The Bush family has always had a deal with the devil.

As Kevin Phillips, the man who originally crafted the GOP "Southern Strategy" for Nixon, told BuzzFlash, the Bush family only excels at two things: corporate cronyism and stealing elections.

In the introduction to our 2004 interview with Philips about his book "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush," we wrote:

"Few have looked at the facts of the family's rise, but just as important, commentators have neglected the thread -- not the mere occasion -- of special interests, biases, scandals (especially those related to arms dealing), and blatant business cronyism" Phillips writes in his preface. "The evidence that accumulates over four generations [of the Bush family dynasty] is really quite damning."

"Three generations of immersion in the culture of secrecy...deceit and disinformation have become Bush political hallmarks," Phillips notes.

Entitlement, elitism, privilege, secrecy, mediocrity, corruption, financial cronyism, bailouts of family failures by the taxpayers -- these are some of the true characteristics of the Bush Dynasty, according to Phillips.

To Phillips, however, the greatest threat to America posed by the Bush dynasty is not its inherent unfitness to rule. What most offends and angers Phillips is the threat that the imposition of the Bush dynasty on America poses to democracy itself. The American rebellion in 1776 represented the creation of a nation built on the foundations of a government elected by the people, not determined by the restoration to power of corrupt bloodlines.

So it came as no surprise to BuzzFlash that the secret, labyrinthian corporate cronyism of the Bush Dynasty would ultimately unfold in a betrayal as bold as turning over our port security to a nation that has enjoyed close ties with Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. After all, Bush went to war with Iraq when it was Saudi Arabians who were the primary financiers of Al-Qaeda and 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi, and the Wahabi religious faction nurtured by the Saudi royal family is the leading Islamic promoter of terrorism against the West.

It has nothing to do with Dubai being an Arab nation (that would be racist); it has everything to do with Dubai (as part of the United Arab Emirates) cozying up to the terrorists who threaten us in order to buy them off and prevent an overthrow of their corrupt sheikdom, as is the case in Saudi Arabia.

The treasonous port deal brings into direct conflict the primary domestic and foreign agendas of the Bush Administration. The former "faith-based" coordinator didn't call the White House staff the Mayberry Machiavellis for nothing.

First, you have the Rovian agenda of using the "appearance" of "a war on terrorism" to instill fear in the American Public and using that primal emotion to secure Republican victories in the voting booth (along with voter suppression and stealing an election or two, just ask Al Gore). Rove is a master of manipulating "perception," not accomplishing national security goals. In fact, a feeling of national insecurity better serves his political goals than implementing measures to assure our safety as a nation. In short, the "war on terrorism" is a political construct.

Yes, there are terrorists out there, and we should protect ourselves against them, but that is precisely not what the Bush Administration is doing. They are as incompetent in fighting terrorism as they were in dealing with Hurricane Katrina. In fact, their policies increase the risk of terrorism and the number of terrorists.

While Rove played the domestic fear fiddle, Cheney used foreign policy to advance big oil and financial interests in the Middle East. The big oil/big banking/big business agenda has a lot of leeway for friendly relationships with nations that condone or overlook the terrorists in their midst. In fact, as we and others have pointed out, the Saudi Arabian and Dubai (United Arab Emirates) royal families have paid "insurance money" to terrorists in order to prevent themselves from being overthrown.

What the Dubai port deal represents is the seedy, treacherous, greedy, cynical underside of the Bush dynasty. They are experts at playing the American public for suckers while they and the Republican Party -- which is really their Royal Treasury (along with private firms like Halliburton and the Carlyle Group) -- gorge themselves at the trough of big oil and multinational corporate sellouts.

The Dubai arrangement is perfectly reasonable to Bush: it's about the money. And as Kevin Phillips might tell you, for the Bush Dynasty, money and corporate cronyism trump national security any old day.

What you have here is a collision in the goals of our two real co-presidents: Rove for domestic affairs and Cheney for international affairs.

Maybe it was because Cheney was distracted with his big Saturday: a couple of beers, shooting some quail, shooting a man, followed by a "hold off the hangover" cocktail at the Armstrong ranch, an early night's sleep and desperate calls to Mary Matalin to bail him out.

Or maybe it is because Rove was distracted by a still possible indictment for betraying the nation by being involved in the outing of a CIA operative specializing in the tracking of illicit weapons of mass destruction.

But whatever the cause of the distraction, it's clear that the fault line of the insane clown posse has temporarily been exposed for all to see, even the Kool-Aid drinking rubber stamp Republican Congress.

It is like the San Andreas fault plates reaching the point of tension that they have to snap and cause an earthquake.

But remember that after an earthquake, things settle back to "normal" after awhile.

That's what the Bush Dynasty is counting on.

Of course, it's only our national security that is at stake.

Weekend Magazine: Werewolf Issue 28

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