

The deal was reviewed and approved under the normal standards applied to such transactions. The determination was hat there was no significant degradation of American security. As a result, the purchase was approved.

It seems to me that the “legitimate question” has been answered. Unfortunately for Michael Reagan, Michelle Malkin, and a host of other conservatives who I respect (and a whole bunch of liberals who I don’t), the answer of those with the power to make the decision and with the access to information that makes their judgment valid is different from the conclusion of the knee-jerk opponents of the deal. Disagreement on the outcome is not “begging the question.

Now, folks, since your question has been answered, why don’t you offer a coherent answer to the President’s challenge – why hold a Middle Eastern company to a different standard than a European country? Any answer that boils down to “because they are Arabs/Muslims, just like the 9/11 hijackers” supports the contention of Grover Norquist (with whom I’ve rarely agreed, going back to his days running the College Republican national Committee).

"The only whiners left by next week will be the registered bigots."

IÂ’m hoping that my fellow conservatives, with whom I respectfully disagree on this issue, can start to provide answers that prove themselves to be better than NorquistÂ’s jibe paints them.

Posted by: Greg at 02:53 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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