GAO: "Non-Partisan" and Other Fantasies

If you ever bought the false idea that the GAO (entity created by Congress--"General Accountability Office, which I seem to remember used to be called the "General Accounting Office", although I could be wrong on that), one of today's small news items should set you straight. The GAO, acting at the clear instigation of Democrats in Congress in support of a Democrat agenda, announced today that the Secretary oft he Treasury (that idiot, Paulson) and the Fed had the authority now--without Congressional action--to "bail out" the automakers.

You may remember one of my entries several weeks ago (right after the electiion), when I noted that Democrats desperately wanted President Bush to bail them out on the bailout of General Motors and the other automakers (another small example of this blog being ahead of the curve). Chris Dodd pushed the same thing today, and the GAO "finding" is obviously part of this partisan push to save Democrats from having to take responsibility. Now that the election is over, Republicans are not going to be willing to take the point any longer, and even President Bush finally seems to be understanding that he should let Obama and the Democrats take responsibility for most things now.

Message to Democrats (also given after the election by this blog): Get used to it. You are now going to be running the country. Your are going to have to take responsibility for the decisions that are made. Chris Dodd, of course, said that Obama had already done his bit by naming an economic team (lol), and that there was no reason for him to grab on to this tar baby (my laguage--but what Dodd meant). Dodd clearly does not want to take responsibility either--hence the GAO report and the urging to the Bush Administration to take the heat.

Imagine if the Bush Administration had proposed to do something to enhance executive power that Congress did not like!!! No chance of a report like this. The GAO knows where its bread is buttered. Even Republicans have a habit of wanting to protect the prerogatives of Congress, which is the only sense in which the GAO is "non-partisan". Remember that the next time you see the "news" media make a point of calling the GAO "non-partisan", in a situation where the GAO is saying something that supports the mainstream media agenda.