Last week, the airwaves were full of media praise for Nancy Pelosi to cover for a meltdown seemly aimed at reporter James Rosen but I feel was much more a vent toward a plan going very badly. The media certainly came with both barrels. Chris Mathews and selected Hardball panelists agreed that it may well have been her “finest hour.” That tower of truth Lawrence O’Donnell celebrated her “crushing” of Rosen. Andrea Mitchell attested to Pelosi’s “deep faith” and her sincerity in citing her status as a properly raised Catholic. And the ever-so conservative of convenience David Brooks, no doubt more impressed by the crisp crease of her pantsuit than her substance, called it a “beautiful moment.”

When I bothered to watch the clip of the press conference (actually just a tight, measured statement to the reporters) and her turning on Rosen as she was leaving, my first impression was of a cornered rat striking out and releasing the frustration with its predicament. It might have been quite a bit of her own doing, but Pelosi has been cornered into calling for the bills of impeachment after losing all of the battles needed to make the measure favor her party and her ends.

A person who knows they have control of the situation does not meltdown like that. In her case, I believe she was on-board for an impeachment from the beginning but intended to play it for the full political benefit. And certainly, the present timing would be great for influencing the upcoming elections (seems to be a theme the Dems can’t escape from) if events were in their favor.

The heavy-handed committee meetings with such apparent lack of fairness (not mention evidence of any real kind) have been an across-the-board bust. The more they do, the easier it is to see they have no real case except a distaste for the president and anyone who voted for him. The parade of “witnesses” has been little more than a collection of career swamp dwellers unhappy with the rejection of their great policy insight who had no first-hand knowledge of anything and a selected set of snarky left-wing academics – all of whom appeared to talk down to everyone else without a D in front of their name or not holding a media card. One of the self-important, bow-tied professors even began by instructing us on his “conclusions” before even addressing any points of law and constitutionality.

The bottom line is that the more that the media and House Democrats have thrown out, the more support for Trump has grown. The more the whole thing is too easily seen through, regardless of one’s personal opinion of the president. It is a dishonest sham that can only damage our system of laws.

I am sure that the internal poling that all politicos do is even more telling than what reaches the public. And that it looks bad enough for Speaker Pelosi.

And a Senate trial, which will be more widely watched any of these terrible committee hearing, will allow Republicans (if they have the backbone) to call witnesses who will certainly open up more to the public eye than is comfortable in an election year. There are a few reasonable voices that doubt that it will be allowed to get to the Senate because of that. I am not that insightful.

But I do believe that each of these missteps have made it harder and harder for the House to avoid sending it to the Senate.

But even that poling which is allowed to reach the public eye shows the president gaining ground, not just across-the-board but in so-called battleground states and districts. And the crowning touch was data which suggested his approval among minorities was well over 30 percent. That is indeed a panic signal for the party of dependency.

For several reasons, in that flash of time when Madame Speaker wheeled on Rosen, I didn’t see a devout Catholic defending her love for all mankind (except, of course, for those in their first, second, or third trimester – or maybe a few minutes past), I saw a scheming rat cornered and angered she couldn’t find the next turn in the maze.