Archive for posts ‘Department of Commerce’

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Gregg Withdraws Nomination for Commerce Secretary

Because he doesn’t think he can be a team player. Someone ought to remind the Republicans that bipartisanship is a two-way street.

Update: Judd Gregg is no Ray LaHood.

Update 2: Bonus bipartisanship!

According to MSNBC’s John Yang, all indications are that Judd Gregg didn’t even tell the White House that he had decided to withdraw his name from consideration for the cabinet before announcing it publicly.

Gregg also released his statement just as President Obama was about to speak at the Caterpillar plant in Peoria, Illinois. (Caterpillar has said that as soon as the stimulus is signed into law, it can begin rehiring laid-off workers.)

And consider this:

A Democratic source close to the Obama White House said Thursday that Judd Gregg “campaigned for the job” — that the New Hampshire senator had asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to approach the president about the Commerce post.

Gregg “sat with [Obama], said he wanted the job, knew his policies and erratically dropped out without warning,” said the source, minutes after the Republican senator announced his withdrawal from consideration.

2/12/09 2:56 pm | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: ,

Friday Afternoon

Or at least it is on this side of the pond. For your viewing pleasure:

il-gov-quinn

Heh. I coulda sworn there was some other guy’s name there yesterday. Oh well.

  • Yesterday orphans helped an Iraqi sculptor erect a giant brown shoe (like the ones thrown at ex-President Bush) in front of a Tikrit orphange, but today local officials have taken it down because, well, why not? Looks like we forgot to bring “freedom of expression” with us when we invaded. (CNN)
  • The first round of voting for the next leader of the failing Republican Party is over and get this, “An accounting firm will now begin tallying the votes.” There are one hundred and sixty-eight votes, and the RNC has hired “an accounting firm” to count them. Fiscal responsibility! (MSNBC)
  • Following up on yesterday’s rumor, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) confirms that he is in the running for Secretary of Commerce. (Boston Globe)
  • Missouri’s own Sen. Claire McCaskill will introduce a bill today to cap salaries for employess of companies taking federal bailout money. No more taxpayer-funded bonuses for investment bankers. (Fired Up! Missouri)

1/30/09 10:43 am | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , , , ,

Gov. Quinn, the RNC vs. McCain, and More

  • Illinoisians, this “Pat Quinn” character is your new Governor! You can tell how different he is from Blago because he is bald. Change We Can Believe In! (CNN)
  • So after John McCain failed to win them the presidency, the RNC filed a lawsuit to overturn McCain’s favorite law, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act aka McCain-Feingold.  Now the DNC has joined the lawsuit… in defense of the act! Thank God for bipartisanship. (MOAR CNN!)
  • A picture is worth a thousand words. These two are no exception. (Feministe)
  • Chip Saltsman was not able to woo Republicans with his Magic Negro Christmas CDs, so he is dropping out of the RNC Chairman race. (Nashville Post)
  • President Obama is considering Republican Sen. Judd Gregg for Secretary of Commerce. Gregg’s replacement would be named by New Hampshire’s Democratic governor, giving Dems 60 Senate seats.

1/29/09 5:48 pm | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

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