Now They Tell Us: Dems Warn Not To Politicize CBO

Now They Tell Us: Dems Warn Not To Politicize CBO

Democrats, who have spent the better part of the last six years politicizing… everything, are suddenly concerned that Republicans might politicize the Congressional Budget Office with a new appointment.

Vicki Needham of The Hill reported:

Dems warn GOP: No ‘ideologue’ in budget job

Senate Democrats are warning Republicans to tread carefully with their selection of a budget scorekeeper for the new Congress, saying they will “strongly object to any effort to politicize this important office.”

“Appointing a new [Congressional Budget Office] director on the basis of ideology would fundamentally compromise the integrity of an institution that has served as a trusted scorekeeper,” a group of Senate Democrats wrote in a letter sent to Republican leaders and budget chairmen. As one of their first acts this year Republicans must decide whether to give another term to Douglas Elmendorf, the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

While the CBO job is little-known outside Washington, it holds enormous power. The “scores” handed out by the office — measuring the impact of legislation on the budget — are often make-or-break for legislation, particularly if a bill is found to add to the deficit.

Too bad Senate Democrats didn’t have the same concerns about politicization when they released the so-called “torture report” last month, huh?

As Mike Hayden of the Washington Times noted two weeks ago, it was all about politics:

Democrats define ‘politicization’ with so-called torture report

This is not about defending torture. It’s about defending history.

And maybe a little bit about preserving the future.

First, some facts. The CIA held about a hundred detainees from 2002 to 2008; about a third of them underwent interrogations that have been variously described as enhanced, tough or torture. The toughest technique was water boarding, used on three detainees, the last in early 2003. At the other end of the spectrum was grabbing a detainee’s chin or collar. In between were things like being limited to a liquid diet of about 1400 calories day.

If you think any of these objectively constitute torture, I respect your position. It is a principled one. Torture is always wrong…

The Senate Democrat document, however, denies such credit and reads like a shrill prosecutorial screed rather than a dispassionate historical study. The staff started with a conclusion and then cherry picked their way through six million pages, ignoring some data and highlighting others, to make their case — the very definition of politicization. The report is exceedingly graphic; it is designed to shock and it does.

Let’s not forget Attorney General Eric Holder who has politicized the Department of Justice, Senator Elizabeth Warren who politicizes economic issues or Lois Lerner and others who politicized the IRS.

It takes a politicizer to know one.

Methinks the Democrats doth protest too much.

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