Breaking News - Gregg withdraws as Commerce Sec

[CPA]

Originally posted by: bdude
All indications are that Greggs went public with this without telling the WH. Pretty dickish move if you ask me.

geez, now look who's crying.

 

[MovingTarget]

Originally posted by: CPA

Originally posted by: MovingTarget

Originally posted by: winnar111
Good for him. I guess he realized Pelosi is calling the shots and didn't want to work for that bitch.

FAIL!

Gregg turning down this offer/position signifies that he doesn't want to work for Obama. He will still be in the Senate, which, btw, is also Pelosi free. Nice try, troll.

No, he doesn't want to be a yes man for Obama. It's obvious that Obama has his opinion and disregards all others.

Fair enough. I can understand him not wanting to work for Obama because of the disagreements they have. If he figures that the job would require him to be a yes man, then he was correct to turn it down.

 

[bdude]

Read the front page of politico.

 

[Moonbeam]

I heard he contacted the White House with an offer to serve. If so, this is pretty cheesy.

 

[extra]

Originally posted by: CPA

Originally posted by: MovingTarget

Originally posted by: winnar111
Good for him. I guess he realized Pelosi is calling the shots and didn't want to work for that bitch.

FAIL!

Gregg turning down this offer/position signifies that he doesn't want to work for Obama. He will still be in the Senate, which, btw, is also Pelosi free. Nice try, troll.

No, he doesn't want to be a yes man for Obama. It's obvious that Obama has his opinion and disregards all others.

LoL. Yeah, we can sure say that already. I mean he's done so much and been in office for so long that the facts really show this. I agree totally. Err wait he's been in office for a matter of weeks and we don't really know how it's going to pan out. My bad.

 

[sportage]

Pelosi is calling the shots and didn't want to work for that bitch.

Sounds like someone has a anti-woman issue.
You can get professional help for that...

 

[Thump553]

By all accounts-including his own-Gregg approached the White House about applying for the Sec of Commerce position and in his extensive interviews indicated he would have no problem with working within the Obama administration and that he would give it 100%. Is it possible that a Senator somehow missed any news of Obama's stimulus bill until this week?

Something is really fishy with Gregg's explanation. I know next to nothing about the guy but I don't think he is going to be any big loss, to put it mildly. I'm wondering if he is a borderline nutjob.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: sportage

Pelosi is calling the shots and didn't want to work for that bitch.

Sounds like someone has a anti-woman issue.

Pelosi? Woman?

You learn something new every day.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Thump553
By all accounts-including his own-Gregg approached the White House about applying for the Sec of Commerce position and in his extensive interviews indicated he would have no problem with working within the Obama administration and that he would give it 100%. Is it possible that a Senator somehow missed any news of Obama's stimulus bill until this week?

Something is really fishy with Gregg's explanation. I know next to nothing about the guy but I don't think he is going to be any big loss, to put it mildly. I'm wondering if he is a borderline nutjob.

He is retiring in 2010. See who hires him afterward for untold millions.

 

[nobodyknows]

Originally posted by: Farang
trojan horse

it fits?

 

[Socio]

Originally posted by: eskimospy
CNN has details, Gregg is citing philosophical differences with Obama over the stimulus bill, etc. Seems to me like there must be something more than this, as he must have known the basis for this bill and others when he signed on.

He probably knows that stimulus bill is BS and does not want his name associated with the raping of America.

 

[DealMonkey]

Originally posted by: dphantom

Originally posted by: eskimospy
CNN has details, Gregg is citing philosophical differences with Obama over the stimulus bill, etc. Seems to me like there must be something more than this, as he must have known the basis for this bill and others when he signed on.

Speculating, but I would not be surpised that part of the reason is over conducting the Census. That is a Commerce job and taking it out is a direct slap in the face of Gregg or anyone who sits there.

That's precisely what it is. Gregg, after learning he couldn't single-handedly jack the 2010 census on behalf of the GOP, didn't want the job so badly after all.

 

[First]

Good, glad to see that his dying conservative views won't taint the administration.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: eskimospy
CNN has details, Gregg is citing philosophical differences with Obama over the stimulus bill, etc. Seems to me like there must be something more than this, as he must have known the basis for this bill and others when he signed on.

This is good news. According to an E-mail I received from the Job Destruction Newsletter (Zazona.com), by appointing Gregg, Obama would have essentially created a Department of American Job Outsourcing. Supposedly Gregg is a big advocate of foreign outsourcing and H-1B visas.

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1973 -- 2/04/2009 >>>>>

President Obama continues to surround himself with champions of free trade
and open borders. Fortunately Tom Daschle was forced to withdraw -- and I
say fortunately because he is a pivotal figure in the H-1B fiasco. I
believe that's one of the reasons that Obama wanted him in the cabinet.
Obama's cabinet and other government appointments are transforming the
executive into a solid block of H-1B advocates who want to expand the
program.

Sen. Judd Gregg secretary of commerce is as bad as it gets. Obama might as
well have appointed Bill Gates. Gregg gets a failing grade of F on guest
worker visas from Americans for Better Immigration:

http://grades.betterimmigratio...?District=NH&VIPID=519

I wanted to punch him in the face as I watched a 5 minute video of Sen.
Gregg at the Cato website (link below). Among other things he wants to
raise the number of H-1B visas to 150,000.

Greg parrots the industry line on H-1B. One of his favorites is to repeat
the claim by Bill Gates that every H-1B creates 5 jobs for Americans. Ron
Hira asked the right question for Computerworld:

The five-jobs-per-H-1B-worker claim, said Hira, "is so absurd that
Mr. Gregg should be laughed out of the room. This is the kind of
thoughtful leadership that Mr. Obama is bringing us?"

Ron Hira wrote a stinging article for EE Times where he said:

"Obama Administration has been in office just a few weeks now, but
we already know how it will address the offshoring of engineering
jobs. It will promote it.

Be sure to read the last part of Hira's commentary because that's the most
important.

....

Here's the aforementioned EE Times op-ed:

The Obama Administration Promotes Outsourcing

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: Thump553
By all accounts-including his own-Gregg approached the White House about applying for the Sec of Commerce position and in his extensive interviews indicated he would have no problem with working within the Obama administration and that he would give it 100%. Is it possible that a Senator somehow missed any news of Obama's stimulus bill until this week?

Something is really fishy with Gregg's explanation. I know next to nothing about the guy but I don't think he is going to be any big loss, to put it mildly. I'm wondering if he is a borderline nutjob.

404 fishy not found. This is not about the stimulus, it's just that he's not going to come out and say in public what everybody knows he's thinking.

After accepting the position, minority groups expressed concern about having a Republican in charge of the upcoming census. I don't know why these idiots are trying to politicize the census, but whatever. In response, the Obama administration announced that the director of the 2010 census would report directly to the WH, not Gregg, significantly marginalizing his future role as Secretary of Commerce.

I mean talk about a slap in the face. Like I said before, I can't blame the guy for backing down. I think it's kind of messed up to ask a guy to join your team, but then send this kind of message that you don't trust them to perform their job fairly and without bias.

 

[her209]

Who pays Use Tax?

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey

Originally posted by: dphantom

Originally posted by: eskimospy
CNN has details, Gregg is citing philosophical differences with Obama over the stimulus bill, etc. Seems to me like there must be something more than this, as he must have known the basis for this bill and others when he signed on.

Speculating, but I would not be surpised that part of the reason is over conducting the Census. That is a Commerce job and taking it out is a direct slap in the face of Gregg or anyone who sits there.

That's precisely what it is. Gregg, after learning he couldn't single-handedly jack the 2010 census on behalf of the GOP, didn't want the job so badly after all.

yeap. now its free for Obama to hijack.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: winnar111
Good for him. I guess he realized Pelosi is calling the shots and didn't want to work for that bitch.

You ought not speak about your mom that way!!

 

[winnar111]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey

Originally posted by: dphantom

Originally posted by: eskimospy
CNN has details, Gregg is citing philosophical differences with Obama over the stimulus bill, etc. Seems to me like there must be something more than this, as he must have known the basis for this bill and others when he signed on.

Speculating, but I would not be surpised that part of the reason is over conducting the Census. That is a Commerce job and taking it out is a direct slap in the face of Gregg or anyone who sits there.

That's precisely what it is. Gregg, after learning he couldn't single-handedly jack the 2010 census on behalf of the GOP, didn't want the job so badly after all.

Yeah, because wanting to do the 2010 census like the 2000 and 1990 and 1980 censuses is such a terrible thing.

 

[dphantom]

Originally posted by: winnar111

Originally posted by: DealMonkey

Originally posted by: dphantom

Originally posted by: eskimospy
CNN has details, Gregg is citing philosophical differences with Obama over the stimulus bill, etc. Seems to me like there must be something more than this, as he must have known the basis for this bill and others when he signed on.

Speculating, but I would not be surpised that part of the reason is over conducting the Census. That is a Commerce job and taking it out is a direct slap in the face of Gregg or anyone who sits there.

That's precisely what it is. Gregg, after learning he couldn't single-handedly jack the 2010 census on behalf of the GOP, didn't want the job so badly after all.

Yeah, because wanting to do the 2010 census like the 2000 and 1990 and 1980 censuses is such a terrible thing.

What's going to happen with the census is that illegals are going to be counted and that will skew the redistricting. We are essentially going to lose a foundation piece of our country and that is only eligible US citizens have the right to vote. What this will essentially do is give illegals a backdoor albiet indirect affect on who gets elected to represent us. We will have some areas where the representative will have won their district because of how the census was conducted.

I assert this may be illegal and definitely is simply wrong. But that is what this admin wants to do to solidify its power base for the future.

 

[Thump553]

I watched Gregg's press conference last night on CSPAN. His reasoning was puzzling, to put it mildly-it looks like no more than a case of cold feet. He was full of praise for the upcoming bank bailout bill (??), full of praise about Obama-he talked about being able to do more good to support Obama in the Senate. Most importantly to me, he clearly indicated-several times-that the census was pretty much a nonissue in his decision.

He also claimed no tax problems. He basically said he was too independent to be a team player-I wonder WTF is he doing in the Senate then?

My conclusion-legally blonde, elderly male edition.

 

[PokerGuy]

Bottom line, Gregg thought Obama was serious about reaching across the isle, so he wanted to sign on to be a part of the new administrtation. When he started meeting with Emanuel and other such ilk, the "we won, you lost, get over it" message was probably loud and clear and he didn't want to be a part of it. Sounds like he did exactly what he should have, step back and let the trainwreck go on it's own so they can't pin the blame on you later.

 

[CitizenKain]

Originally posted by: Socio

Originally posted by: eskimospy
CNN has details, Gregg is citing philosophical differences with Obama over the stimulus bill, etc. Seems to me like there must be something more than this, as he must have known the basis for this bill and others when he signed on.

He probably knows that stimulus bill is BS and does not want his name associated with the raping of America.

But he's a Republican, that's pretty much the party standard.

Its likely he dropped because of pressure from other Republicans who didn't want to lose a seat for 2010. But you Republicans can continue thinking of crazy reasons for everything and further marginalizing your party.

 

[DealMonkey]

Originally posted by: dphantom

Originally posted by: winnar111

Originally posted by: DealMonkey

Originally posted by: dphantom

Originally posted by: eskimospy
CNN has details, Gregg is citing philosophical differences with Obama over the stimulus bill, etc. Seems to me like there must be something more than this, as he must have known the basis for this bill and others when he signed on.

Speculating, but I would not be surpised that part of the reason is over conducting the Census. That is a Commerce job and taking it out is a direct slap in the face of Gregg or anyone who sits there.

That's precisely what it is. Gregg, after learning he couldn't single-handedly jack the 2010 census on behalf of the GOP, didn't want the job so badly after all.

Yeah, because wanting to do the 2010 census like the 2000 and 1990 and 1980 censuses is such a terrible thing.

What's going to happen with the census is that illegals are going to be counted and that will skew the redistricting. We are essentially going to lose a foundation piece of our country and that is only eligible US citizens have the right to vote. What this will essentially do is give illegals a backdoor albiet indirect affect on who gets elected to represent us. We will have some areas where the representative will have won their district because of how the census was conducted.

I assert this may be illegal and definitely is simply wrong. But that is what this admin wants to do to solidify its power base for the future.

You do realize that this whole rumor was started by an unnamed White House source saying they may do this and that no announcement has been made by the administration?

From Fox:

A White House official on Wednesday declined to comment on Rep. Marsha Blackburn's call for an investigation but provided FOXNews.com with a statement noting Obama has not proposed removing the census from the Commerce Department and that the same congressional committees that had oversight during the previous administration will retain that authority.

"The president recognizes the importance of ensuring that the Census Bureau conducts a complete and accurate count through a process that is free from politicization, and he looks forward to working with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and Secretary-designate [Judd] Gregg to achieve that goal," the statement said.

"As they have in the past, White House senior management will work closely with the census director given the number of decisions that will need to reach the president's desk," the statement added.

Fox

Way to jump to conclusions though.

 

[Thump553]

Originally posted by: PokerGuy
Bottom line, Gregg thought Obama was serious about reaching across the isle, so he wanted to sign on to be a part of the new administrtation. When he started meeting with Emanuel and other such ilk, the "we won, you lost, get over it" message was probably loud and clear and he didn't want to be a part of it. Sounds like he did exactly what he should have, step back and let the trainwreck go on it's own so they can't pin the blame on you later.

That may be a conclusion you want to believe, but it is exactly opposite of what Gregg repeatedly said during his press conference. Bascially he said I thought about it more and changed my mind. He admitted that HE initially approached the Obama administration about giving him the job. He minimalized the significance of the census. Gregg squarely took responsibility for his withdrawal decision, saying "I screwed up" repeatedly. And he spoke quite admiringly of Obama, and Obama's bipartisan efforts, throughout.

I don't see Gregg getting much, if any, trust from either side for the remaining two years of his term (incidentally he didn't absolutely shut the door on running again, but it is widely reported he will not).

Probably he saw all the power Lieberman had before Obama's election, and Spector/Collins/Snow have now and thought I want some of that for me.