So says Yahoo:
WASHINGTON - Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, President Bush's choice to be homeland security secretary, has withdrawn his name from consideration, the White House announced late Friday.
Presidential press secretary Scott McClellan, in a conference call to news organizations, revealed that Kerik had withdrawn "for personal reasons."
"The president respects his decision and wishes the commissioner and his wife, Hala, well," McClellan said in a statement.
"Commissioner Kerik is withdrawing his name from director of homeland security," the spokesman said. "He informed the White House this evening that he was withdrawing for personal reasons from consideration to be secretary of homeland security."
McClellan said that Kerik telephoned the president at about 8:30 p.m. EST. Kerik also sent a letter to the White House in which he announced his wishes.
McClellan said the White House "will move as quickly as we can to name someone else to fill this nomination."
Bush's nomination of Kerik quickly proved controversial. News reports in recent days focused on revelations that Kerik had made millions of dollars a stun gun company that sold weapons to the Homeland Security Department and which wants more business. The White House had said that Kerik would avoid any conflicts of interest.
Records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show Kerik made $6.2 million by exercising stock options he received from Taser International. He has been a consultant for the company and still serves on its board of directors, although the company and the White House said he planned to sever the relationship.
Kerik, 49, had been selected by Bush to succeed Tom Ridge in the Cabinet-level position, heading a huge federal agency that was founded in reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks against New York and Washington.
Kerik was anticipating hearings on his confirmation, and earlier Friday had held a private breakfast meeting in New Jersey, where Sen. Jon Corzine told him that New Jersey should receive more money from the federal agency, according to a spokesman for Corzine.
Corzine told Kerik the state's entire congressional delegation and acting Gov. Richard J. Codey were united in getting the agency to change the way it doles out funds, said Corzine spokesman Brad Woodhouse.
Woodhouse said the senator told Kerik during the meeting at an undisclosed site in New Jersey that he believes the funding formula should be based on the risk of a terror attack.
Just hours before Kerik withdrew his name, the White House defended him on questions about potential ethical conflicts of interest.
"We have full confidence in his integrity and we are confident that he will take the appropriate steps necessary to make sure that there are no conflicts there," McClellan had said at his midday briefing.
"We've looked into all these issues, and obviously, he'll be talking about some of these matters during his confirmation hearing," McClellan had said earlier. "But the president appointed Commissioner Kerik because he knows he is someone who is firmly committed to helping us win the war on terrorism and make sure that we are doing everything we can to protect the homeland."
Taser was one of many companies that received consulting advice from Kerik after he left his job as New York City police commissioner in 2001, when he was earning $150,500 a year.
Partnering with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani or operating independently, Kerik has had business arrangements with manufacturers of prescription drugs, computer software and bulletproof materials, as well as companies selling nuclear power, telephone service, insurance and security advice for Americans working abroad.
The man who led the New York Police Department on Sept. 11, 2001, has been praised effusively by Senate Republicans and Democrats for his management during and after the attacks. In Iraq in 2003, Kerik served as interior minister under the Coalition Provisional Authority, the Pentagon-run occupation authority.
Federal ethics rules say executive branch employees should avoid participating in decisions where their impartiality could be questioned, unless they receive approval from an agency ethics official.
Kerik's office said he was not available for comment for the story about his financial dealings. But a White House spokesman, Brian Besanceney, had said earlier that the nominee would avoid any possible conflict of interest.
"Commissioner Kerik is committed to the highest ethical standards and will divest all his holdings in Taser upon Senate confirmation to avoid a conflict of interest," Besanceney said. "In order to avoid even the appearance of a conflict, he will comply with all ethics laws and rules to avoid actions that affect former clients or organizations where he served as a director."
Full Version: Kerik *out* as Homeland Security chief
Actually, it's Nannygate that's knocked him out. He failed to pay taxes on an employee who may have been "illegal"; didn't bode too well for a man who was supposed to be seeing Homeland Security. Though he would have been confirmed, his past as head of New York City's Corrections Department was scandal-tinged, as was his tenure as head of NYPD and his role in Iraq. But Demwatch anatomizes this man much better:
QUOTE
Kerik Is Not Fit To Serve As Homeland Security Chief
A few reasons why Bernard Kerik is not fit to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security...
1. Kerik has furthered the lie that Iraq was involved with 9/11:
New York Newsday, 10/20/03 (reposted here)
\"Saddam didn't do 9/11. But did Saddam fund, and train al-Qaida? The answer is yes. Then ask yourself, who hit the towers?\"
2. Kerik does not believe in the right to free political expression:
Also from New York Newsday, 10/20/03 (reposted here)
\"Political criticism is our enemies' best friend.\"
3. Kerik may have perjured himself before the 9/11 Commission:
New York Times, 5/20/04
\"On Tuesday, the first day of the hearings, Bernard B. Kerik, the former police commissioner under Mr. Giuliani, offered a version of events that conflicted with the accounts of virtually every senior official in the Fire Department. Mr. Kerik testified that he saw police officers serving as liaisons to the Fire Department at the main fire command post on West Street. Mr. Kerik identified only one of those officers, a police sergeant who died in the collapse.\"
4. Kerik has extensive ties to the terrorist-funding Saudi royal family:
BBC, 5/16/03
\"Mr Kerik says he speaks a smattering or Arabic - from four years spent in Saudi Arabia training security staff.\"
Update: As Michael pointed out in the comments, this is kind of weak as criticism goes. To a certain extent, he's right. However, considering both the Saudi royal family's history of funding terrorists and their history of brutal repression of their own people, the fact that Kerik worked for them in security is pretty unattractive. Were Kerik looking at a job heading up security for a major international corporation, I'd shrug it off. But we're talking about the future Secretary of Homeland Security here. The Saudi ties are not something to be taken lightly.
5. Kerik's tactics as head of security the Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority disturbed our British allies and inflamed tensions with Iraqi citizens:
London's Financial Times, 7/10/03
\"Some UK officials have been appalled by the language and tactics used by the US security supremo, Bernard Kerik, the former New York police commissioner dubbed the \"Baghdad terminator\" because of his uncompromising style.
\"The Americans need to learn that civil policing is not about 'kicking ass', it is about democracy. There are going to be problems if we continue with our different philosophies and different approaches to law enforcement,\" one UK official said.\"
6. Kerik's term as head of security the Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority was abruptly cut short, with no explanation, contradicting months of statements Kerik had made about his long-term commitment to the job:
May 2003: \"I will be there at least six months - until the job is done.\"
June 2003: \"By the time he leaves -- in three to six months -- Kerik must create a police force that understands, as he puts it, 'the principles of a free and democratic society,' but has enough public respect to maintain order
\"No one, not even Kerik, thinks the task will be complete by then.\"
August 2003: \" 'We've only been here for 100 days and you want what? Come on!'
\"He predicts his job will be completed in the next two months, and then he will leave.\"
September 2003: \"The Bush administration's top security adviser in Iraq has completed his stint and is returning to the United States, the Pentagon said Friday.
\"Kerik's departure comes amid severe security problems in Iraq.
\"[D]efense officials said Friday that Kerik was scheduled to leave this summer and actually had 'extended his stay to finish his ongoing projects.'
\"A spokeswoman for Kerik in New York said his job was supposed to have lasted only 90 days.\"
7. During the recent Presidential campaign, Kerik openly employed fear as a political weapon, such as in this op-ed column:
New York Post, 11/1/04
\"... the next plot might not be against our skyscrapers but our schools, that the next Madrid could be Penn Station and the next Beslan, Russia could be Bayonne, New Jersey.\"
8. Kerik's tenure as the head of NYC's Department of Corrections was marked by scandal:
New York Times, 12/3/02
Bernard B. Kerik, the man atop the Correction Department, administered Mr. Giuliani's unapologetic zero-tolerance approach faithfully, and his work in the jails ultimately led to his appointment as police commissioner in August 2000.
But now, a range of investigations into the conduct of some of the top lieutenants credited with the transformation of the city's jail system is threatening to sully one of Mr. Giuliani's accomplishments.
Mr. Kerik's successor, William J. Fraser, who had been one of Mr. Kerik's top officers, resigned last week after reports surfaced that he had used correction officers to do work at his house in Belle Harbor, Queens.
Both the Manhattan district attorney's office and its Bronx counterpart are also looking into concerns about senior officers at the jails.
9. Kerik's tenure as the NYPD Commissioner was also marked by scandal:
New York Post, 7/15/04 (reposted here)
The NYPD has launched an investigation into the purchase and disappearance of four high-tech security doors bought while Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was in command, a high-ranking police official said yesterday. The $50,000 doors, which were built by Georal International and ordered in June of 2001, were to be placed in the lobby of 1 Police Plaza, but turned out to be too heavy for the floors.
The deal involved some highly unusual practices, including the lightning-like speed with which the doors were ordered and delivered and the decision to not issue specs on the doors to make sure they would work, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne.
\"Because of the lack of paperwork and apparently incomplete recollections of potential witnesses, the police commissioner decided to direct the Internal Affairs Bureau to investigate the matter,\" Browne said yesterday.
Alan Risi, the president of Georal, has already been indicted on separate charges after the city Department of Investigation found he was submitting inflated invoices while supplying doors to the Department of Citywide Administration.
After Kerik left as commissioner, he joined the board of the holding company that owns Georal.
A few reasons why Bernard Kerik is not fit to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security...
1. Kerik has furthered the lie that Iraq was involved with 9/11:
New York Newsday, 10/20/03 (reposted here)
\"Saddam didn't do 9/11. But did Saddam fund, and train al-Qaida? The answer is yes. Then ask yourself, who hit the towers?\"
2. Kerik does not believe in the right to free political expression:
Also from New York Newsday, 10/20/03 (reposted here)
\"Political criticism is our enemies' best friend.\"
3. Kerik may have perjured himself before the 9/11 Commission:
New York Times, 5/20/04
\"On Tuesday, the first day of the hearings, Bernard B. Kerik, the former police commissioner under Mr. Giuliani, offered a version of events that conflicted with the accounts of virtually every senior official in the Fire Department. Mr. Kerik testified that he saw police officers serving as liaisons to the Fire Department at the main fire command post on West Street. Mr. Kerik identified only one of those officers, a police sergeant who died in the collapse.\"
4. Kerik has extensive ties to the terrorist-funding Saudi royal family:
BBC, 5/16/03
\"Mr Kerik says he speaks a smattering or Arabic - from four years spent in Saudi Arabia training security staff.\"
Update: As Michael pointed out in the comments, this is kind of weak as criticism goes. To a certain extent, he's right. However, considering both the Saudi royal family's history of funding terrorists and their history of brutal repression of their own people, the fact that Kerik worked for them in security is pretty unattractive. Were Kerik looking at a job heading up security for a major international corporation, I'd shrug it off. But we're talking about the future Secretary of Homeland Security here. The Saudi ties are not something to be taken lightly.
5. Kerik's tactics as head of security the Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority disturbed our British allies and inflamed tensions with Iraqi citizens:
London's Financial Times, 7/10/03
\"Some UK officials have been appalled by the language and tactics used by the US security supremo, Bernard Kerik, the former New York police commissioner dubbed the \"Baghdad terminator\" because of his uncompromising style.
\"The Americans need to learn that civil policing is not about 'kicking ass', it is about democracy. There are going to be problems if we continue with our different philosophies and different approaches to law enforcement,\" one UK official said.\"
6. Kerik's term as head of security the Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority was abruptly cut short, with no explanation, contradicting months of statements Kerik had made about his long-term commitment to the job:
May 2003: \"I will be there at least six months - until the job is done.\"
June 2003: \"By the time he leaves -- in three to six months -- Kerik must create a police force that understands, as he puts it, 'the principles of a free and democratic society,' but has enough public respect to maintain order
\"No one, not even Kerik, thinks the task will be complete by then.\"
August 2003: \" 'We've only been here for 100 days and you want what? Come on!'
\"He predicts his job will be completed in the next two months, and then he will leave.\"
September 2003: \"The Bush administration's top security adviser in Iraq has completed his stint and is returning to the United States, the Pentagon said Friday.
\"Kerik's departure comes amid severe security problems in Iraq.
\"[D]efense officials said Friday that Kerik was scheduled to leave this summer and actually had 'extended his stay to finish his ongoing projects.'
\"A spokeswoman for Kerik in New York said his job was supposed to have lasted only 90 days.\"
7. During the recent Presidential campaign, Kerik openly employed fear as a political weapon, such as in this op-ed column:
New York Post, 11/1/04
\"... the next plot might not be against our skyscrapers but our schools, that the next Madrid could be Penn Station and the next Beslan, Russia could be Bayonne, New Jersey.\"
8. Kerik's tenure as the head of NYC's Department of Corrections was marked by scandal:
New York Times, 12/3/02
Bernard B. Kerik, the man atop the Correction Department, administered Mr. Giuliani's unapologetic zero-tolerance approach faithfully, and his work in the jails ultimately led to his appointment as police commissioner in August 2000.
But now, a range of investigations into the conduct of some of the top lieutenants credited with the transformation of the city's jail system is threatening to sully one of Mr. Giuliani's accomplishments.
Mr. Kerik's successor, William J. Fraser, who had been one of Mr. Kerik's top officers, resigned last week after reports surfaced that he had used correction officers to do work at his house in Belle Harbor, Queens.
Both the Manhattan district attorney's office and its Bronx counterpart are also looking into concerns about senior officers at the jails.
9. Kerik's tenure as the NYPD Commissioner was also marked by scandal:
New York Post, 7/15/04 (reposted here)
The NYPD has launched an investigation into the purchase and disappearance of four high-tech security doors bought while Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was in command, a high-ranking police official said yesterday. The $50,000 doors, which were built by Georal International and ordered in June of 2001, were to be placed in the lobby of 1 Police Plaza, but turned out to be too heavy for the floors.
The deal involved some highly unusual practices, including the lightning-like speed with which the doors were ordered and delivered and the decision to not issue specs on the doors to make sure they would work, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne.
\"Because of the lack of paperwork and apparently incomplete recollections of potential witnesses, the police commissioner decided to direct the Internal Affairs Bureau to investigate the matter,\" Browne said yesterday.
Alan Risi, the president of Georal, has already been indicted on separate charges after the city Department of Investigation found he was submitting inflated invoices while supplying doors to the Department of Citywide Administration.
After Kerik left as commissioner, he joined the board of the holding company that owns Georal.
Perhaps they need to appoint a Secretary of Nannies. Christ how many poilitcal appointees over the past couple of administrations have withdrawn/been fired for the very same offense? Who the hell is doing the background checks on these people?
The Chief of Homeland Security has a illegal alien working in his house. What's next? The Secretary of Education is an illiterate NAMBLA member?
The Secretary of the Interior owns a lumber mill that has put 12 species of birds on the endangered list and he mixes paper and plastic on recycling day? 
The Energy Secretary leaves his lights on in the house when he goes out for nightly drives in his Super Hummer? 
The Secretary of Housing & Urban Development is a slumlord who forces female tenants to be hookers to pay rent? wink The Secretary of Labor is in partnership with Kathie Lee running her sweatshop? eek! Where does the madness end people? :cool:
The Chief of Homeland Security has a illegal alien working in his house. What's next? The Secretary of Education is an illiterate NAMBLA member?
The Secretary of the Interior owns a lumber mill that has put 12 species of birds on the endangered list and he mixes paper and plastic on recycling day? The Energy Secretary leaves his lights on in the house when he goes out for nightly drives in his Super Hummer? The Secretary of Housing & Urban Development is a slumlord who forces female tenants to be hookers to pay rent? wink The Secretary of Labor is in partnership with Kathie Lee running her sweatshop? eek! Where does the madness end people? :cool:
I thought it might come out the Kerik is actually gay and that his wife is just a "beard". Just my gaydar going off every time I see him.
[ December 11, 2004, 10:45 AM: Message edited by: wade n atlanta ]
[ December 11, 2004, 10:45 AM: Message edited by: wade n atlanta ]
QUOTE
wade n atlanta:
I thought it might come out the Kerik is actually gay and that his wife is just a \"beard\". Just my gaydar going off every time I see him.
Classic case of "wishful thinking," Wade. As a former New Yorker, the only thing that went off when I saw Kerik was my groin--he's actually very hot, in a maverick-daddy kind of way. I thought it might come out the Kerik is actually gay and that his wife is just a \"beard\". Just my gaydar going off every time I see him.
So Kerik was married and having two affairs simultaneously.
Gotta love those GOP family values. Now what was all this bullsh*t about sanctity of marriage?
Gotta love those GOP family values. Now what was all this bullsh*t about sanctity of marriage?
A repug having an affair on his wife?
SHOCKING, SHOCKING
Dear America,
Do as we say, not as we do.
Love,
GOP
SHOCKING, SHOCKING
Dear America,
Do as we say, not as we do.
Love,
GOP
QUOTE
KeyWest Guy:
So Kerik was married and having two affairs simultaneously.
Gotta love those GOP family values. Now what was all this bullsh*t about sanctity of marriage?
Those who cannot practice it ought to shut up, for they have no right to advocate it if they don't live it.
So Kerik was married and having two affairs simultaneously.
Gotta love those GOP family values. Now what was all this bullsh*t about sanctity of marriage?
QUOTE
MIB:
Then I WILL say something, as I am LEGALLY married.QUOTE
KeyWest Guy:
So Kerik was married and having two affairs simultaneously.
Gotta love those GOP family values. Now what was all this bullsh*t about sanctity of marriage? :rolleyes:
Those who cannot practice it ought to shut up, for they have no right to advocate it if they don't live it. So Kerik was married and having two affairs simultaneously.
Gotta love those GOP family values. Now what was all this bullsh*t about sanctity of marriage? :rolleyes:
My partner and I have had a monogamous relationship for 24.5 years, (would chuck the monogamy for Copman however).
Married and carrying on 2 affairs? And all you can say is that if you can't get married you can't comment, when it's YOUR party that is restricting the GLBT right to marriage?
OH THE HYPOCRASY!!
I bet Guiliani is feeling just a bit hot under the collar. Kerik sounds really special.
I think you misunderstood my comment, Lksimcoe. BTW, it's not "my" party.
[ December 13, 2004, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: MIB ]
[ December 13, 2004, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: MIB ]
originally posted by puckman: I bet Guiliani is feeling just a bit hot under the collar. Kerik sounds really special.
I was thinking the Guiliani had an affair as well. I could be mistaken though.
I was thinking the Guiliani had an affair as well. I could be mistaken though.
Guiliani's pick doesn't fall far from the tree!
"The affair of another Republican mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani, was covered more by the media. Giuliani started seeing Judith Nathan while still married to his second wife, Donna. After another divorce in 2002, Guiliani married Nathan in 2003. 45 "
This was taken from an unknown google search find.
"The affair of another Republican mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani, was covered more by the media. Giuliani started seeing Judith Nathan while still married to his second wife, Donna. After another divorce in 2002, Guiliani married Nathan in 2003. 45 "
This was taken from an unknown google search find.
The Guliani divorce stuff got UGLY.
UGGG-LEE
Seriously, it was a top news story every night.
Re: a new appointee, I'm disturbed by the "depth" (or lack thereof) of the pool of candidates being widely discussed by the media. If I am to believe what's being reported on the news and on-line, it's between Asa Hutchinson, who I don't know a lot about, and Joe Lieberman.
That's it?!????
Surely there are other politicos interested - concerned, even! - about national security...
UGGG-LEE
Seriously, it was a top news story every night.
Re: a new appointee, I'm disturbed by the "depth" (or lack thereof) of the pool of candidates being widely discussed by the media. If I am to believe what's being reported on the news and on-line, it's between Asa Hutchinson, who I don't know a lot about, and Joe Lieberman.
That's it?!????
Surely there are other politicos interested - concerned, even! - about national security...
The two aspects of this I find baffling are the Bush Administration claims they knew of Kerik's "colorful past" and still opted for him and the poor vetting process on this particular nominee.
Cynical being that I am, I wonder about last week's praise heaped upon Kerik by many Senate Dems, including NY Senator Hilary Clinton. Did they already know all his problems and hoped Kerik--if confirmed--would be a never-empty bag of scandals with which they could tie the Bush Administration in knots?
~Adam
Cynical being that I am, I wonder about last week's praise heaped upon Kerik by many Senate Dems, including NY Senator Hilary Clinton. Did they already know all his problems and hoped Kerik--if confirmed--would be a never-empty bag of scandals with which they could tie the Bush Administration in knots?
~Adam
Who was the idiot who vetted this guy?
Maybe Bush himself.
Maybe Bush himself.
QUOTE
wade n atlanta:
Guiliani's pick doesn't fall far from the tree!
\"The affair of another Republican mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani, was covered more by the media. Giuliani started seeing Judith Nathan while still married to his second wife, Donna. After another divorce in 2002, Guiliani married Nathan in 2003. 45
Uh, Nathan is his THIRD wife. Giuliani, a Roman Catholic, was divorced from his FIRST wife, Regina Peruggi, who heads the Central Park Conservancy and was president of Manhattanville College. (The Vatican conveniently "annulled" it.) Guiliani's pick doesn't fall far from the tree!
\"The affair of another Republican mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani, was covered more by the media. Giuliani started seeing Judith Nathan while still married to his second wife, Donna. After another divorce in 2002, Guiliani married Nathan in 2003. 45
THEN he married Donna Hanover, who helped him get elected mayor, and preceded to conduct an affair with his press aide (it's well documented, they were seen sharing sodas and pizza, he got caught buying her a dress, etc., at which point his wife changed her name back to Hanover). He appointed the press aide, Crystyne Nicholas, to head of NYC tourism.
THEN came his affair with Nathan, which became increasingly public, as Hanover and his children watched on in horror (she even appealed to the Cardinal to get Rudy to behave--ha ha!).
Finally, he moved out of Gracie Mansion (the mayor's residence) and lived with a gay male couple until his divorce with Hanover was final, at which point he promptly married Nathan. And this mess thinks he's going to get the GOP nomination someday? Yeah, right!
Or read it from DailyKos, who goes into the sordindness in even greater detail (mistreats his WWII veteran father-in-law! mocks black youth! etc.) He makes Kerik look like a saint!
DailyKos: The Whorish Scumbag Giuliani
[ December 14, 2004, 11:11 AM: Message edited by: fantomas ]
Never thought the super-gross Giuliani had a chance nationally, given his inability to pass up an opportunity to dress up in drag.
Giuliani also "informed" Donna Hanover that their marriage was over via a televised interview. I think I remember hearing that she was home listening to the news and that's how she learned they had separated. What a swell guy.
The whole Kerik fiasco shows that either the Bush folks have most inept vetting process ever or that they are so arrogant they think they can do and get away with anything. Either way, it's kind of funny to see something so fantastically salacious explode on them. Hopefully this is just the first of many bedevilments Bush will face over the next four years.
The whole Kerik fiasco shows that either the Bush folks have most inept vetting process ever or that they are so arrogant they think they can do and get away with anything. Either way, it's kind of funny to see something so fantastically salacious explode on them. Hopefully this is just the first of many bedevilments Bush will face over the next four years.
It may be simpler than that: maybe they trusted Giuliani and he let them down. Remember, before 9/11, everyone knew Giuliani was a sleazebucket. After 9/11, he could do no wrong. This Kerik flap may be a sign that things are getting back to normal. It's much more his f**k up than it is the administration's.
The dirt keeps piling up. Drudge is reporting the following:
QUOTE
An apartment near the World Trade Center site that former Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik used to engage in an extramarital affair with publisher Judith Regan, was originally donated for the use of weary police and rescue workers who were helping after 9-11! One bedroom faced the pit of ground zero... Regan would visit it while Kerik was police commissioner, meaning between Sept. 11 and Dec. 31, 2001. Kerik refused to answer any questions Tuesday regarding the apt... NYT planning coverage... Developing...
Family values? Sanctity of marriage? The hypocrisy is sickening.
Republican or not, this guy's from Jersey. Lowered expectations required.
Good point, William. Now I have to figure out what W's excuse is, since he is not from NJ, and the expectations for him have fallen through the subbasement.
QUOTE
pat125:
Good point, William. Now I have to figure out what W's excuse is, since he is not from NJ, and the expectations for him have fallen through the subbasement.
Worse.Good point, William. Now I have to figure out what W's excuse is, since he is not from NJ, and the expectations for him have fallen through the subbasement.
Dubya's from Crawford Texas. No expectations at all except to walk and swallow, (but not at the same time)
What's up with the scare quotes/asteriskstic thingies in the threat title? I don't *get* it.
I think the implication was that he was a closet-case. That was before we found out that he was an out-of-control p*ssy-hound.
Preserving the sanctity of heterosexuality . . .
Preserving the sanctity of heterosexuality . . .
QUOTE
KeyWest Guy:
I think the implication was that he was a closet-case. That was before we found out that he was an out-of-control p*ssy-hound.
Preserving the sanctity of heterosexuality . . .
I'm surprised they booted him. From his qualifications, he should fit right in with the GOP in Washington. I think the implication was that he was a closet-case. That was before we found out that he was an out-of-control p*ssy-hound.
Preserving the sanctity of heterosexuality . . .
I mean, what did he do that Hyde, Barr, Gingrich, et all did. And it didn't cost them very much.
After all, they were all "good christian republicans".
Well, he didn't leave his wife while she was suffering from cancer like Gingrich did. Kerik dutifully kept pounding his wife at the same time as his two other (that we know of) girlfriends. There's one difference.
Preserving the family--makes the heart warm.
Preserving the family--makes the heart warm.
I didn't want to shout OUT, so I wrote *out*
What happened with Regan and Kerik - the Post headline today shouted "Love to Hate", or something like that...
What happened with Regan and Kerik - the Post headline today shouted "Love to Hate", or something like that...
You have only to ask, B Man.
From the gutter itself: NY Post: Bernie's Livid Mistress: \"He's Insane and Maniacal\"
From the gutter itself: NY Post: Bernie's Livid Mistress: \"He's Insane and Maniacal\"
One of Kerik's mistresses, Judith Regan, is a book publisher based here in NYC. She worked on Howard Stern's books and he's been talking the last couple of days about this scandal. Apparently, all of Regan's relationships end the same with her accusing the men of stalking her and her family and treating her really badly. So while Kerik may indeed be a philanderer, take these accusations with a grain of salt.
I heard a new theory about the whole Kerik fiasco and it does have a certain plausability to it. Here goes... the Bush vetters knew all this about Kerik, but Bush went ahead with the nomination solely for internal GOP political reasons. Bush sees Rudy Giuliani as a likely player in 2008 and, by publicly stating that Bush relied heavily on Giuliani's judgment about the man, the Bush folks are trying to stain Rudy's rep among the party faithful. Reason? To clear the field for Jeb in 2008. Could be possible, I guess.
QUOTE
aquaman:
I heard a new theory about the whole Kerik fiasco and it does have a certain plausability to it. Here goes... the Bush vetters knew all this about Kerik, but Bush went ahead with the nomination solely for internal GOP political reasons. Bush sees Rudy Giuliani as a likely player in 2008 and, by publicly stating that Bush relied heavily on Giuliani's judgment about the man, the Bush folks are trying to stain Rudy's rep among the party faithful. Reason? To clear the field for Jeb in 2008. Could be possible, I guess.
The other part of that story that I heard is that by letting Kerik get nominated, and then withdraw, draws all the fire away from Gonzales. That way the media and the Dems would be focused on Kerik, and let Gonzales in without a very hard look
I heard a new theory about the whole Kerik fiasco and it does have a certain plausability to it. Here goes... the Bush vetters knew all this about Kerik, but Bush went ahead with the nomination solely for internal GOP political reasons. Bush sees Rudy Giuliani as a likely player in 2008 and, by publicly stating that Bush relied heavily on Giuliani's judgment about the man, the Bush folks are trying to stain Rudy's rep among the party faithful. Reason? To clear the field for Jeb in 2008. Could be possible, I guess.
Tina Brown, in today's Washington Post, has a great column on the whole Kerik fiasco. My favorite line:
QUOTE
To know that the former police commissioner and current partner in Rudy Giuliani's post-9/11 money machine was a disaster waiting to happen, you didn't need the bureaucratic talents of an army of FBI agents and White House lawyers. All you needed was to be a reader of the New York Post's Page Six. Over the years, Bernie has garnered more blind items than Paris Hilton. No one in this town believed for more than 10 minutes that Berniegate was just another nannygate.
Whether the White House tried to discredit Giuliani or not, this incident is only going to remind people just what they disliked about him prior to 9/11, and, with any luck, derail any thought of his running for President. Not that I wouldn't love a moderate Republican to have a really good shot at winning the GOP nomination, but there's just something about Rudy I don't really trust. Perhaps it's his arrogance, which clearly has caused him trouble this time.
That's the best Tina Brown column in ages. Love this:
QUOTE
The city has become just a tad cranky about Rudy's naked branding of 9/11 for his own political and pecuniary ends. Increasingly, his speeches seem to turn New York's saddest day into shtick to dramatize his own heroism. It's been hard for some to feel the same about him since hearing him sell an invidious merging of al Qaeda with the war in Iraq right at the top of his Republican convention speech.
Add to that a growing uneasiness in many quarters about the gravy train of Giuliani Partners. Nobody minds Rudy making a comfortable living after courageously leading the city through its darkest hour, but there is something increasingly over-the-top about the way he's raking it in. It's disconcerting to see the man who so feelingly attended more than 200 funerals of dead heroes score 15 million bucks from Nextel's emergency communications system when during all his years in office the NYFD never replaced the faulty radios that failed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
...
It seems that Rudy now considers himself so untouchable he saw no reason why he shouldn't get his protege rubber-stamped for the Cabinet, however preposterous the back-story. Why not? The Mayor of America was able to appear before the 9/11 commission and be treated with obeisance even though the staff report had been critical of the city's preparedness.
Add to that a growing uneasiness in many quarters about the gravy train of Giuliani Partners. Nobody minds Rudy making a comfortable living after courageously leading the city through its darkest hour, but there is something increasingly over-the-top about the way he's raking it in. It's disconcerting to see the man who so feelingly attended more than 200 funerals of dead heroes score 15 million bucks from Nextel's emergency communications system when during all his years in office the NYFD never replaced the faulty radios that failed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
...
It seems that Rudy now considers himself so untouchable he saw no reason why he shouldn't get his protege rubber-stamped for the Cabinet, however preposterous the back-story. Why not? The Mayor of America was able to appear before the 9/11 commission and be treated with obeisance even though the staff report had been critical of the city's preparedness.
Tina Brown is a filthy whore. FIN
QUOTE
Lksimcoe:
The other part of that story that I heard is that by letting Kerik get nominated, and then withdraw, draws all the fire away from Gonzales. That way the media and the Dems would be focused on Kerik, and let Gonzales in without a very hard look
This might be more believable if it wasn't for the fact that Gonzales is rather liberal. The Dems won't be disappointed with him.
The other part of that story that I heard is that by letting Kerik get nominated, and then withdraw, draws all the fire away from Gonzales. That way the media and the Dems would be focused on Kerik, and let Gonzales in without a very hard look
It still will be interesting to see if this whole fiasco has done anything to harm the relationship between Shrub and Rudy. It certainly didn't help them.
Now Bernie Boy is resigning from his position at Guiliani & Partners citing the distractions caused by his recent messes.
He better hope it ends at just "distractions" and not an indictment. It's a bit funny how they tried to pass this off as a nannygate, when, after all the dust settles, you see that it's all about dirty money.
[ December 27, 2004, 08:48 AM: Message edited by: TomFord ]
[ December 27, 2004, 08:48 AM: Message edited by: TomFord ]
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