A few short months after mocking John Kerry for emphasizing the role of law enfocement and intelligence-gathering in the global effort to combat terrorism, the Bush administration today acknowledged that Kerry had been correct all along by nomintating a former law enforcement official to the nation's top anti-terrorism post.

Bush praised nominee Bernie Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner, as one of the most "effective leaders of law enforcement in America."

Congressional Republicans knew better than to notice the president's abrupt change of heart. Chris Shays (R-CT) praised Kerik's background with first responders: "I'm thrilled by it -- this is a guy who I think knows what it's like to be a first responder."

Reporters all over the country were unable to remember the Bush campaign's announcement from 54 days ago that they would launch attack ads against Kerry for suggesting that law enforcement should be part of the country's response to terrorism. Reporters, unable to mainpulate the extremly complicated "google" search engine, which is now available on most Internets, were unable to find any hypocritical quotes from prominent Republicans, such as Ed Gillespie.

"Terrorism is not a law enforcement matter, as John Kerry repeatedly says. Terrorist activities are not like gambling. Terrorist activities are not like prostitution. And this demonstrates a disconcerting pre-September 11 mindset that will not make our country safer. And that is what we see relative to winning the war on terror and relative to Iraq," said Ed Gillespie, chair of the Republican National Committee.

The Bush administration supplicated themselves before the memory hole, then rushed to accuse the mainstream media of liberal bias for failing to acknowledge Bush's long-standing commitment to making law enforcement the centerpiece of his anti-terror efforts.

From Fox News, December 3, 2004

Bush Taps Kerik to Head Homeland Security

President Bush on Friday nominated Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner, as the next secretary for homeland security.

"Bernie Kerik is one of the most accomplished and effective leaders of law enforcement in America," Bush said in announcing his decision at the White House.

"In every position, he has demonstrated a deep commitment to justice, a heart for the innocent and a record of great success. I'm grateful he's agreed to bring his lifetime of security experience and skill to one of the most important positions in the American government."

...

Kerik was in charge of police actions when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11.

"I know what is at stake," Kerik said. "On Sept. 11, 2001, I witnessed firsthand the very worst of humanity and the very best ... I saw hatred claim the lives of 2,400 innocent people, and I saw the bravest men and women I will ever know rescue more than 20,000 others."

...

The New Yorker is seen as a good choice because he has overseen a large law enforcement organization and particularly understands the needs of first responders, particularly in a post-Sept. 11 world.

New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer also praised the president's choice.

"Coming from New York, Bernie Kerik knows the great needs and challenges this country faces in homeland security. He has a strong law enforcement background and I believe will do an excellent job in fighting for the resources and focus that homeland security needs and deserves in our post-9/11 world," Schumer said in a written statement.

Rep. Chris Shays, R-Ct., said Kerik's background with first responders will be key.

"I'm thrilled by it -- this is a guy who I think knows what it's like to be a first responder," Shays told FOX News on Friday. "I can't imagine any member of Congress being anything but thrilled to have him come into their district to talk to first responders."

Bush on Friday called Kerik a "dedicated reformer who insists on getting results," noting that, during his term at head of New York's corrections department, he helped cut inmate violence by 90 percent and did much to reduce crime in the Big Apple.

He is "superbly qualified" to lead DHS given his hands-on experience, the president added.

From the National Review Online:

Kerry’s Exaggerated Terror Problem
The Germans demonstrate the folly of the law-enforcement approach.

At a nationally televised debate on January 29, Massachusetts senator John F. Kerry delivered the jaw-dropping assessment that the threat of terrorism had been "exaggerated" by the Bush administration. Terrorism, he asserted, was "primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation that requires cooperation around the world -- the very thing this [Bush] administration is worst at."

One might have thought it more than a tad daring for anyone to tell post-9/11 America that the jihadists who have killed thousands of us since 1993 are not so big a deal after all. It should have seemed even more startling coming from Senator Kerry, since he would lay the exaggerated problem in the lap of intelligence agencies whose funding he could not cut deeply enough as a lawmaker. But this is par for the course. After the Cold War, it was the need for intelligence itself that Senator Kerry thought was exaggerated. When the good senator uses that e-word, it's probably time to start buying insurance.

Nor should it come as a surprise that Senator Kerry, far from being wounded by his remarks, steamrolled the rest of the Democratic field in the ensuing six weeks, securing the party's nomination. For his words were lifted straight from the gospel according to Bill Clinton. They are an admirably succinct reflection of entrenched party orthodoxy. The salient question of the 2004 election is whether the rest of the country has been converted.

...

The Germans, of course, echo the widespread Democratic disdain for the Bush philosophy that terrorists are military enemies who cry out for a decisive military response. Berlin is far too nuanced for such benighted notions as enemy combatants, military tribunals, and preemptive strikes against an evil that would, in a heartbeat, destroy (and in fact may gradually be destroying) the rights and privileges of German civil society. Like Kerry, they are committed to an enlightened law-enforcement approach -- and the cases of Mzoudi and Motassadeq are textbook examples of what that approach portends.

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Also from the NRO:

MISHANDLING TERRORISM
The law-enforcement mistake

In his State of the Union speech, President George W. Bush identified the point at which America's response to terrorism went so badly awry: the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. Bush also explained what went wrong: That attack was treated entirely as a law-enforcement issue; "some of the guilty were indicted, tried, convicted, and sent to prison." Following the speech, one National Public Radio commentator gasped that Bush seemed to be blaming former President Bill Clinton. That is, indeed, where blame lies. After every terrorist attack that occurred on his watch, Clinton would condemn the perpetrators and vow to bring them to justice. Yet there was a Catch-22: by treating terrorism as a law-enforcement issue, Clinton practically guaranteed that it would be understood as a law-enforcement issue -- and the critical question of state sponsorship would receive scant attention. In many respects, the U.S. legal system was, and still is, ill-suited to dealing with major terrorist attacks.

Ed: That's not a Catch-22. It's not even a Catch-18

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Ed Gillespie, RNC chair said: "Terrorism is not a law enforcement matter, as John Kerry repeatedly says. Terrorist activities are not like gambling. Terrorist activities are not like prostitution. And this demonstrates a disconcerting pre-September 11 mindset that will not make our country safer. And that is what we see relative to winning the war on terror and relative to Iraq." (CNN).