LET THEM EAT MANGOES

Wow, this week on Lou Dobbs has been fun. Lou and Ed Rollins have made a great tag-team. Tonight
Lou blasted the president and his administration on several fronts. On Lou's primary crusade, "Exporting America" -- he said, "The president also made outrageous remarks about the export of American jobs to cheap overseas labor markets" and showed a clip of Bush speaking from New Delhi:

It's true that some Americans have lost jobs when their companies moved operations overseas. It's also important to remember that when someone loses a job, it's an incredibly difficult period for the worker and their families. Some people believe the answer to this problem is to wall off our economy from the world through protectionist policies. I strongly disagree.
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The United States is India's largest trading partner, and India's one of the United States' fastest growing export markets. It's one of the reasons we met with the CEOs today, is how to further trade and how to further commerce and how to further opportunities.

And, oh, by the way, Mr. Prime minister, the United States is looking forward to eating Indian mangoes.

LOU: "President Bush praised the virtues of outsourcing in India despite the devastating impact on this nation's middle class. President Bush acknowledged losing jobs is painful, but the president said the solution is educating Americans so they can fill the jobs of the 21st century.

"So we thought you might be interested in knowing just exactly what those jobs in the 21st century are. And we wanted to use the most reliable source possible. We turned to the Labor Department. Well, here we go.

"Nursing assistants will be the fastest-growing job. The government says the job involves changing bed pans and offers low pay, little opportunity for advancement. As for education requirements, no high school diploma needed.

"And the restaurant industry proud to say it's a leader in job creation and the cornerstone of the nation's economy -- 12.5 million people, in fact, work in restaurants. Nearly as many employed in manufacturing. That, by the way, should please Gregory Mankue (ph), a professor at Harvard. He, of course, the president's economic adviser. He's the one who said making hamburgers should be classified as manufacture."

Lou's other hot topic was Bush's nuclear deal with India: "While in India, President Bush signed an agreement that will allow India to keep its nuclear weapons and to acquire U.S. nuclear technology, commercial technology, despite three decades of U.S. objection. Many members of Congress say this deal will simply encourage Iran, North Korea and other states with nuclear ambitions to defy the United States and Europe and the United Nations." Lou questioned Kitty Pilgrim, who reported on the deal, "If -- if Congress passes it, it could be considered a temporary disturbance in -- in our foreign policy. Is it likely that this Republican-led Congress, Senate and House, will approve this?" PILGRIM: "No. Many of the experts that we talked to today are dead set against the deal. I could not find a nuclear expert who thought this was a good deal."

Former White House political director and Republican strategist Ed Rollins tells Lou that the reality is that BushCo has just lost their touch. Every week there's something that affirms the fact that these guys don't know what they're doing, that they are incompetent. But it's week after week after week that they just can't seem to find their way. Normally a foreign trip gives you something. You go there, but if we're walking back with mangoes, and they're getting nuclear rods, that's not a very good swap. You can't very well be dumping on the North Koreans and the Iranians, which we need to do, when you're saying to India, "go ahead, we won't look."

GREAT MOMENTS from the show:

ED: Well, Donald Rumsfeld is state-of- the-art, state-of-the-art 1976. And, you know, he wanted to get that job again so he could finish, and he has that same thought process.

LOU: This president, this administration, his speech writers, his strategists, this has become the presidency of false choices. You either outsource or you're a protectionist. You're either for free trade or you're an economic isolationist. You're either a stay the core patriot in Iraq, or you're undermining our military efforts and assisting the enemy.

LOU TO ED: Is any part of this Bush government working? ED: Maybe Interior.

Transcript here.

Tags: Bush, outsourcing of U.S. jobs, India's nuclear program