[Airbornelawyer]

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

2. Indeed, why give it up? Whether he prepared for it his whole life or not?

Patriotism? Desire for a challenge? Loyalty to the President? Didn't want to live in New Jersey anymore? I don't know. But I have no reason to impute or imply anything negative (except the living in Jersey bit).

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

3. Fifteen or sixteen who? Whitewater was about Shrillary Clinton. Everbody on that list except one is a local something. Are you trying to tell me the federal government spent millions of dollars to investigate a local Arkansas law issue and not Shrillary? If I catch 1,000 guppies, do I get to call myself Ahab's Avenger?

The Whitewater prosecutions are not relevant to Chertoff, since as noted he was on the investigatory, not the prosectory side. But as an aside, the Whitewater prosecutors convicted every principal they indicted, including a governor and a senior Justice Department official. The two major conspirators they failed to indict - WJC and HRC - were not exactly without the resources to thwart a criminal investigation.

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

4. Rommel lost. 'Nuff said. Don't be talking bad about The Bull. The mission was to take the camp and free what hostages there were. They did that. There just weren't any.

Montgomery won. Yet I wouldn't have placed him in command of a chow run.

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

5. UBL ain't Tony Soprano.

Well, no one has caught Bin Laden, so I suppose no one is qualified.

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

6. If he was first choice and changed his mind, why? Is he indecisive? What did they do to sweeten the deal?

See #2 for various factors. Again, do you have some basis for impugning his integrity, or are you just coming up with reasons to attack someone you don't know? But if you are searching for a grand conspiracy theory, try this: Gonzo was nominated for AG as first step to the Supreme Court. Chertoff was nominated for DHS as first step to the Supreme Court.

This has already been floated elsewhere today, though of course it makes little sense since justices are far more likely to come out of the appellate bench than the cabinet (Rehnquist and O’Connor are the only justices on the current Court who were not previously on an US Court of Appeals).

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

7. You are making a bigger deal out of the scraggly box than I did - why? Are you trying to grow one? A former singing the praises of a former prosecutor? Outrageous! What did McCarthy say about Kerik?

I had to grow a beard in Afghanistan. I hated them.

I have no idea what McCarthy thought of Kerik when he first was nominated. I suspect his criticism of Kerik now is somewhat misplaced. While Kerik might have been inexperienced in federal bureaucratic politics, anyone in New York law enforcement knows that inside and out. Prior to 9-11, the NYPD/PAPD/FDNY turf fights were legendary, as were the squabbles between the NYPD and the FBI. I've seen this firsthand myself, when the NYARNG didn't want any of us not in the Guard wearing uniforms while working at Ground Zero. They wanted their Guard people to be the only "official" soldiers there. We had a USAR civil affairs colonel and a SOCSOUTH IMA lieutenant colonel, though, who cut through the BS rather quickly (another SOF vs conventional armed forces lesson there too - we had an active duty Marine major who did nothing while the rest of us by hook or crook got to where we could help).