Next, Our Freeways Go on the Block

[[Q U O T E S]] * Already stung by charges of rampant corruption and malfeasance committed by some of its leading figures (including Tom DeLay, Bill Frist, Jack Abramoff, and the newly convicted Randy “Duke” Cunningham, former U.S. congressman from California), the Republican Party seems anxious to put some light between itself and the Bush administration’s now-delayed deal to turn over as many as 21 U.S. seaport operations to a government-owned company in Dubai. The GOP is worried that this latest scandal will only add to the difficulties it faces in trying to maintain a lock on both houses of Congress after November. Frustration with the White House’s tone-deaf pursuit of this business deal was evident in a statement made yesterday by U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), chairman of the Senate banking committee, to administration officials:

“While I strongly support our open investment policy and recognize that it is vital to our national economic interest, I do not believe it should stand at any cost. Everything in this country can’t be for sale.”

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During a Friday morning speech in which he clobbered George W. Bush for his disastrous, delayed response to Hurricane Katrina, U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-Illinois) riffed on the campaign slogan Bush used in his first presidential campaign:

“All I can say is forget the compassionate conservative we were promised in 2000, at this point I would settle for a competent conservative.”

READ MORE: “Will Dubai Deal Cost the GOP Control of Congress?” by Steve Soto (The Left Coaster).