Once again my first one (long, detailed, with links, people's names spelled right, etc.) got eaten on trying to save, so this is gonna be Short and To the Point. You there, in the back, applauding--don't make me call Security on your ass.

McCain: This fuss about the Ports is a distraction from the big things we should be talking about, like IRAN's NUKES! And riots in Nigeria and terrorist attacks on Saudi facilities. And did I mention IRAN'S NUKES! And those who object to Dubai running our ports are just a bunch of stinky racists. "Dubai is freer than China" was a phrase I kept hearing, it seems to be a Rove Talking Point this week.

You should all shut up about objections to Dubai running our ports because Dubai has our collective national balls in their lockboxes because they let us have military and air bases there which are Vital to the War on Terra. And also if we piss them off they, and the rest of the Arab World, will disinvest from the American economy which would be Bad. [Ed. note: He got through this whole discourse without ever once mentioning Our Godawful Trade Deficit. This proves he is a Great Geopolitical Thinker and should be the next Republican nominee for president.]

Iraq is Coming Along but will Take Time because they Have Problems. Talk of US withdrawal is Foolish because that's what Al Qaida Wants Us To Do. They (al Q) don't care about Iraq, they don't care about Saudi Arabia, they want to Destroy the West. [Ed. note: Yeah, he's probably right on this point, but it seems that our present strategy is to destroy ourselves first so as to save Osama the trouble. But I intrude on the Great Thinker here.] Mistakes Were Made [not sure if he was talking Iraq or the Hamas election here but it hardly matters] but We Must Prevail.

Carl Levin: This "45 day investigation" is not just a good idea, It's The Law. [Kinda like seat belts, eh?] After the 45 days of investigation there has to be a report, Congress must [do something; I think he said "Congress must approve" any ruling from the investigating body but I didn't hear him say that any actual vote would be taken, or by whom].

Levin said that "Even Karl Rove" said that the deal can't go through before the 45-day thing happens. This of course, if true, means that Our Highest Executive Official has spoken.

On Dubai specifically, Levin noted that their status as "good guys and Bosom Buddies" is of rather short duration, and they were pretty much bottom-feeding scum suckers before that. Buddies of the Taliban, trans-shippers of the nuclear-weapons materials of [our other new Bosom Buddies] Pakistan's AQ Khan, home of 2 of the 911 hijackers, financiers of the others, banker to Al Qaida, etc.

Yeah they spun on a dime after 9-11 and the "you are with us or against us" speech, but that just means they can spin back just as fast.

On Iraq: Here Carl threw a marker on the table-we should give the Iraqi elected officials "6-8 weeks" to put together something, anything, that they can call a government or we should start packing our bags for home. A "government of national unity" would be swell but get something on paper NOW or we're booking. There can be no military solution--Levin said he had been told this by "military leaders" but if he named any names I didn't catch it--without a political solution.

When asked if we can intervene in an Iraqi civil war, Levin said, "nope." We can't solve the problem for them. They must creat their own nation. Keeping our troops there indefinitely gives them a blank check.

Round Table:

Torie Clarke [former PR handmaiden to SecDef Rumsfeld, now hawking a book];

EJ Dionne, [token "liberal" which he isn't very];

Fareed Zakaria [who I used to think was One of the Good Guys before the war, as he was wildly against it; but these days, not so much][looked very haggard this week, don't know if he's unwell, jet lagged or what. But he's still, imho, hot] [Xan wipes drool from chin, keyboard] and

George Will [who is fading into near irrelevance these days, and surprisingly seems to realize it]:

Torrie's pitch was that the Higher Levels of the executive branch blew the PR on the ports deal because of a "different information environment." They should have had "greater awareness" of what the Committee of Low-Level Flunkies In Charge of Letting Foreigners Buy Up America was doing.

[As best I can tell this is a Reverse Outrage Fatigue argument they're trying here. We complain of being unable to follow up on each particular way they're fucking us over because the scandals come too thick and furious...so now the fuckers are trying to use the same complaint? This is Rovian in its red-cape-waving, ratfucking way, but it didn't seem to get much traction on this show. Watch for it to show up elsewhere.]

There was more but I'm gonna try to save this now because I have to get to work elsewhere and I'm tired. Hillary Clinton and George Will both got in some good licks in this segment [bet you never expected to read THAT line, didja?] and I will do an Update about it if opportunity presents.