FACT: Thomas Jefferson, not only owned slaves, he fathered children by at least one that we know of.

FACT: Ty Cobb was a racist and Babe Ruth once told his young fans, “It’s simple kids. If you drink and smoke and eat and screw as much as me.  Well, kiddos, someday you’ll be just as good at sports.”

FACT: Lance Armstrong doped his way to seven Tour de France titles.  His success was due more to over-sized needles than an over-sized heart as we were led to believe.

FACT: O.J. probably got away with murder and Bill Cosby is accused of sexually abusing 58 women.

FACT:  Meryl Streep is over-rated.  (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.)

Hero worship isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Most idols have flaws.  After all, they’re human too.  But in the above cases, we had the luxury of celebrating their achievements for years, decades and in Jefferson’s case, centuries before learning of their criminal or moral failings.

Not so the case with Rachel Maddow.  Damn! Damn! Damn!  A mere two days ago I applauded the MSNBC reporter as a shining example of someone who understood and appreciated the gravity of journalistic excellence at a time when most of the fourth estate has abdicated its sacred responsibility of shedding light where there are only shadows.  Sadly, last night Ms. Maddow demonstrated such praise was premature.

A blind man could see she was being played by the Trump propaganda machine.  For days, Maddow had been connecting the dots between Trump, his family and his appointees and Russian officials and oligarchs with close ties to the Kremlin.  And it appeared His Orangeness had finally overplayed his hand.  Accusing a former president of wiretapping his phones with no evidence had finally made a dent in some of Trump’s loyal apologists.  And that was just the start of a bad week.  First waffling and later embracing a health care plan which is about everything but health care added to the cacophony of criticisms from both ends of the political spectrum.

Just look at the headlines up until this morning.

• House Intel Committee Dems Slam Trump Over Wiretap Claim (NY Post)
• McCain to Trump: Provide Wiretap Evidence or Retract Claim (ABC News)
• White House Back-Pedals on Claim Obama Wiretapped Trump’s Phones (Wall Street Journal)
• Medical Providers Oppose Trump-Backed Health Plan (Reuters)
• New Numbers:  Republican Health Care Plan Is Unaffordable (Time Magazine)
• Trumpcare Could Send Seniors’ Insurance Rates Skyrocketing (The Motley Fool)
• Health Care Bill Could Cost Oklahoma Millions (AP News)

If I were sitting in the oval office, I’d want to change the narrative.  And that’s exactly what happened.  And Rachel, you might as well have been driving the getaway car.  Yes, you tried to cover your involvement by questioning whether the White House was the source of the leaks.  Really?  You didn’t have to speculate.  ALL you had to do was practice good journalism.

You reported that the truncated tax return was passed on to you by David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist.  It would have been one thing if Johnston had told you, “A source handed it to me and I cannot reveal who that was.” Instead, Johnston admits the document just appeared out of nowhere.  If you were suspicious the return was leaked by the White House, you have to ask, “For what purpose?”

Rachel, I assume you’ve read All the President’s Men or seen the movie.  Weren’t you paying attention?  Consider the following exchange between Bob Woodward and Deep Throat.

Bob Woodward: The letter that destroyed the Muskie candidates… did that come from inside the White House?

Deep Throat: You’re missing the overall.

Bob Woodward: What overall?

Deep Throat: The people behind all of this were frightened of Muskie and that’s what got him destroyed. They wanted to run against McGovern. Look who they’re running against.

You, too, are missing the overall.  What if the White House was frightened you were getting too close to the truth?  Former Navy cryptologist and intelligence expert Malcolm Nance has said as much in several interviews.  Referring to Trump’s wiretap claims, Nance said, “This is the kind of behavior we see when a target is getting buggy. When he thinks he’s going to get caught.”

Not only did you let them change the narrative, you very likely carried their water.  Again, listen to Deep Throat when he chastises Bob Woodward for a single instance of sloppy reporting during the Watergate investigation.

You’ve done worse than let Trump (Haldeman in the original) slip away: you’ve got people feeling sorry for him. I didn’t think that was possible. In a conspiracy like this, you build from the outer edges and go step by step. If you shoot too high and miss, everybody feels more secure. You’ve put the investigation back months.

Woodward and Bernstein made up for their mistake.  Maybe Maddow can too.  But today, I’ve started looking for a new hero to carry the day.

Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?  A nation turns it’s lonely eyes to you.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP