# Kerik removes his name from Homeland Security post **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 11, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264 "2004-12-11T04:35:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/21 "2004-12-11T06:07:09Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > Jebus. > > Have you ever seen me gripe about Ridge? > > Other than the color thingie…which was juvenile at best…I had no problem with him at all. > > Well…there was that bit about duct tape. What was there to complain about in Tom Ridge? He is about as plain vanilla as you get. The man is a politician, that’s all. Bernie Kerik, OTOH has served his country in the armed forces, handled positions of signifigance, and under his tenure has improved the institutions to which he brought his talents. He also managed to make a boatload of money in the private sector. Good on him. So some taxes on a domestic weren’t paid. My Give-A-Shit meter didn’t flutter. Pay the note with penalty, and get on with the important fish to fry. Damn near anybody, if put under a strong enough microscope, will have some flaw, some oversight, some past misdeed or indiscretion, including the self-righteous horses asses doing the confirming of Presidential choices for positions. It is a shame that qualified people shy away from these positions because they don’t want to have their families and private life subject to a congressional colonoscopy along with the talking heads of the media prying into whether or not they spat on the sidewalk in 1962. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/22 "2004-12-11T06:26:02Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > What was there to complain about in Tom Ridge? He is about as plain vanilla as you get. The man is a politician, that’s all. Bernie Kerik, OTOH has served his country in the armed forces, handled positions of signifigance, and under his tenure has improved the institutions to which he brought his talents. He also managed to make a boatload of money in the private sector. An A+ for properly memorizing the Bush Administration’s propaganda on Kerik, but an F for actually determining if there was any truth to the bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/23 "2004-12-11T06:31:39Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > Oh give me a fucking break. Just because the guy was a cop once upon a time he’s qualified?? He wasn’t just a cop. He ran the largest police force in the freakin’ country. Fascist? Hell, even Hillary Clinton praised him! I thought this guy was a good nomination. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/24 "2004-12-11T07:07:05Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > It is Duhbyas place to at least investigate his nominees. > > He sure didn’t on this one. Oh please. If he had done that you would have been in here bitching about mean ol’ W’s fascist invasion of Mr. Kerik’s privacy. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/25 "2004-12-11T07:11:26Z")
Wow, Bush is an idiot for nominating someone that didn’t pay taxes on domestic help? And that Kerik shouldn’t be nominated because of it? I remember the liberal media pundits singing a different song about [Zoe Baird](http://www.time.com/time/teach/archive/010122/capsule.html). ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/26 "2004-12-11T07:29:42Z")
Good. I didn’t trust the guy. Homeland Security is heavyhanded enough already. This guy would have made it even heavierhanded. Any truth to him fathering a kid and then abandoning him/her? ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/27 "2004-12-11T07:43:25Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > Good. I didn’t trust the guy. Homeland Security is heavyhanded enough already. This guy would have made it even heavierhanded. Any truth to him fathering a kid and then abandoning him/her? I think it was a Haitian illegal smuggled in to wash his underwear. Of course, this love-child could never be acknowledged, so she was somehow “lost” in a tragic laundry accident. Since she couldn’t have a public funeral, her body was “hung” out to dry in the outposts of area 51 to feed the poor starving desert varmints. The circle of life, what a beautiful thing. The child has never been identified though, so keep reading the Weekly World News and let us know what you find out. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/28 "2004-12-11T07:46:27Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Wow, Bush is an idiot for nominating someone that didn’t pay taxes on domestic help? Nope. Bush is an idiot for not doing an adequate backgound check on his nominee to head our nations largest bureaucracy. The nanny story is probably just a lie Rove dreamed up in order to cover for Kerik’s _real_ problems. A few of those have already been mentioned in this thread, so even you must know _something_ about them by now. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/29 "2004-12-11T08:08:30Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Nope. Bush is an idiot for not doing an adequate backgound check on his nominee to head our nations largest bureaucracy. The nanny story is probably just a lie Rove dreamed up in order to cover for Kerik’s _real_ problems. A few of those have already been mentioned in this thread, so even you must know _something_ about them by now. Well, being Bush’s lackey, I know _everything_ going on in D.C. Haven’t you heard? I’m just here to deflect blame. Read any post where I defend him. You’ll see. My cover has been blown. FWIW, Gillespe chewed me out last week for not working for the DNC in '93. _points to above post where Clinton’s crew did the background, told him about it, and he still nominated her_ ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/30 "2004-12-11T09:04:30Z")
I’m certainly no Bush fan, but it seemed as if he could have done far, _far_ worse in picking a HLS head. My understanding of Kerik’s past led me to belive that he just might have had what it took to turn the current HLS, which is really sort of just taking a bunch of infighting organizations and relabeling them or adding one more person at the top of the chain of command, but isn’t really an integrated department. He was apparently an effective, capable administrator, and I’ll bet dollars for donuts you guys are going to be much more upset with the next candidate. In fact, given my personal views on immigration, I actually applaud him for offering his domestic position to an illegal, as long as it wasn’t an exploitive situation or wage. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/31 "2004-12-11T09:22:23Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > An A+ for properly memorizing the Bush Administration’s propaganda on Kerik, but an F for actually determining if there was any truth to the bullshit. Please enlighten we feeble minded knaves, Mr. Brain. Are you claiming that Mr. Kerik didn’t serve in the armed forces, that he wasn’t praised for his management of the Passaic corrections facility, that he wasn’t an accomplished police officer? Just what is it that you claim to be bullshit? I’d wager the man accomplished more for his community and his country on a bad day than you ever will, and it’s a shame that he has to suffer recrimination from spineless detractors such as yourself. Feh. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/32 "2004-12-11T13:02:08Z")
Y’all should just calm the fuck down. All the other crap that’s being brought up could be a subject for debate in the approval committee. Fascist, bully, questionable business practices…these can all be debated in committee and still have a nominee approved. But Kerik committed an offense _that has already been established as preventing one from attaining a cabinet post_. Right or wrong (and I think it’s silly) that’s now an established standard in the ‘process’. So the minute that was discovered he’s out because of the potential backlash. I’m just hoping they never establish an ‘addicted to peanut butter cup’ standard. I’d be so damn screwed. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/33 "2004-12-11T13:36:43Z")
I was rather looking forward to Kerik, because he’s, A: not as bad a choice as most, B: An actual LEO, and most importantly C: Proven his ability to reform a somewhat snarled police department… and we’re talking the NYPD here, which is larger than the armies of some countries, implement metrics, and haul the entire organization into order. Homeland Security is a effing mess of fiefdoms, and he could have fixed that. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/34 "2004-12-11T13:51:19Z")
[http://slate.msn.com/id/2110638/](http://slate.msn.com/id/2110638/) ---
**Author:** ![Razishlyat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Razishlyat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razishlyat)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/35 "2004-12-11T13:57:07Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > [http://slate.msn.com/id/2110638/](http://slate.msn.com/id/2110638/) > [@the article](#): > > He then became deputy commissioner of the NYPD and, finally, the commish. [There can only be 1 Commish.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004821/) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/36 "2004-12-11T18:16:59Z")
Kerik was an effective adminstrator, but he was also a on the make and a bit of an operator, and in this day and age where your past is given a colonoscopy by the media, it was almost inevitable there would be something that tripped him up. Given his ambition I’m almost certain he didn’t tell the Bush Admin people anything they didn’t want to hear, and that this (whether nanny or worse) was quite probably a surprise and embarassment to them. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/37 "2004-12-11T21:18:43Z")
The truth is we need to dump the whole department. It’s expensive and it’s worthless. All it’s ever done is give us those asinine color codes. Let’s just cut it right out. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/38 "2004-12-11T22:14:45Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > The truth is we need to dump the whole department. It’s expensive and it’s worthless. All it’s ever done is give us those asinine color codes. Let’s just cut it right out. And replace it with, what, exactly? We _could_ just not have any intelligence agencies, border patrolling agencies, secret service, emergency planning agency, or coast guard, but I actually rather think even you might consider this a bad idea. **Diogenes,** this has to be the most asinine comment you’ve made in the last week, which actually says a great deal. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/39 "2004-12-11T22:28:23Z")
> [@threemae](#): > > And replace it with, what, exactly? > > We _could_ just not have any intelligence agencies, border patrolling agencies, secret service, emergency planning agency, or coast guard, but I actually rather think even you might consider this a bad idea. **Diogenes,** this has to be the most asinine comment you’ve made in the last week, which actually says a great deal. Replace it with nothing. We got a long just fine without a Homeland Security department for over two hundred years. It’s nothing but a political prop. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264/40 "2004-12-11T23:19:27Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Replace it with nothing. We got a long just fine without a Homeland Security department for over two hundred years. It’s nothing but a political prop. :smack: **Diogenes,** for a person who is as politically interested as you are, I think you should know better. If you believe that the DHS should be disbanded and put back into its component agencies, that’s a fine and defensible argument, but you do realize that we basically rolled every conceiveable agency relating to security into the DHS, correct? Like the Coast Guard (we’ve had that for longer than the country), Secret Service (almost as long as the country), Border Patrol (had that one for a bit, haven’t we?), and numerous other agencies. Educate thyself: [http://www.dhs.gov](http://www.dhs.gov). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kerik-removes-his-name-from-homeland-security-post/279264.md?page=3)