Bush has got a lot of nerve. He's DELAYING the upgrade of the Coast Guard until 2030, even though we've gone to war on his watch and the Coast Guard is now responsible for safeguarding our ports. Bush has also failed to take the reasonable, common sense steps needed to make our ports, coastlines and mass transit systems safer -- steps that don't involve fancy new technology or dramatic restructuring, just the ability to set priorities and focus on making our country more secure.
And then Bush uses a Baltimore port as a photo op. Bush should be APOLOGIZING for his reckless refusal to improve safety at our ports and coastlines, starting with the abominably underfunded Coast Guard.
Instead, Bush callously used the port setting to push for unquestioned and permanent renewal of the Patriot Act -- an act which was pushed through Congress in the jittery days after 9-11 and went unread by most Congresspeople, but is apparently the only piece of massive legislation in US history that achieved perfection and couldn't possibly be improved or sharpened after almost 4 years of real-world experience.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski lets Bush have it:
Shortly after Bush's speech, Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski issued a statement saying the president has not put enough money into port security and that at least $8 billion is needed to effectively safeguard the nation's ports. Bush said he has budgeted $2.3 billion for port security this year.
"We don't need port photo ops from the president. We need dollars," said Mikulski, emphasizing that the site of Bush's speech bore no direct relation to the Patriot Act.
