There is no surer way to know that the Democrats' anti-Trump messaging is having a bad day than when it is called out on MSNBC. But on Thursday's MSNBC Live that is exactly what happened. Against the backdrop of the House Judiciary Committee approving what they claim to be rules governing an impeachment inquiry, host Craig Melvin, NBC correspondent Geoff Bennett, and Politico's Jake Sherman called out the Democrats' doublespeak on the issue.

Melvin began the segment by showing a clip of Bennett quizzing Speaker Nancy Pelosi's at her recently concluded press conference. Pelosi stated that she supports the committee colleagues doing "what we have been doing all along" to which Bennett asked a the simple question, "Is the specific language not important? I mean, how should the American people understand the work of this committee when members are speaking very differently about it?"

Pelosi interrupted, dodged the question, and blamed the media for any confusion, saying "the American people understand." Not convinced, Bennett pressed, "That's not true ma’am ... Rank and file members talk very differently about this." Pelosi again dodged the question and in an attempt to do some damage control, said that was the only question she would take on the subject that her Democratic colleagues spent the earlier part of the day insisting was a big development.

Back in studio, Melvin asked Sherman, who was also at the press conference, his thoughts. Sherman also wasn't buying Pelosi's evasive answers:

Frankly, she's frustrated by these questions and thinks they're not really out of line, but that they're a waste of time, because until there are impeachment articles in front of the committee, all Democrats are doing is investigating. So that's the way she views it. She views the kind of all over their rhetoric as a creation of the media. Of course, we don't view it as that. Democrats have been all over the map when it comes to what they are doing to hold the president accountable, but in Nancy Pelosi’s view, they have been consistent and she hasn't moved one iota.

Later in the segment after some thoughts from nominal Republican Michael Steele , Melvin returned to Sherman, "Your newsletter, Jake Sherman there, Politico, you called it a dumpster fire this morning. What makes it such?" Sherman then rightly pointed out that Democrats are not confused as some have suggested, but are rather trying to have it both ways in order to appease the competing factions of their party:

There's competing dynamics here. There's the leadership which sees their caucus which is made up of people who won in a lot of right-leaning districts or more right-leaning than others. Then you have more Progressive Democrats in touch with the base and the base, the Democratic Progressive base no doubt wants to impeach this president. So, you have a push and pull there.

In words not often said here, MSNBC is exactly right. Bennett called Pelosi out to the point where she no longer wanted to talk about it and while some have seen the "dumpster fire" as signs of chaos and confusion, Sherman rightly sees it as a way to appease the progressive base while covering for the moderate members facing tough re-election bids next year.

Here is a transcript for the September 12 show: