Bye Bye Bernie
Bernie Kerik's guilty plea was a tragedy for the former police commissioner and his family. Kerik has been destroyed as a public figure for some time now, and there's a temptation to just let the man go off to the slammer in peace.
But there is still the matter of Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani is still a public figure, one who is currently flirting with the idea of a gubernatorial run. And the finale of the Kerik story is an important reminder that in the annals of major American politicians who pick dreadful top aides, Rudy is right up there with Warren Harding.
Giuliani's first police commissioner was William Bratton, who was a stunning success at the job, a fact that actually seemed to alienate the mayor. The fact that Giuliani got rid of Bratton -- who later went on to run the LAPD -- was one of the first definitive signs that Rudy's ideal underlings were men who were way, way under.
Such a man was Bernie Kerik, a high school dropout who had an absolutely meteoric rise to fame and fortune under Giuliani. He went from being Rudy's bodyguard and chauffeur to corrections commissioner to police commissioner to nominee for head of the Department of Homeland Security. Hanging tight to his boss's coattails, Kerik was so far in over his head he was a human barnacle.
On 9/11, when Giuliani was transformed from failed pol to America's mayor, Kerik distinguished himself by sticking tightly to his boss's side. Instead of running the Police Department at this moment of crisis, Kerik reverted to his role of bodyguard.
And in the months after the terrorist attack, Kerik combined business with pleasure by pursuing an extramarital affair with publisher Judith Regan in a luxury apartment that overlooked Ground Zero.
Championing Kerik for head of Homeland Security -- even just allowing him to keep his hat in the ring -- was very possibly the dumbest and most irresponsible decision of Giuliani's career.
In the end, Bernard Kerik was a small man who took a small fall. The charges to which he pleaded guilty stem from his decision to accept $250,000 in apartment renovations from a construction company with suspected mob ties. (For some reason, home improvements have always been wildly popular with corrupt public officials.)
If Giuliani does decide to run for governor, New Yorkers are going to have to ask themselves: If this is the kind of person Rudy regards as a good potential head of the nation's massive homeland security operation, imagine who he would think was up to running the state police or, heaven help us, the highway program.
Len Levitt: Bernie Kerik: The Weeper
Watching Bernie Kerik weep while admitting he was a crook, this reporter could not help recalling past conversations with Judith Regan, his editor, publisher and former lover.
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All of Newsmax's efforts have gone for naught, undone last week as Kerik pleaded guilty to eight charges, including tax fraud and lying to White House officials.
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I am not anti-Guliani but really this "how heroic he was" after 9/11 is bizarre. What did he do? He showed up at ground zero and said "we'll get through this". My God if you, I or anyone was mayor at that time we would do the same. And for that he became "America"s mayor"??
NYC corruption is on a par with DC, from all I've read about. Guiliani is finished, if New Yorkers aren't completely brain dead these days. But then, they re-elected Bloomberg...
Here's to justice! Bernie Kerik and Scooter Libby have gone to jail.
what a joke.
There is a big difference of picking someone who is inept versus someone who is dishonest.
There were enough voices from the get go that said Bernie was bad news and his selection said a lot about Rudy and still does.
WOW! Bernie's meteorical career in the NY correctional system has taken him from being the "acting president" to being "a client".... Just like the guy in the Hairclub ad!
Oh Bernie boy...we hardly knew you...!
Almost right. But the man Rudy is right up there with is Ray Harding, not Warren, a local fixer who made things happen for Rudy on the ballot by nominating Rudy on his Liberal Party ticket, a name like Bush's Clean Skies bill, that means the opposite of what it says... His son got a cush job with the city that he turned into a jail term for himself thanks to creative book expense accounting. Rudy must always be judged by the guys around him. Not a pretty picture...
The propaganda machine behind Giuliani ,owned by RM,News Corp,did it a good job,
hiding the dubious characters all the way to the doorstep to the White House.
Thanks to federal investigators,for stopping Bernie ascension to true power.
I always wondered why every one thought so highly of Rudy during the 9/11 tragedy. There really wasn't much for him to )do except exhort to people to walk north (away from the buldings.)
The rest was a recovery project of 16 acres of land. His city still functioned, still had power and water and services. Compare that to post Katrina New Orleans and how the local pols there were characterized and condemned.
One thing the author leaves out: Rudy became mayor 10 months after the FIRST WTC event in 2/93.
The police radios did not work properly then and they did not work properly 8 years later.
Also, it was Rudy's idea to put NYC's emergency command center in the ,you guessed it, WTC!!
City managers wanted to put it in an underground bunker in Brooklyn.
If this guy ever runs for office again the protest signs at HIS rallies must display the face of Kerik.
Oh, and did I mention the guy (like Dole and McCain before him) married his mistress?
Actually, the reason he was walking the streets with his bullhorn was because instead of putting the emergency tactical command center in Brooklyn, or away from likely targets as was vehemently requested by everyone concerned about security, police, fire dept., etc and in light that this wasn't the first time the WTC had been att@cked, Rudy in his infinite "wisdom" put the command center in one of the towers.
And when Rudy was confronted with that fact (placing the command center in the WTC), he tried to point the finger at someone else and say it was not his decision.
In fine conservative fashion of elevating, supporting and electing the gr0ssly unqualified, incompetent and corrupt, Kerik, a high school dropout, went from being Rudy Guliani's driver to NYC police commissioner to GW's nomination for for head of Homeland Security.
Yet they wonder why the country is in such a mess while putting these ilk of people in Government or influential positions, and then following the in@ne blatherings of these people (Eg: Tea~baggers) to their own detriment.
This story proves the old saying of "Absolute power corrupts absollutely"!
"Bernie Kerik's guilty plea was a tragedy for the former police commissioner and his family." -- The real tragedy was that Rudy needed a flunky rather than a real leader and that Bernie chose to line his own pockets and chase skirts rather than help New York and this country in its time of need. It is a sad reflection of the "levels" of leadership at the time of 9/11 that Rudy would become America's mayor while George Jr. was hiding under a table somewhere in an undisclosed location.
As for Bernie - he could have been a contender but for a lack of skill, brains, initiative, work ethic, and courage - now he is going to be a number.
how quickly we throw away our heroes when we no longer need them
Who is the hero?
Are you serious?? Neither Rudy or Kerik were ever and will never be heroes. So, you must be talking about someone else.
That was a bungled sentence on my part lol But I am sure you know what I meant lol :)
I know what you mean,people like you believe ,a hero is one who pocketed the money
and rise to power with deceptive projection,I mean you believe ,a basketball player
is a hero because he save a game.
I understand you,seriously,but,hero is one who sacrifice for others,Sacrifice!
Hero=A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life.
Do you know what a hero is?
"A hero aint nothing but a sandwich."
I'm now scratching my head wondering your reason for saying something so ridiculous. Are you sure you commented on the right story or do you hold Rudy, with his clacking teeth, higher up than he should be? He's like our embarrassments here..in Oklahoma, meaning Coburn,Inhofe,and Fallin. Glad hiscorruptass is there and not here. He's probably a covertmobster.
One stinking Bushie down ... well, it's a start.
I guess better than nothing. Next!
How odd. Bratton is on the Colbert report right now.
I love seeing conservatives get sentenced to prison. It feels so... right.
Amen
Amen!
Fanned!
Doesn't it though? Unfortunately not many of them end up paying for their crimes.
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