From The Washington Post
By Jim Hoagland

Laugh or cry? Hard to choose when it comes to the descent of the Bush White House into total incoherence over the Dubai Ports World contract. Once again we turn from weighty matters to ask: What did this president not know and when did he not know it?

From his vice president spraying a hunting buddy with birdshot to the negotiation of the politically charged ports contract, George W. Bush has had his spokesman fall back on his father’s lame defense in Iran-contra: Me? I was out of the loop.

That’s not a defense, Mr. President. That is confirmation of our worst fears — especially when that declaration of prior ignorance follows an immediate, defiant threat to exercise the first-ever Bush 43 veto. That’s shooting yourself in both feet.

That is not to say that Bush should have been following the ins and outs of a commercially sound, if difficult to explain, contract. Nor does it absolve opportunistic politicians in both parties who are exploiting this flap by playing on racial animosities and fears. They toy with U.S. foreign policy and domestic accord.

But where was White House chief of staff Andrew Card as the ports contract moved through the bureaucracy? Or Karl Rove, who is paid to be Bush’s political early warning system? From Hurricane Katrina on, they have let Bush down. No, let’s be more precise: They have melted the Bush presidency down to a nub.

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