Just when you thought the coverage of this election couldn't get either worse or weirder, veteran NPR centrist-whisperer Cokie Roberts chimes in. She became more famous during the first Clinton administration when Cokie's Law was established on her behalf by the redoubtable Digby, leader of the then-uncivilized tribes of the Intertoobz:

"At this point," said Roberts, "it doesn't much matter whether she said it or not because it's become part of the culture. I was at the beauty parlor yesterday and this was all anyone was talking about."

Thus did Cokie Roberts rearrange American journalism in such a way that truth no longer mattered, and in such a way that something that didn't happen could be said to have happened because people were talking about it, as if we could all gossip an actual plesiosaur into Loch Ness. This also led to certain Great Premises which could be found in scurrilous book-like products.

Anyway, the Cokester was at it again on Monday, chatting on Tote Bag Radio about what the folks are talking about. Mediaite was listening in.

"It's taking her off of the campaign trail," said Roberts Monday morning, indicating that the pneumonia has forced Clinton to cancel her upcoming trip to California. But as for members of the Democratic Party, "It has them very nervously beginning to whisper about her stepping aside and finding another candidate."

Crap. Who are they? Not their names, but at what level of the party? DNC members? Elected officials? Senators? TV pundits? A majority of the voices in Pat Caddell's head? The hairdressers again? (David Shuster also was peddling this barrel of herring on the electric Twitter machine on Sunday night.)

Jesus H. Christ whistling Dixie, is there no half-baked possibility relating to the Clintons that somebody somewhere won't fall for?

Update (5:28 PM): Look, an on the record quote from extremely influential Democrat Don Fowler.

Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io