The Kerik implosion continues. He resigns from Rudy Giuliani's consulting firm. Amidst the ton of baggage that's come out on this guy (forget about the trumped up nanny nonsense), what are we to make of this administration's ability to conduct due diligence on someone? Can it appear any MORE incompetent? Or did they assume that all of this stuff would slide under the radar?

So Bernie resigns from his buddies firm, and yet look at what Bush had to say about Kerik, despite all that we now know:

Well, first, let me say that I was disappointed that the nomination of Bernard Kerik didn't go forward. In retrospect, he made the right decision to pull his name down. And he made the decision. There was a -- you know, when the process gets going, our counsel asks a lot of questions, and -- and the prospective nominee listens to the questions and answers them and takes a look at what -- what we feel is necessary to be cleared before the FBI check and before the hearings take place on the Hill. And Bernard Kerik, after answering questions and thinking about the questions, decided to pull his name down. He -- I think he would have a done a fine job as the secretary of Homeland Security, and I appreciate his service to our country.

We -- we've vetted a lot of people in this administration, and we -- we vetted people in the first term. We're vetting people in the second term. And I've got great confidence in our vetting process.

And so the lessons learned is continue to vet -- (chuckles)

As usual, where to start. Bush states that Kerik pulled himself, implying despite the ton of awful crap on this guy, Bush & Co. would've stuck by him! Then he embarasses himself and his due dili folks by stating they did lots of "vetting" (with the word "vet" in some form being said five times in three and half sentences -- classic Bush, say nothing by repeating an operative word) when it came to Bernie. Really builds confidence. Can't wait for their first Supreme Court nominee.