Kerik Withdraws his name for top DHS Job

AP on Yahoo ^ | 12/10/04 | AP

[polyester~monkey]

Kerik was the right guy for it. He was flushed out by the MSM. This id disgusting and unacceptable. Compare the AP article above with the MSNBC article, which goes on and on for paragraphs about the stupid Taser thing while barely mentioning the great things he did. Why did we let such a good guy go to waste?

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

Here is a link to the news stories re Taser International.....near the bottom of the page there is a link to "older headlines"........a quick scan of them reveals plenty including "Homeland Security"......

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=tasr

link below is to the TASR investor message board

http://messages.yahoo.com/bbs?action=t&type=r&board=yahoo.67.11.1604243305

the real answer to this event may be in the Taser saga

[Jeff Head]

Good points...but he has been in law enforcement himself, and was working for the government and the coalition authority in Iraq...this should already have come up.

But, as you say, if it was years ago and he was unaware of what happened while he was off somewhere, I can see how it could easily have slipped through.

[Splatter]

these people better either be sqeaky clean. Clean like a blue dress (sorry, had to)? I am very disappointed. Evey interview I saw with Kerik was great. He knows what it takes. How could the vetting process miss a damaging "personal" item? You know, it's not like he was caught stuffing secrets from the National Archives into his underwear.

[Jeff Head]

Yep...could easily have been shaping up into a conflict of interest claim during confirmation.

[joonbug]

Wonder if this is part of a grander plan? I can't believe that Bush, Rove, et al didn't know this through their vetting process.

Heard that Clinton nominated two AGs that went down in flames so that anyone who didn't have nanny problems would be a shoe-in. Then along comes Janet Reno who he wanted all along and who looked like a saint because she didn't have an illegal nanny.

[SteveAustin]

This might not turn out to be such a bad thing for Bush and our Country.

A)Being in charge of HS and having an "illegal" in your employ would have doomed him from the start. It isn't the "tax" issue so much as the illegal issue.

B)This guy looks like he would be great in a street fight, but HS requires a "brain" guy in my opinion. Someone who can read 80 gazillion reports, then be able to work them around in his head, come to some conclusions and act on them.

If I were Bush, I would hire the smartest, most with-it CEO I could find. Make an emotional appeal to the guys ego to get him to take the job.

[Splatter]

Kerik will not go to waste. As a matter of fact, he may be more valuable in a behind the scenes role. He is to good to be a figure head, punching bag for the LLL.

[quantim]

Kerik had earned $6.2 million by exercising stock options he received from Taser International, which did lucrative business with the Department of Homeland Security,

The Halliburton Syndrome.

[phxaz]

"Yep, personal reasons.."

bingo, bada-bingo!

[Splatter]

Did you see the Dennis Miller interview with Kerik?

[Santana]

"He might be a good man, but he is kind of a dumbass for doing this."

I totally agree with you. He should have known the Dems would do a thorough background check and cavity search of him, so that he had to be squeaky clean. But that same scrutiny doesn't apply to Dems, obviously... They can be the scummiest pigs in the world and actually RUN on that platform!

[Mears]

Yeah,that surprised me too. All the supposed intelligence that we have and they didn't know this?

No too comforting.

[John Jorsett]

Heard that Clinton nominated two AGs that went down in flames so that anyone who didn't have nanny problems would be a shoe-in.

Clinton never would have let go of the bodacious Kimba Wood and replaced her with the Wookie if he hadn't been forced to.

[technomage]

The illegal worker and not filing tax info is certainly a killer...I wonder if there is more?

No need for more. That was plenty.

[Santana]

But I trust the housekeeper had her driver's license??

[Embraer2004]

Kerik did the right thing by stepping aside. The liberals were clamoring for a payback for the failed nominations of Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood by Bill Clinton to be his Attorney General for reasons of Illegal Alien nannygate. I agree that Kerik needed to go although it is a loss for us because he would have been a wonderful Secretary, but this is how it is in politics. I do not think that Giuliani will want this job since he probably has his eye on the Governorship of New York (I do not think that Pataki should run again, he will lose...New York has gone sour on him just like they did on Mario CUomo after three terms). Maybe Pataki should take Homeland Security instead.

[GSlob]

"Someone who can read 80 gazillion reports, then be able to work them around in his head, come to some conclusions and act on them. If I were Bush, I would hire the smartest, most with-it CEO I could find. Make an emotional appeal to the guys ego to get him to take the job." Nobody is a superman. There are physical limitations on how many reports one could read [and understand] during a day and how many decisions [especially well thought through ones] one could make during the same day. Thus the job calls for a good delegator with an excellent and coherent support staff.

[texasflower]

She was from Columbia and a devout Catholic.

Are Catholics flying planes into buildings now or are you just racist?

[Alberta's Child]

Regardless of Kerik's qualifications, there's a good possibility that he was breaking the law even while serving as the freakin' police commissioner of New York City.

Good riddance.

The one who looks really bad in this case is Rudy Giuliani, who made such a big deal about recommending him in the first place.