This is rich...

The White House running for cover on the Kerik-vetting fiasco:

White House officials said they knew about many of the issues before the nomination but did not deem them disqualifying. In part, they were relying on the support of New York's two Democratic senators, Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, both of whom had issued statements praising Kerik after the announcement.

Since when had the White House started to listen to Schumer and Hillary? Don't they usually pride themselves on doing just the opposite of what those two want?

(That said, I'd like to know whether those supportive statements were just reflex "He's a New Yorker" things, or what. I expect to hear someone on Fox News Channel suggesting they were a clever trick, designed to lure the White House into this blunder.)