WASHINGTON — An ex-aide to Commerce Secretary nominee Judd Gregg is under investigation for allegedly taking baseball and hockey tickets from a lobbyist in exchange for legislative favors.
I know, this is an old story. And by the way, it was more than $10,000 worth of tickets, meals and drinks, we’ve learned. Those must have been some primo seats.
I just can’t help but wonder if Sen. Gregg’s involvement extends beyond what we already know about his crooked aide. It’s awfully weird that Judd just suddenly remembered that he’s a Republican and Obama’s a Democrat and on issues of commerce and economic policy there are, you know, differences. Palm to forehead, dude.
In the infamous words of Peggy Noonan: Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.
Then again, Andrew Sullivan might be onto something here:
It gets clearer. When Judd Gregg approached the Obama administration to see if he could be a part of it, he was assuming that his own party wasn't going to adopt a policy of total warfare against the newly elected president in a time of enormous economic peril. Between that moment and the current all-out ideological assault on Obama, his position became untenable. His recusal on the stimulus package provoked fury at home (check out the comments here) and dyspepsia among the GOP who are intent on responding to an open hand with a clenched fist.
This is true. While bloggers such as myself might bemoan the folly of bipartisanship in this “post-partisan” world, the Democrats don’t seem to be of that mindset. Now that the Republicans are circling the wagons, any politician sleeping with what the Republicans clearly perceive as the enemy will be viewed as a traitor to the party and treated as such. Any dirty laundry in Gregg's closet would be aired for all the country to see.
As Tennessee Republicans know, they will eat their own.
Anyway, good riddance. It was a stupid idea to begin with.
