White House Looked Past Alarms on Kerik

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Washington Post

When former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani urged President Bush to make Bernard B. Kerik the next secretary of homeland security, White House aides knew Kerik as the take-charge top cop from Sept. 11, 2001. But it did not take them long to compile an extensive dossier of damaging information about the would-be Cabinet officer.

They learned about questionable financial deals, an ethics violation, allegations of mismanagement and a top deputy prosecuted for corruption. Most disturbing, according to people close to the process, was Kerik's friendship with a businessman who was linked to organized crime. The businessman had told federal authorities that Kerik received gifts, including $165,000 in apartment renovations, from a New Jersey family with alleged Mafia ties.

Alarmed about the raft of allegations, several White House aides tried to raise red flags. But the normal investigation process was short-circuited, the sources said. Bush's top lawyer, Alberto R. Gonzales, took charge of the vetting, repeatedly grilling Kerik about the issues that had been raised. In the end, despite the concerns, the White House moved forward with his nomination -- only to have it collapse a week later.

The selection of Kerik in December 2004 for one of the most sensitive posts in government became an acute but brief embarrassment for Bush at the start of his second term. More than two years later, it has reemerged as part of a federal criminal investigation of Kerik that raises questions about the decisions made by the president, the Republican front-runner to replace him and the embattled attorney general.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/07/AR2007040701398.html?hpid=topnews

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. This story only serves...

To point out Abu Gonzo's utter incompetence. He probably thought he could sweep it all under the rug, due to a lifetime of experience at doing that for the BCF.

[Judi Lynn]

3. They've truly viewed themselves as being completely beyond the reach of conventional law.

That's only for the peons, for crissakes.

[Nite Owl]

2. This isn't good for

Ghouliani either.

[UpInArms]

4. I get a lovely visual of

Kerik as a boat anchor, tied to the necks of Dimson, Gonzo and Ghouliani.

[5X]

5. Someone forgot to send the WP their payment. n/t

[Octafish]

6. Kerik's a CROOK. Bush knows he can be TRUSTED.

As Butler said about warmongers, for Bush and his cronies, government is a RACKET.

Know your BFEE: Homeland Czar & Petro-Turd Bernie Kerik

[rpannier]

7. IMO...They knew...Didn't care.

Afterall, he's prez'nit scrub.

He's the decider.
He's God incarnate.
He created the Universe, the Heavens and the Earth, while God stood off to the side and got him a sandwich and lemonade while bush worked at creating the Universe.
He's a warmong...er...hero
He's the greatest US President of the 21st Century
He's the war president.

He knew in his gut that kerik was the reich...right man for the job.

How dare anyone say anything else.

on a serious note:
Kerik is just another example of this administrations arrogance.
I doubt there could be another more useless and incompetant administration than this one.
Everything these people touch blows up in OUR faces.

[creeksneakers2]

8. Bush wouldn't listen to his staff

Bush loved Kerik because Kerik fit Bush's fantasy image of a tough cop. The White House staff knew not to disagree with the boss. Gonzales was willing to do Bush's bidding on Kerik,so he took over the vetting. The whole nomination ended with a big embarrassment to all of them, just like all of Chimp's decisions.

[butterfly77]

9. Nothing new...

that's all they select are crooks,thieves and liars...

[bunny planet]

10. Maybe the Bernie scandal can take down Jr., Alberto, and Rudy all at the same

time. A girl can dream can't she?

[UTUSN]

11. Talk about Shrub/Rethug man crushes:

".... Bush met Kerik in the debris of the World Trade Center and was so impressed that he later sent him to Iraq to train police. The bald, mustachioed street cop appealed to Bush, who admired his can-do persona. By 2004, Kerik was sent to the Democratic National Convention as part of an opposition war room, given a prime speaking slot at the Republican National Convention and tapped to appear with the president on the campaign trail. ...."


But it wouldn't be Bernie's "friendship with a businessman" that would sink him, more like his HOT WINGNUT LUERVE with Judith REGAN:

SOME of her men (NOTE, the 4th image is an abstract rendering of LIMBOsevic). LIMBOsevic is included because she published his first two, ghost written by John FUND (at least the first one) books:



*********QUOTE********

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/media/columns/medialife/152/

.... Then Judith and Rupert found each other -- and ReganBooks was born. Not only did their commercial instincts mesh, but Judy's what's-the-world-ever-done-for-me politics were highly compatible with the Murdoch view.

And then the sex part. It's a one-woman show.

I have never heard anyone talk about sex the way Judy does. I have never heard anyone talk about their sexual partners the way Judy does. I have never heard anyone analyze individual motivations, the workings of the marketplace, and politics, too, in such precisely sexual terms. The other day, on her show, she kept interrupting her tempered guests on the subject of why women like Bill Clinton, and, voice rising, saying: "They want to have sex with him -- that's why they like him!"

Early in her career at Simon & Schuster, she published a book called The Rogue Warrior and fought tooth and nail for a full-face cover photo of the author. "Don't they understand?" she stormed to me. "Women will buy this because they want to fuck him!" She got the full face and a best-seller.

http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/newlow.htm (by DUer Gloria: )

Regan looked straight into the camera and for almost 10 minutes, delivered a pseudo stream-of-consciousness poetry riff mocking Clinton. Referring to his sad boyhood, she mocked his loneliness, then proclaimed that he built himself up and called himself KING, because "I am rich and I can do what I want!" She likened him to the cast out Socks, and envisioned him an old man meeting up with Socks at 125th street, both holding tin cups. ....

It was incredibly vicious. What was especially appalling was how she took the most painful aspects of Bill's background--his truly grievous childhood--and twisted them, using them to mock him. If this wasn't the "politics of personal destruction" I don't know how else you could describe this horrific display. ....

**********UNQUOTE***********

And I (the poster) will claim credit for insight. Back when KERIK's book for REGAN was debutting, she hosted him on her Faux interview show. His tale was of his missing mother, who inexplicably abandoned him as a tot. She never showed up for a custody hearing. The premise of the book was that this tough uber-male had this hole in his heart, thereby setting the pants on fire of tough wingnuts of all genders. As she probed him about the book, she and KERIK locked smouldering, HOT gazes. Once the mother-thing was done, she moved on to his heroics (which were what?) on 9-11. She asked WHERE HE WAS when the planes hit. Without missing an eye-lock, he said, "Stepping out of the shower." She swallowed and held a long breath. The image of nekkid KERIK was plainly etched on the Faux camera lens during the LONG pause. He added, "In my office." Another LONG pause. He added, "After WORKING OUT." There was another swallow. I suspected BACK THEN that something was cooking between publisher and author, and it weren't spaghetti. Only 2 or 3 years later, when KERIK's many other past deeds floated to the surface like dead bodies did it become official that there was indeed WILD WINGNUT HOT LOVE between the two, that the two of them alternated their WILD WINGNUT HOT LOVE sessions with WORKING OUT together, that he had used NYPD to track down what happened to his mother, that he used NYPD to provide security for his personal WILD WINGNUT HOT LOVE sessions, that the WILD WINGNUT HOT LOVENEST was a city-paid apartment near the WTC intended as a rest site for rescue and recovery workers. The REGAN-KERIK Faux interview was pure musk in the air. Why don't Shrub's handlers hire some of US for intelligence work?

[UTUSN]

12. What does "hatred" have to do with criticism of Shrub?

The Shrubbites: All cronies all the time. All fiat. What does "hatred" have to do with criticism of Shrub?

[ShortnFiery]

13. They thought that The People could be duped or that the M$M could cover it up.

The Unitary Executive lives in an alternate reality. :crazy:

[The Count]

14. The arrogance of absolute power - who'd dare to question us?

[truthisfreedom]

15. I love the smell of scandal in the morning.

Smells like.... victory.

[rocktivity]

16. Candidate for this month's "You Call This NEWS?" award

Of COURSE the Bush White House knew Kerik was political box office poison--how difficult would it have been to check his background? They overlooked Kerik on purpose because they knew it would "embarrass" Rudy out of the '08 presidential race, Jeb being the frontrunner at the time. Of course, they didn't know then how the '06 race would turn out, or that Operation Schiavo would backfire...

:evilgrin:
rocknation