The nomination of Sen. Gregg of New Hampshire to be Secretary of Commerce ended today when the Senator withdrew from consideration. He stated his reason to be deep and irreconcilable policy differences with the Obama administration -- specifically the stimulus package, which he opposes in its present form, and the White House attempt to take control of the Bureau of the Census. [here]
This is actually good for Republicans because it means that they keep control of the New Hampshire seat, and it is yet another embarrassment for the Obama administration, which is rapidly showing itself to be an arrogantly inept cluster of clowns.
UPDATE:
The story gets better with time. It now appears that the Black Congressional Caucus and their lefty allies were outraged that a Republican had been named to head up Commerce, which has responsibility for running the census. It seems there is a plot afoot on the left to rig the 2010 Census -- to use statistical inference to inflate the count of Blacks and Hispanics and, as a result, to increase their representation in Congress. Gregg would not go along with that and that's why the White House decided to take control of the Census. It also appears that Obama pressured Gregg to support the stimulus package. He refused to. Those were deal-breakers for both sides and so Gregg, to the relief of his colleagues, withdrew.
Keep an eye on this census debate. I can remember back in 2000 there were calls from the left to change the procedures so that minority population totals would be based on inflated statistical estimates rather than an actual count. This time, with a Democrat in the White House, there will be a real push on to corrupt the Census. Republicans and those who support honest government will have to be very watchful and heavily publicize this travesty in the making.
MORE:
Hans A. von Spakovsky recounts the efforts of lefties to rig the census so as to increase Democrat representation here.
