Oh give me a break! That statement reflects such an ignorance of civics it's laughable.

Well, why don't you educate us.

Whomever ends up running the Census serves at the pleasure of the president and always has.

Yes, he won. He gets to do whatever he wants and nobody is allowed to disagree. We get it.

Gregg has decided he could not adhere to his principles and serve in this administration. There is nothing wrong with that and it is not a partisan move. Gregg looked closely at what he could and could not do before deciding to withdrawal.

Um, perhaps your quisling Gregg ought to have considered those issues before actively pursuing the job with Obama.

*The Bureau of the Census is an independent agency that just happens to fall under Commerce; it could easily fall under Homeland Security by the standards usually applied to such matters on this site. The Secretary has no influence on the dicennial enumeration.

Gregg has decided he could not adhere to his principles and serve in this administration. There is nothing wrong with that and it is not a partisan move. Gregg looked closely at what he could and could not do before deciding to withdrawal.

Obama was throwing a public relations bone of bipartisan cooperation that was easily seen nothing but showmanship. Gregg didn't want to be his token Republican.

And that he was going to pull the Census out from under the guy he put in charge of it.

Oh give me a break! That statement reflects such an ignorance of civics it's laughable.

Whomever ends up running the Census serves at the pleasure of the president and always has.

I think it was pretty sneaky of Barack Obama not to tell Judd Gregg he was a Democrat.

And that he was going to pull the Census out from under the guy he put in charge of it.

"My fellow americans. As the Gingrey incident shows, Rush Limbaugh runs the GOP. They do his bidding. And he said, on his show, that he wants me to fail. That means he wants my policies to fail. He wants the economy to tank, our jihadist enemies to prevail, our schools to crumble, and our citizens to be impoverished. This is unamerican, but they don't care. They put party over country. I can therefore not maintain my cherished fantasy that the GOP is arguing in good faith. Therefore we will pay them no heed at all. We will abandon the filibuster rule, as the GOP said they had the ability to do in the 90's, and we will pass whatever legislation we deem necessary. No republican senator or congressman will get a thin dime. Only that way will we have a chance of success. I don't think I can undo all the damage they did by 2012, but dammit I'm gonna try. And by kicking out the party who would call Forrest Gump an intellectual elitist, you've given me a window of opportunity to work with. Thank you, and hang in there. I'll do my best."

Since then I have learned that he is not, and that he is firmly embedded in the Party of Stupid. That makes me disappointed in Obama. It tells me he is really favoring bipartisanship over other characteristics, at least in some cases. And that's troubling because while in some hippy-dippy fantasy we can all 'just get along' and work together for the betterment of humankind, that's not reality. Reality is that the GOP is both extremely stupid and mendacious. And we should have as little input from them as possible, lest we relive the last 8 years. Or the ones that followed the last GOP control of government in the late 20's.

I hope Obama's just being a tactician, and will give the GOP as little as possible, because our futures depend on it. But I'm worried.