Kerik, inmate 84888-054, mysteriously tweeted a link to this lurid Frank Gaffney Web video that calls the progressive Muslims behind the planned community center terrorists and shows the Twin Towers falling. "If we let them defile ground zero with a beachhead for sharia we will validate their sense of victory on 9/11 and encourage future attacks on America. No mosque at Ground Zero," the ad says.

Kerik also put up the article on his blog.

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Giuliani, the former New York mayor and noted "Nasty Man," already ran for for president in 2008. Oddly, he found that GOP primary voters didn't much care for a twice-divorced cross-dressing New Yorker who used to be friends with gay people. After his brilliant campaign strategy of not campaigning and then losing Florida failed, he skulked back into the shadows, waiting for the day when America needed a hero.

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Under the plea deal the former commissioner made with prosecutors when he plead guilty to eight felonies, federal guidelines said Kerik should get a sentence of 27 to 33 months in prison. But the judge wasn't bound by that; instead, he set the time Kerik will serve at four years.

In one sense, Kerik was lucky; the maximum sentence he could have received was 61 years, though -- as is often the case -- that never really seemed to be a serious consideration.

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The fall happened just as fast.

It began at the end of 2004, when then-President George W. Bush named Kerik as his choice to head the Department of Homeland Security. Questions about some of his dealings led to the nomination being withdrawn, but it was too late to save him.

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There is one big restriction included in the legislation: The detainees may not allowed to be brought to the U.S. if it the transfer is done for the purpose of releasing them. Despite warnings from people who oppose the idea of closing the detention facility at Guantanamo, the administration is also against the concept of releasing former detainees here.

Congress may not have the last word on this, however. Also on Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that will ask the justices to decide whether detainees who are not considered a security risk can be freed in the U.S. The case was brought by 13 Chinese Muslims who were cleared for release six years ago but are still imprisoned at Guantanamo.

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Kerik's facing corruption and fraud charges, and is scheduled to go on trial next week. But at a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Stephen Robinson revoked Kerik's bail and sent him to jail. The New York Post points out that Kerik is likely to be housed in a facility that's right next to the headquarters where he presided over the NYPD not even 10 years ago.

Robinson revoked Kerik's bail because the former commissioner leaked non-public information to people associated with his defense; that information then showed up on Web sites that support him, potentially tainting the jury pool.

The judge was clearly frustrated with the defendant who appeared before him.

"I fear he has a toxic combination: self-minded focus and arrogance," Robinson said. "He sees the court's ruling as an inconvenience, something to be ignored, and an obstacle to be circumvented."

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Earlier today, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination to become secretary of Health and Human Services due to problems with his taxes. Daschle's withdrawal came just a short time after Nancy Killefer, Obama's selection to be chief performance officer, wrote a letter to the president withdrawing herself from consideration because of tax problems as well. And they're just following New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who dropped out of consideration to be Commerce secretary because of a federal investigation into possible pay-for-play.

Obviously, none of these withdrawals have reflected favorably on either the new Obama administration or the administration's vetting process. But this is hardly the first time in recent history a president has faced some problems with his cabinet appointments.

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The Politico broke the news Wednesday that obscure city offices in New York were billed for the cost of security when then Mayor Giuliani visited then mistress Judith Nathan in the Hamptons. Since then, Giuliani and his supporters have offered a series of explanations -- one unsupported, one already abandoned and none particularly satisfying.

Or, as the front of the New York Daily News says today: "Doesn't Add Up!"

Let's run through the math.

Explanation No. 1: No explanation whatsoever. When the Politico explained the charges it would be making to a Giuliani spokeswoman before the story appeared, the spokeswoman declined to comment at all.

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Yeah, so maybe Giuliani's "loyalty" to Kerik caused him to miss the "warning signs" he was shown. And yeah, maybe Giuliani has changed his story about what he knew about Kerik when. But Giuliani has sort of admitted that he erred in not vetting Kerik more thoroughly before naming him police commissioner in New York and pushing George W. Bush to nominate him as the director of the Department of Homeland Security.

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But in truth, Democrats ought to be happy whenever the Republican front-runner opens his mouth. For every time the former New York mayor speaks, and especially when he reaches for demagogy, he confirms again that electing him would mean prolonging the disaster of the Bush administration, or precisely the opposite of what most Americans say they want now.

Ever since his prime-time speech during the Republican Convention of 2004, if not earlier, Giuliani has been locked into the "wartime presidency" script written by Karl Rove to win the midterm elections and reelect George W. Bush. That divisive script purposely ignored the patriotic solidarity that had unified the nation in the aftermath of 9/11. Rove insisted that only Republicans could be trusted to protect America in the "long war" against the terrorists, implying that for the duration of the war only Republicans should exercise power. The logic of Giuliani's speech was impeccably Rovian.

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-- New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on his radio show, to a ferret advocate, after imposing New York's 2001 ferret ban

There is at least one nice thing one can say about former New York mayor and current Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani -- besides, of course, his penchant for dressing in drag, his love for opera, and the fact that he used to share an apartment with a gay man.

On 9/11, all Americans were frightened children, and in a moment of mythic personal heroism, Mayor Giuliani filled the gaping leadership void. The president looked like a petrified chimp; Cheney was spirited to an underground bunker. Only Giuliani could pull himself together sufficiently to get on TV in the midst of the wreckage and show America that a grown-up was still breathing. On that terrible day our reptile brains looked at Rudy Giuliani and said, "We're OK now. Daddy's home."

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Bush hoped with his latest speech to reanimate his early iconic stature in the week after the terrorist attacks, when the whole country and world were unified in sympathy. Even "evil" Syria and Iran offered assistance in tracking down al-Qaida. Bush prompted us that "the wounds of that morning are still fresh." His evocation of emotion was an attempt to filter memory. We were guided to remember the trauma as the primal experience for sustaining Bush's politics. By touching the source of pain he tried to redirect it into an affirmation of every twist and turn he has taken since the fateful day.

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For months the United Nations' oil-for-food program for Iraq has been a target of conservative media. The U.N. itself has appointed a commission headed by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker to investigate past abuses. With the election over, the administration began its finger-pointing with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who had called the invasion of Iraq "illegal." News was leaked that Annan's son had been a consultant to a company involved with the oil-for-food program, though Annan said he knew nothing about it. The outgoing U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Danforth, was sent out to declare that Annan's resignation was a live issue.

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With Kerik's confirmation as homeland security chief all but assured on Capitol Hill, the media has fallen dutifully in line, offering almost uniformly glowing coverage -- except for the odd mention of the opportunism charges that have surrounded Kerik since his days as Giuliani's chauffeur, and brief reminders of his failed, abbreviated attempt last year to train Iraqi police officers.

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