Stay tuned for an insta edition of The Table discussing the news. Here are some other responses. Josh Marshall:
Hearing maybe that this might not be about Census or Stimulus but maybe Gregg not being able to hack the deluge of crap he was getting from what's left of the New Hampshire GOP.
Will he now vote against the stimulus bill, as he refused to vote before? And what if he votes against the stimulus compromise and is the vote that causes it to not pass? Is that even a possibility? Regardless, days of “what does this all mean” punditry from the talking heads to soon follow.
Judd Gregg has more backbone than anyone in politics today. He did his best to cross over and help Pres. Obama. But as Gregg and I discussed in a recent CNBC interview, the senator has a long and outstanding record as a tax-cutter, budget-cutter, deficit-cutter, and debt-cutter. All of these principles have been badly violated in the so-called stimulus package. And of course the White House move to steal the Census Bureau during a crucial political-reapportionment period was a low blow.
And if a president McCain had announced a $380 billion tax cut, Gregg would have felt the same way, of course. Please. Jim Geraghty:
[W]e just realized that while passage of the stimulus is still all-but-certain, Gregg's return to the Senate and his likely "no" vote makes the vote on final passage a bit more interesting...It passed last time with 61 votes. But this time, Kennedy will not be there... Guess what, Sens. Snowe, Specter, and Collins? You are providing the decisive votes.
If Gregg hits the media circuit to criticize Porkulus, his credibility as an Obama appointee will create a lot of heat on other Republicans and even a few Democrats to stop the runaway train of this bill and force it back into debate.
It was pretty obvious the Obama administration intended to marginalize Gregg as Commerce Secretary. Maybe now he’ll be pissed off enough to start punching the Democrats.