Tom Davis Covers Up Climate Change, Makes National Quote of the Week

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Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Henry Waxman charged another White House cover up, this time on global warming, when he said,

"We know that the White House possesses documents that contain evidence of an attempt by senior administration officials to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming and minimize the potential danger," said Waxman, adding that he is "not trying to obtain state secrets."

Here's my nomination for quote of the week: "The issue of politicizing science has itself become politicized." It was spoken by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., at a hearing on global warming.

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[Y]es, truth always has been elusive, and always will remain so. Once we seemed to be able to agree on facts. But now we are told to dismiss facts if they get characterized as political. In Davis' world, it's political, and apparently dismissive on that basis, to speak up to make the point that someone else has been political.

It reminds me of my cub reporting days so many years ago. The local political establishment was alleged to be corrupt -- election fraud and such. The alleged ringleader responded by telling me, with a tone of utter disdain, that those who alleged his corruption were "politically motivated." As if that were bad, or disqualifying, or a surprise, or relevant to whether the guy and his allies were actually corrupt. Perhaps you're wondering how a charge of stealing elections could be anything other than politically motivated.

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We seem to have two options: We must draw the curtain on political performance art to permit the pursuit of empirical data about global warming. Or, we could try what might be the most effective tool of all, at least nowadays, which would be taking scientific fact and finding fresh and innovative ways to present it through political performance art.

Did someone say Al Gore?

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