Bush Picks New Homeland Protector

January 11, 2005 4:36 PM

Bush Picks New Homeland Protector Bush has chosen Judge Michael Chertoff to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security. The liberal Alliance For Justice concedes that Chertoff is "a talented attorney and an intelligent, committed public servant," but cites his role as counsel in the Whitewater investigation as a reason for caution. Other government watchers are somewhat chilled by the fact that Chertoff is the second Bush cabinet nominee to be connected to the torture scandal.
posted by expriest (25 comments total)

Chertoff is brilliant, fearless, incorruptible. The guy Bush should have picked right away instead of listening to Giuliani and picking Kerik.

Even a liberal NJ journalist friend of mine agrees that this is a splendid choice.
posted by 1016 at 4:50 PM on January 11, 2005

It's like that previous nominee dude - the one with the two mistresses, the illegal nanny and the mob connections - never even existed.
posted by tkchrist at 4:56 PM on January 11, 2005

Chertoff is brilliant, fearless and incorruptible, but that doesn't mean he shows good judgment .
posted by expriest at 5:00 PM on January 11, 2005

Well hell, if a liberal NJ journalist is on board... Besides, who can't get behind a father of the USA Patriot act?
posted by trey at 5:01 PM on January 11, 2005

I distrust people with a last name ending in "off"
posted by TwelveTwo at 5:03 PM on January 11, 2005

Does the Bush Administration have the Peter Principle as a formal motto or something?
posted by drezdn at 5:10 PM on January 11, 2005

tkchrist, good point...real memory hole stuff...but Kerik's career is for all intents and purposes finished...what an idiot...did he really think he'd withstand the scrutiny a nominee like that get?

Still lovin' the Chertoff appointment.

Worked in DOJ in the early 90s when he was a US Attorney in NJ...he was way impressive even then.

(I know, I mentioned I worked at IBM in another thread...all true...just evidence that I can't hold a job.)
posted by 1016 at 5:16 PM on January 11, 2005

i like what bush had to say today :D

"I understand there are many who say, 'Bush is wrong,' " the president said, flanked by incoming National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and other senior aides. "I assume I'm right.

"It's exciting to be part of stimulating a debate of such significance," he went on. "It really is the philosophical argument of the age."

on SS, but still! (here's the chertoff nom :)

cheers!
posted by kliuless at 5:46 PM on January 11, 2005

More on him from 1996, when named to Whitewater investigation.
posted by ibmcginty at 5:48 PM on January 11, 2005

Oh yeah, he's principled allright. Providing your not of Middle Eastern descent, don't have any desire to face your accuser in court, don't have a problem with being indefinitely detained and don't make property deals in Arkansas.

From the second link:

... first, the increase in FBI agents authority to conduct domestic surveillance; second, the use of "material witness" warrants to lock up people of Middle Eastern dissent; third, the interviewing of thousands of Middle Eastern men who entered the United States before and after the 9/11 attacks; fourth, the aggressive prosecution of Moussaoui, despite concern that the FBI had not found sufficient evidence to link him to the nineteen 9/11 hijackers. ..

...he spoke up for the government's right to hold suspects indefinitely without counsel as "enemy combatants," as well as the government's decision to interview 5,000 Arab Americans after the 9/11 attacks.

Being honest isn't the same as being decent and this guy is just another Bush/Ashcroft hatchetman who is rewarded for his loyalty by being promoted far above his level of competency.
posted by cedar at 6:09 PM on January 11, 2005

cedar, and you are a competent arbiter of his compentency.

Or, on second thought, maybe not.
posted by 1016 at 6:30 PM on January 11, 2005

Bush's people mill about like cattle. Their loose and ill-defined objectives make me wonder who is really leading the herd. Maybe it's that guy from K-Mart who recieved a 15 million dollar parting gift after serving only six months. Just a guess.
posted by snsranch at 6:36 PM on January 11, 2005

Yes, like cattle...

WTF do you mean? "Mill about like cattle".

What????
posted by 1016 at 7:39 PM on January 11, 2005

The nomination of Michael Chertoff as the new Homeland Security Director should chill the heart of progressives everywhere. Chertoff has been a key advocate of the USA Patriot Act, opposed allowing judges discretion in implementing death sentences, argued in an amicus brief he co-wrote for a case before the Supreme Court that there is no constitutional right to be free of "coercive questioning" by the police, and has been a proponent of information data-mining. Chertoff also worked for two years as the Republican Special Counsel for the Whitewater Committee and is a close friend of former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, much like Bernard Kerik.

Most disturbing, though, was the role played Chertoff, while Assistant Attorney General for the DOJs criminal division, in the rounding up and imprisonment of hundreds of Muslim-American immigrants in the aftermath of September 11. The Justice Departments own Office of the Inspector General issued a scathing report in the summer of 2003, alleging that many immigrants who had no connection to the terrorist attacks of September 11 languished in federal lock-up for months at a time under an official no bond policy that actively opposed their release.
posted by Healing One at 7:42 PM on January 11, 2005

I distrust people with a last name ending in "off"

Well, no vodka or large-handed pianists for you then.
posted by ed at 11:24 PM on January 11, 2005

...Chertoff is the second Bush cabinet nominee to be connected to the torture scandal.

But aren't we all... really, in God's way?
posted by Witty at 2:00 AM on January 12, 2005

Quite a few people seem to be in God's way. So it's nice to see the US Government doing it's best to make sure they are killed and tortured so that they don't impede God's progress.

Bush/Cheney '04
Appointed By God, Mandated by Retards
posted by longbaugh at 2:15 AM on January 12, 2005

1016: Maybe it would more productive if you were to give us the benefit of your personal experience with the man or the reason your so impressed with his selection rather than attacking those who disagree.

As best I can tell this thread is about the Bush nominee for the Dept. of Homeland Security cabinet post. It will go better if we make an effort to discuss Chertoff rather than each other.
posted by cedar at 5:04 AM on January 12, 2005

Its amazing how Bush can continue to find such controversial nominees for practically any position.
Is this what he means by "bipartisan?"
Is this what he means by "spending political capital?"
Is there no end to the number of corporate fascist hacks available for government positions?

Shirtoff has proven one thing in his governmental career: his loyalty to the party and the Bush family. I would prefer loyalty to the ideals outlined in our Constitution and its amendments.
posted by nofundy at 5:34 AM on January 12, 2005

I didn't know him closely, and didn't mean to intimate that I did. Just saw and herard him several times and was very impressed. Also, others I worked with whom I highly respect worked quite closely with him and spoke very well of him.

cedar, you made an assertion about his competency, or rather the lack of it. Your reasons for this assessment?
posted by 1016 at 6:00 AM on January 12, 2005

In retrospect, your right and questioning his competency isn't something I can do with any veracity -- however, I'm not convinced that an attorney is best suited to what, in essence, is an enforcement/managerial position. His resume doesn't indicate anything that would lead me to believe he is qualified to manage an entity the size of the DHS. Assistant Attorney General to Director of Homeland Security is quite a leap.

That said, I'll take this opportunity to rescind my stance he is incompetent and go 180 degrees and express my newfound conviction that he is quite competent when it comes to furthering an agenda based on the assumption that skin color, heritage and religion is an accurate reflection of ones predilection to commit crimes and that based on the same criteria is also reason to deprive suspects of due process.

After a few cups of coffee and some thought it dawns on me that the fact he may actually be competent bothers me the most.
posted by cedar at 7:02 AM on January 12, 2005

Appointed By God, Mandated by Retards

Hey, that pretty insensitive to truely retarded people.
posted by Witty at 7:05 AM on January 12, 2005

Think how God feels having his name associated with them then. Truly retarded people won't care : they are retarded.
posted by longbaugh at 7:35 AM on January 12, 2005

God loves all people longbaugh... even you. God loves you. God loves. God.
posted by Witty at 7:38 AM on January 12, 2005

Nietzsche is dead. And Republicans suck ass.
posted by bardic at 9:15 AM on January 12, 2005