“I was on the moon…with Steve!”

Who me? Uh, I don’t speak your language.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was not aware a Dubai-owned company was seeking to operate terminals in six U.S. ports and that his agency was leading the review until after the deal's approval, an administration official said yesterday.

Mr. Chertoff's spokesman, Russ Knocke, told The Washington Times the issue rose no higher than the department's assistant secretary for policy, Stewart Baker.

"[Chertoff] was not briefed up to this until after this story started appearing in the newspapers," Mr. Knocke said.

Mr. Chertoff is the third Cabinet official to acknowledge he did not know his agency had signed off on the plan as a member of the interagency Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS). Both Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Treasury Secretary John W. Snow have publicly said they were unaware of the deal.

But Mr. Chertoff's exclusion is more noteworthy because his department headed the CFIUS review and is in charge of security at all U.S. ports.

This is from the Moonie Times, for crying out loud, which has carried more water for this administration than has been broken by Michelle Duggar. If even they're pointing out how ridiculous this "I didn't know" crap is, you know it's bloody ridiculous.

Can some fiesty journalist (see: Helen Thomas) make it simple for the adminstration and just ask who did know about deal and whether it rhymes with “Gnarl Stove”?