Black & White and Cardinal Red All Over

Judd Gregg, partisan dorkwad

Judd Gregg. What a dork wad. One of the few elected members of Congress from New England that claims to be a republican and he comes in and lays the big goose egg when the president asks him to serve in his Cabinet. Gregg said that he could not be himself if he accepted the post. What that really means is that Gregg is too big of a NeoCon yahoo to drop the partisan act and do what’s right for the country by serving in President Obama’s cabinet. Obama obviously felt Gregg would be enough of a regular guy to handle the pressure of working amongst the opposition but it appears that Gregg did not have as much confidence in his own ability as the President did. 

Obama picked Gregg despite all of the signs that pointed to the disaster of defending a sorry-ass record on Commerce Department issues. The biggest of these was the vote against keeping a Commerce Department in the first place. The irony was de-lish in the picking of Gregg as the new secretary. Then there were problems in accepting a conservative in charge of the Census in 2010 and all of the ramifications of undercounting minorities that the Census regularly gets accused of. Did you think for a second that a conservative republican was going to go that extra mile to make sure all those folks were accurately counted especially given how they usually vote? I don’t think so.

Gregg cited a number of other issues that he could not overlook in accepting President Obama’s invitation to become the new Commerce Secretary so he withdrew. Bailed. Quit before he started. Pussed out. If this is what passes for trying to be bipartisan on the GOP side, they are failing miserably. No wonder. They simply are not interested in governing with input from all sides. The people want the partisan bickering to stop but today’s GOP isn’t interested in what the public wants. They are only interested in preserving their unity, following Rush’s marching orders, and hoping that Obama fails as president so they can point fingers and say, “See? Told you so.”

Thankfully, there are adequate numbers of House Democrats running the House so if republicans want to sleep in Siberia, they can with no problems. The issue on the Senate side is a bit trickier where Senate republicans push every vote to the filibuster proof majority of 60 votes. I, far one, want the NeoCons up there in the Senate to live with conducting a filibuster. A real live filibuster on CSPAN, not a paper threat like they have now. Harry Reid should grow a pair and force the republicans to actually conduct a filibuster on an important issue. Health care is coming up. So is the Employee Fair Choice Act. Make them stand up there for hours on end and keep talking so the American people can see how small-minded, bitter, and useless this rump regional party truly is.

President Obama doesn’t want to push the GOP into that corner. Too bad. It’s what is needed to break the logjam of progressive legislation we all know is coming. Maybe the lessons of the Gregg nomination will resonate within the White House and the President will realize that he’s got an asskicking party ready to go to the mat for him. Democrats have been held in check for over two years now and after not getting the chance to impeach Bush and/or Cheney, they are itching for a fight. President Obama, please let the big dogs run before they forget how to bite. All it will take is one good mudhole stomping and we won’t hear bullshit like “tax cuts” or “smaller government” or “fiscal responsibility” coming out of their pieholes for quite a while afterwards. 

Please. I’m asking you nicely.