Giuliani Ally Kerik Indicted on Corruption Charges

Giuliani, a former prosecutor, is fond of pointing out how he brought down crime in NYC. He nonetheless failed to discover that his good friend was a crook. Or did he just look the other way:

Bernard Kerik, a former New York police commissioner and protege of Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani, was indicted on corruption charges on Thursday, media reported, in a potential embarrassment for Giuliani's campaign.

Kerik, 52, and Giuliani, the former New York mayor, were also business partners and, with Giuliani's backing, Kerik was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2004 to be secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik later withdrew his name from nomination after admitting he failed to pay taxes on a nanny and other embarrassing disclosures about his personal life surfaced.

[...]Giuliani served as Kerik's longtime mentor, promoting the former police detective to a series of positions, including the chief of city jails.

Kerik was police commissioner in 2000 and 2001 and stood by Giuliani's side after the September 11 attacks.

Giuliani admits some blame, but not much. How do you select someone who shows such poor judgement when choosing people for high office? What would he do if in the White House? Wouldn't he put personal loyalty above duty to his country? Sounds to me like George Dubya all over again:

Republican Rudy Giuliani said Thursday he'd made a mistake in recommending his New York City police commissioner for a Cabinet job but asserted his good decisions far outweigh his bad.

[...]Giuliani was asked at a news conference outside the Dubuque County Courthouse whether he still stands by Bernard Kerik, the former police commissioner who could be indicted this week. He sidestepped that question and said the issue has to be decided in the courts.

"A lot of public comment about it is inconsistent with it's getting resolved in the right way in the courts," he said as campaign aides prepared to usher him to his next stop.

Republican Rudy Giuliani said Thursday he'd made a mistake in recommending his New York City police commissioner for a Cabinet job but asserted his good decisions far outweigh his bad.

I beg to differ. You are toast, Rudolph:

The former New York mayor said that Kerik's indictment does not sully his mayoral record.

"You have to judge that in the overall context in everything that I did, and how many right decisions did I make and how many wrong decisions did I make," he said. "And the balance is very much in favor of -- I must have been making the right decisions if the city of New York turned around. If crime went down by 60 percent, if homicide went down by 70 percent."