The news agencies are making it sound like it’s all about a nanny affair, almost a throwback to the early 90’s when that kind of thing was more predominant, and people don’t really care so much anymore. People probably have the impression that the Kerik nomination is being tanked just because of a technicality. But the truth is much more than that, much more than many of the news organizations are making a thing about. This CNN article is a good example of that, makes it look like a nanny problem and nothing else.

But the truth goes much deeper than that. Kerik had ties with a company that had mob ties, and received many unreported cash gifts from them, ran a corrupt ship at Riker’s Island and at a hospital he ran in Saudi Arabia, and was involved in unsavory civil court cases that involved his being wanted under police warrant. Josh Marshall gives a good accounting, with sources, here. However you look at it, it is more than just a nanny problem, though the “liberal media” is walking on eggshells to avoid even hinting of anything that cannot be documented four ways from next Sunday.

The problem should be obvious: Bush is stacking his cabinet and other vital posts not with people who are necessarily qualified, but with people who will toe the party line–and making sure that these people are qualified and vetted is secondary, at best. I mean, seriously–with all that in this guy’s past, and all they can say to excuse themselves is that he didn’t fess up that he hired an illegal alien as a nanny? If their vetting process is so lame that they depend entirely on the word of the candidate, they should be ashamed of themselves.