I have to give it to CNN, for once. Last night they gave a pretty good smackdown to the Speaker and her Mini-Me trio (Hoyer, VanHollen and that other underling) who played the role of Motion to her Denny Terrio in that faux press conference she staged.

The real question is…MSM, will you do what the Speaker wants and drop it? Or, will you do what reporters are supposed to do and follow the story?

I’m asking those questions because…that same CNN segment I referenced above makes me wonder if you will, indeed, follow the story.

Kudos to Dana Bash, the lead reporter on that CNN segment. She mocked Pelosi and Motion for turning a press conference into a PR session.

CNN ran a clock on the screen, showing how much time Pelosi and Motion took up in reciting talking points about all the good things the Democratic Congress had done. None of which were germain to the reason those reporters were really there—to ask the Speaker in detail about her criticism of the CIA.

It quickly became apparent that this whole press conference was structured to ensure that the Speaker was not compelled to defend her accusations. As Bash pointed out, the press conference only allotted FIVE minutes of time for questions.

And, when the MSM tried to ask about CIA-gate, the Speaker refused to discuss it meaningfully.

Bash noted how Steny Hoyer, who is perceived by many as one of the few adults in the House Democratic leadership, responded meekly to Pelosi’s commands during the press conference. Cesar Milan would have been proud of the way Hoyer responded to Pelosi. She has clearly trained him well.

So, once Dana Bash laid her smackdown on Pelosi and Motion, what did the CNN anchor, Kitty Pilgrim, and her producers do?

They dropped that story like a hot potato and moved on to other topics. Which is exactly what Nancy and David Axelrod want.

As usual, John Hinderaker at Powerline says it better than I could ever hope to:

Nancy Pelosi made the absurd claim that the CIA “lied” to her and “misleads Congress all the time,” without offering any support for her explosive assertions. I think everyone understands that Pelosi offered no evidence because she has none. Now, naturally, she wants to forget the whole thing: she says that she will have nothing more to say on the matter.

Think about it: the Speaker of the House of Representatives claims that the CIA, on which both Congress and the Executive Branch rely in making vital, life or death decisions, “lies” and “misleads Congess all the time.” If that were true, it would be a fact of astonishing importance. It would be vitally important to investigate and get to the bottom of why the Agency “misleads Congress,” so that we can sweep the liars and misleaders out of office and clean up the Agency. Right?

…

Nancy Pelosi is a fool and a liar, which is why she says: never mind. Anyone who saw her self-destructive press conference must wonder, further, whether she requires medication to get through the day and sometimes forgets to take her pills. There is no other obvious explanation for her bizarre performance, for her wild charges, or for her current, pathetic plea to forget the whole thing.

The country, to put it mildly, is not in good hands.

If our MSM does not follow up, forcefully, than our MSM is not in good hands, either.

The clock is ticking…