It is not just Nancy Pelosi who is facing increased scrutiny for her feigned ignorance of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques. The Wall Street Journal reports on Jay Rockefeller’s denial of knowledge:

Amusingly, or almost, Senator Rockefeller’s denial is flatly contradicted by his own report on the subject released last month, which notes that “On May 19, 2008, the Department of Justice and the Central Intelligence Agency provided the Committee with access to all opinions and a number of other documents prepared by the Office of Legal Counsel . . . concerning the legality of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program. Five of these documents provided addressed the use of waterboarding.”

So much for the canard that the Bush Administration didn’t keep Congress informed. But Congressional Democrats are being equally disingenuous when they pretend they could do nothing about what they were hearing from the CIA. Members could, and sometimes did, object to proposed CIA actions and could stop them in their tracks.

So what will be the next round of excuses from Congressional “leaders”? They didn’t understand what the briefers were saying — or they couldn’t do anything about it, perhaps. But if lawmakers are not competent enough to listen to critical data, make inquiry and act in their legislative capacity then what good, if any, are they doing on intelligence committees? And what use is it to consult with them?

There is a new game in town. The president tried a selective declassification and suggested some potential investigation and prosecution of those who worked to defend the country from peril. Someone or some group of individuals don’t appreciate the gamesmanship and have thrown open the hatches — out comes the information about forgotten briefings. And Rep. Pete Hoekstra hints there is more where that came from.

Obama and the Democrats in Congress violated a cardinal rule: don’t play politics with national security. They now should be prepared to pay the price.