E Pluribus Unum

Here's a practical application of the emotions swirling around the ports deal:

The shot of the gritty Baltimore waterfront pulls back to reveal a youthful, serious Senate candidate intoning: "President Bush wants to sell this port -- and five others -- to the United Arab Emirates, a country that had diplomatic ties with the Taliban, the home of two 9/11 hijackers, whose banks wired money to the terrorists."

Wait for it...

"I'm running for the Senate," Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) had been saying all week on televisions throughout his home state, "because we shouldn't outsource our national security to anyone."

The message may be simple, but it mirrors the views of the vast majority of Americans whose visceral sentiments on the port issue are driving Congress toward a confrontation with the White House.

For Republicans -- even those reluctant to cross the president -- the only viable response to Ford's conclusion is "I agree," said Carl Forti, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.