Rasmussen Polling: Dubai Port Deal Devastating to GOP. Massive Political Damage Already Inflicted

As the Neocon has predicted, first Fox News and now Rasmussen report the President has made a devastating political mistake (if not security mistake) by enthusiastically supporting the Dubai port deal, backed up by a redicules threat of Veto. That mistake was greatly amplified as the President and some of his more misguided supporters, like Grover Norquist, publicly suggested that opposition to the deal was motivated by anti-Arab bigotry. That approach has only served to insult and antagonize a large segment of the President's own base, such as the Neocon Express and many more. The Dymanics here are such, that ironically, should the President prevail, he, and by extension the GOP will be the big losers.
Rasmussen, who is generally friendly to the GOP and a straight shooter; noted that there was nothing the Democrats could have done to "change the basic dynamics" of the national security issue. Their one and only hope was to wait for a mistake by the Bush team--a hope that was realized in a huge way when the Dubai Ports story erupted on the national scene, and particularly the administrations reaction to it.

"Our first survey on the topic found that the public opposed the Administration's decision on the ports issue by a 64% to 17% margin. For the first time ever--voters preferred Democrats in Congress over the President on national security. To put this into perspective, consider the 2002 election. That year, the President's position on national Security was so solid that his party regained control of the Senate at a time when just 23% of Americans rated the economy as good or excellent. Two years later, 51% of Americans thought the U.S. and its allies were winning the War on Terror and the President was re-elected with 51% of the vote.

Republicans cannot retain control of Congress following November's election if the Democrats are competitive on national security issues."

The University of Virginia's Larry Sabato summarized the situation succinctly for us--"Since 9/11, Bush's consistent political advantage has been the public's confidence in him to handle the terrorist threat. The Iraq War has weakened Bush's edge, and now the Dubai ports misstep may destroy it. This has become a troubled and tone-deaf Presidency."

It's important to note that the Dubai Ports story is far more significant politically than the issue itself. That's because it gives people an opportunity to re-evaluate the President on a whole range of issues relating to national security.

Of course, there are still nine months to Election Day and a lot can happen...the Dubai ports issue has provided a rallying point; and, the President has lost the initiative on his signature issue.

"Unless the President can re-establish dominance on the national security issue, the opportunity for George W. Bush to leave behind a GOP Generation will disappear." THAT IS WHAT IS AT STAKE MR. PRESIDENT.