Sen. Gregg withdraws from Commerce Sec hunt.
 

Sen. Gregg has taken himself out of the running for Commerce Sec.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2009/02/greeg_withdraws_as_commerce_no.html

QUOTE:
"
Gregg Withdraws as Commerce Nominee

By Chris Cillizza and Michael Shear
New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg has withdrawn his name from consideration as President Obama's commerce secretary, a major blow to an administration seeking to put a series of Cabinet problems behind it.
"It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the census there are irresolvable conflicts for me," Gregg said in a statement to be released by his office. "Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns."
Gregg abstained from the Senate vote on the stimulus package, which passed the chamber 61 to 37. He had not previously offered any public comment on the White House's plan to have the Census director report to White House officials. Many Republicans, however, had voiced serious concerns about the potential politicization of the department given that move.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) praised Gregg's decision as "principled" and added: "It's great to have him back."
Just days ago, Gregg stood side-by-side with the president to accept the nomination as commerce secretary and declared that partisanship should not get in the way of repairing the country's
problems.
"This is not a time for partisanship. This is not a time when we should stand in our ideological corners and shout at each other," Gregg said on Feb. 3. "This is a time to govern and govern well. And therefore, when the President asked me to join his administration and participate in trying to address the issues of this time, I believed it was my obligation to say yes, and I look forward to it with enthusiasm."
At that event, Obama noted that "Clearly, Judd and I don't agree on every issue -- most notably who should have won the election. But we agree on the urgent need to get American businesses and families back on their feet."
But even as Gregg and Obama were shaking hands, Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill were blasting the stimulus package then making its way through the House of Representatives. In a statement, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said that day that "let no one be mistaken that this bill is the result of bipartisan negotiations. While Republicans were courteously consulted at the member and staff level, we were never at the negotiating table."
Gregg is the second of Obama's nominees as commerce secretary to withdraw. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (N.M.) stepped aside earlier this year after allegations of a pay to play scandal involving him came to light.
The decision has any number of wide-reaching political consequences.
First, it creates another opening in Obama's Cabinet, which saw former South Dakota senator Tom Daschle (S.D.) step aside last week after questions were raised about his failure to pay taxes on a car and driver service.
Second, it slows the momentum that the Obama administration was hoping to build for its economic stimulus plan, which is expected to clear Congress tomorrow. Obama and his team had worked diligently to put the "vetting problems" stories regarding his Cabinet picks to bed but now will watch them dredged back up for the next 24 hours -- at a minimum -- and perhaps far longer.
Third, Gregg's return to the Senate means that Republicans have one less open seat to defend next fall. Bonnie Newman was set to replace Gregg but only as a caretaker who would not run for reelection in 2010. Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes had already declared for the seat and Republicans acknowledged that their bench in the state was thin.
Now, assuming Gregg will run again next November (and that is a big assumption) Republicans will have a fighting chance to hold the Granite State seat -- although the state has moved away from them in recent elections.
This is a cataclysmic shock on what had been the quietest day so far in Washington since Obama took office, and highlights the perils of Obama's efforts to put Republicans -- including a relatively conservative one like Gregg -- into high positions in his administration."

Are we allowed to question O's vetting?

NO That is being divisive

Republicans are starting to look like dips***s. At least make up more believable reasons. I hope leadership gave him a really nice bundle of cash for making give up a plum job like that.

Jeezuz, it's not like Dick Cheney is going hunting.

While media and the right wing megaphone machine make this to be some great problem for Obama, what it is really doing is showing that bi-partisanship is just something the Republicans are incapable of, and the polls are reflecting it. The Vast Middle voter wants the two parties to quit arguing and work together. So far, Obama has made every attempt to do so, while the GOP on the other hand has proved to be obstructive. Judd Gregg was litterally hounded out of this job by the GOP right wing. The invective and down right hate that spewed forth on this man from right wing media and it's talk radio megaphone was nothing short of astounding.


The reason is pretty simple: moderate Republicans have been driven from the party, leaving only the shrill right wing radicals in Congress and their right wing screamers on the AM dial and on Fox News in place. While your average far right conservative seems overjoyed at this news, it is in fact, bad, bad news for an increasingly marginalized GOP. Gregg has also announced he will not run for re-election in 2010, probably because he knows the Shrill Right, which control the GOP primaries, will be after his scalp, as revenge for him even thinking of cooperating with the Democrats in forming a bipartisan leadership team for approaching the business community, something that would have been unthinkable for the Bush regime. How dare he.

This means another difficult GOP Senate seat to defend for the GOP. In 2010, New Hampshire voters will be reminded that if it were not for the conservatives, a Commerce Secretary from New Hampshire would have been there to benefit their economy, an economy that is now one of the most battered in the nation. The end result of this does not hurt the Democrats: another northeastern Republican seat, and one that is traditionally Republican at that, will be lost to the Democrats once again, because the Vast Middle voter will see a vote for the candidate presented to them by The Shrill Right as just adding more partisan rancor, not less to Washington, and the Democratic candidate will play that like a violin. The Democrats are living in a wonderful world. What the GOP wants to do, is driven to do, creates votes for them.

How do you anticipate a candidate changing his mind? To the candidate's credit, while it was no secret what the administration's philosophy on economic issues were, he did withdraw before being confirmed.

"Starting to" ??

> Just days ago, Gregg stood side-by-side with the president to accept the nomination as commerce secretary and declared that partisanship should not get in the way of repairing the country's problems.

Is anyone surprised? This amounts to another withering anemic display by a GOP member. He appears to be making major efforts to further advance the irrelevancy of the party. After so many years of GOP based arrogance and indifference running hand in hand with unswerving incompetence, we see in him an inability to more than pay lip service to trying something positive.

It amounts to another mile post on the way to the GOP’s funeral.

Not Gregg's resignation in particular, he's just the latest in a mini-rash of appointments with issues.

Ha!

How about this? Pretend to seek middle ground by offering your opponent a spot on your cabinet. Then make it difficult as hell for him to get anything done so he quits. Throw up your hands and say "we tried."

Not, "Politics as usual," surely!

So you are saying that Gregg did not realize Obama was going to be "the boss"?

Can you read what Kuan wrote?