After delivering yet another breathless report on Cheneygate Thursday morning, usually reliable ABC Radio News reporter Ann Compton was caught clueless about the takeover of six major U.S. ports by a Dubai company based in the United Arab Emirates - a country said to have ties to terrorism.
Compton's exchange with WABC Radio's John Gambling went like this:
GAMBLNG: What else [besides Cheneygate] is being talked about in the White House?
COMPTON: Absolutely nothing. This has sucked the oxygen out of President Bush's trip yesterday. He went all the way to the Wendy's hamburger headquarters in Ohio to talk about health care. . . . . Is that on the front page of any paper today? I did not do a single spot on it yesterday . . . . COMPTON: [Cheneygate] really has dominated everything else . . . It is a fascinating story and one that ABC has reported very, very vigorously at the ground level and I think very responsibly. GAMBLING: Ann, let me ask you a question. Is anybody talking about this story . . . about the Dubai Ports World Corporation running our major ports in the United States? You know anything about that? COMPTON: Whooops. [Nervous laughter] GAMBLING: The reason I ask you is exactly what you just finished talking about - sucking the oxygen out of the White House and Washington press corps . . . . This is like letting Saudi Arabia do security in our airports. And I think that Washington reporters need to jump on this thing. COMPTON: Well, send me a quick email, John. It sounds like something I need to see.