"Kerik nomination is a ticking time bomb"

http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-nyhen034063947dec03,0,2592726.column?coll=ny-news-columnists


Campaign bodyguard to Rudy Giuliani.

Errand boy for the Saudi royal family.

Energetic exploiter of Sept. 11th tragedy.

Tough-talking publicity-hound vowing to bring law and order to Iraq - then hightailing it out of there after a disastrous 14 weeks, leaving the place far less safe than he found it.

Oh, the bullet points on Bernie Kerik's real-life resume just go on and on. But is this really the guy we want standing between us and the terrorists?

-snip-

"He couldn't run the Rikers commissary without getting greedy and making a mess, in a jam," one correction veteran said. "Now he's gonna be in charge of the Department of Homeland Security? Let's just hope the terrorists don't decide to come back."

-snip-


Why did he pull out of Iraq so suddenly? Does he think he did a pretty good job teaching the Baghdad police how to keep order and how to behave in "a free and democratic society," to use his words at the time?

Was Sept. 11th Commission member John Lehman on to something when he called Kerik's leadership after the terror attack "scandalous" and "not worthy of the Boy Scouts."

What exactly does he do at Giuliani Partners? How's that anti-crime campaign in Mexico City going? What companies and foreign governments are on his client list?


-snip- (the list of his 'doings' goes on)
---------------------------------------------


does he have buttons that can be pushed?

Another pseudo-macho coward who confuses duty with decency.

who may have been a pathological liar, once told me that as a real estate agent, he sold Liddy's house in Westchester, NY...
and that in the bedroom, at the wall opposite the foot of the bed, there were dozens of bulletholes-

apparently, he'd sit in bed and fire a pistol at the wall- shooting flies or something.

sometimes the legend fits the tale...

whalerider55

...unless he knew he had killed something that day. Even if it was a bug.

maybe he was just trimming his toenails

whalerider55

That's one sick, troubled, pathetic man. You can always tell a coward who lives in fear of himself-- he's the one who acts toughest.

Liddy as a kid supposedly was terrified of rats until one day he overcame his fear by killing and eating one. That's him to a tee. Rather than face his fears, he kills them and pretends he's not afraid. That's what he wants to do with the world. Same with Bush, Rumsfield, Ashcroft. Bush seeks out like-minded cowards. I have little confidence in this nation's future at the moment.

when i was in college in the mid-seventies, i heard James McCord speak, he of the first real break in the watergate scandal- he didn't have much nice to say about Liddy, but i got the impression he was still looking over his shoulder for the crazy barstid

whalerider55

He's the real thing. True blue nutcase. People like him are rare, even in the whacko herd he runs with.

RTP

:puke:

I couldn't believe it when Bush nominated him, from what I remember of seeing of him on the cables after his "quick return" from Iraq, the guy scared the s*it out of me. He "reeks" of evil..

Reading this Newsday article one would have to think Chimp is really out of his mind or getting advice from folks who want him out of there.
:eyes:

There's something off about him. Yep, a fun four years. It's gonna be good times. Sigh.

Excellent, excellent article.

Wondeful! we love him too!

I had an ex-cop who was our local corporate security guy once tell me there was a very thin dividing line between the good guys and the criminals. (And, of course, some of them ARE criminals.) I didn't trust him either.

Kerik has always fascinated me -- something about his looks. I look at him on TV and see seme 1920s Irish cop, straight off the set of Ragtime, maybe. (I don't think he IS Irish, but that's what I see.)

This is one fascinating article. Wow.

Hillary was first on the record, declaring her joy...Chuck Schumer joined in quickly. Those who know him best?

BTW, I heard last night on some talk show, that Bush chose Kerik because after 9/11 when Bush visited NYC, they "instantly bonded."

One of the big gripes about Homeland Security was how every state got the same amount of money, so New York got as much money to fight terrorism as Montana did. They figure that, if nothing else, he'll bring more money to their districts.

from a team owner for a head coach. It means nothing, it's just what you say until you've figured out what you can and can't do.

He has no experience in counter-terroism, no experience in intelligence, no experience in running a major bureaucracy. He has no ideas on intelligence reform, no prior experience in anything related to national security.

And his performance on 9/11? I applaud him for it but that doesn't count as "counter-terrorism." He didn't stop the terrorist attack - not that he was in a position to stop them.

This just shows how serious Bush is in combatting terrorism.

I think it shows what a figurehead position that office must really be, since he's nothing more than a symbolic choice. I mean, a police comissioner? It amazes me that when they're reading off his resume on TV, no one goes "what one EARTH about being a security guard makes somebody ready to be a cabinet secretary?"

qualify him to serve in a republican administration I don't know what would. It is true that the amount of the theft was small for a republican, but it does show potential.

"He couldn't run the Rikers commissary without getting greedy and making a mess, in a jam," one correction veteran said. "Now he's gonna be in charge of the Department of Homeland Security? Let's just hope the terrorists don't decide to come back."

This former subordinate was referring to just one of many petty scandals that have hung over Kerik's career. When he ran Correction, nearly $1 million of tobacco-company rebates were diverted into an obscure foundation Kerik was president of. This was for cigarettes bought with taxpayer money and then sold at inflated prices to jail inmates. But this rebate money - would kickbacks be a better word? - got spent entirely outside the normal rules for public funds.

No one was criminally charged. But a whole rash of IRS rules were seemingly violated. One board member quit in protest when the foundation treasurer refused to provide him with financial reports. And no one has ever explained where all the money went.

It was a typical Kerik deal. He behaved from start to finish like normal rules didn't apply to him.

http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-nyhen034063947dec03,0,1568495,print.column?coll=ny-news-columnists

Given all the death and destruction Bush craves and wants to spread during the next four years, I don't care all that much whether this piece of shit is confirmed, but I want the democrats to bring his past into the public eye. Ideally a public outcry would prevent his confirmation but I am not overly confident of that happening. The second best outcome might be a scandal forced resignation a few months after his confirmation.

his choice is meant to remind everyone of 9/11. Incompetent? Of course.

But with all that info & plenty more, WHY are Dems so happy about this nomination?

I've heard only praise from the "Opposition," or should I call them "Accomplices?"

And will the MSM look into Kerik's background? Silly me, of course not.

instead of listing "blind" items. Is the book publisher/workout parter Judith REGAN? She of Regan Books? Although now more details are out about him, that he's married to a Syrian, it sure looked on REGAN's show that there was something in the air between them.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2784984

Judith REGAN, the one behind wingnut Regan Books, used to do an interview show on Faux. He was one of her authors. She was drooling throughout, partly with her desire to mother him in his search for his mother, and partly with lust as she asked him where he was when the 9-11 news broke. He said he was in the shower in his office. Pause. After working out. Pause. She was drooling at the image in her mind.

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

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006000901 ...

The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice
by Bernard B. Kerik,

As a young man, he is often in trouble and even quits school. He gains a sense of purpose in the military and embarks on a career in law enforcement that culminates in his becoming commissioner. There's a secondary story line in this book: his desire to understand why his mother abandoned him and what led to her death.

http://www.mhmraofharriscounty.org/Interface%20WWW/DecJ ...

In her 34 years of life, his mother was divorced four times, arrested and charged with prostitution, and, following “stretches of sobriety” was ordered by the courts to spend 12 weeks in a hospital or institution for the treatment of alcoholism.

When Kerik was 4, the police placed him in protective custody and foster care for six weeks. Kerik’s father petitioned the courts to obtain custody, and his mother didn’t show up for the hearing, “because she was wanted on a warrant for escaping from the hospital where she was sentenced to tackle her alcoholism.”

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

The first article is chock full of devastating details on her. I was looking for a long ago link suggesting something between her and MURDOCH that led to her sugar daddy type rise. The last link is to our own Gloria, describing REGAN's attack on CLINTON's background. This contrasts to what I saw of her lapping up KERIK's background.

*******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 near 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.infoplease.com/ipea/A0880010.html

Born: 1953
Birthplace: Massachusetts?

Growing up on Long Island, Regan earned a BA in English from Vassar College. In the late 1970s, she studied voice and worked as a secretary before becoming a reporter for the National Enquirer. In 1987 Regan proposed a book on American families and their role models to Simon & Schuster. The editors were impressed, and she joined Simon & Schuster, developing a string of best-selling celebrity “tell-all” books, including those by talk show host Rush Limbaugh and radio personality Howard Stern. Her aggressive, sales-oriented approach was highly successful, but critics charged she was undermining publishing by manufacturing personality-driven books. In 1994 Rupert Murdoch gave Regan her own imprint at HarperCollins, ReganBooks, and a TV show on Fox News. A Manhattan resident, Regan is divorced and has two children.

http://www.amiannoying.com/2002/view.aspx?ID=4537

Published Howard Stern's 'Private Parts' and 'Miss America,' 'Monica Lewinsky's Untold Story: An Amorality Tale,' 'Quivers a Life' and Rush Limbaugh's 'See I Told You So' and 'The Way it Ought to Be'
Hosts Fox News interview show

Why she might be annoying:
Her son was born out of wedlock and she never married the father.
She divorced Robert Kleinschmidt, the father of her daughter, in a very angry divorce. The divorce battle went for over five years and went through dozens of lawyers and many judges, costing more than a million dollars.
When she published rival Rush Limbaugh's book, Howard Stern called her 'Judas Limbaugh.'
She wrote for the National Enquirer for three years.

Why she might not be annoying:
She looks like Isabella Rossellini.
She graduated Vassar College on a scholarship.
She has edited books from the left and right political viewpoint with out censoring ideas.
She ranked #94 in Entertainment Week Power List of 1993.

http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/newlow.htm

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*******

"Look, it's good old Shoe."

I've heard this voice in my head before. When the phrase "Let's Roll" was made a slogan for patriotism, the little voice whispered, "Courage, Mom." It's a cynical little voice really, and I don't like it much. But hearing Guiliani go on about how being a NY police officer prepares you for *everything* seemed to wake up the thing in my head (picture Marvin the Martian complete with tin foil hat.) I'm sure this guy is, what do they say--"tough as nails" and all the rest of it...but really, prepared for *everything*--like fighting terror? Or prepared to just be a figure the White House wants to use?