Remember last month when MSNBC's Rachel Maddow could not bring herself to even whisper that corrupt convicted mayors in Trenton and New Orleans were (place finger to lips) Democrats ...?

Last night, the pendulum swung all the way to the other side. There are so many Dems answering awkward questions from police and FBI agents that Maddow threw ideological caution to the wind and repeatedly -- almost obsessively -- cited their party affiliation. Curiouser still, to borrow from Lewis Carroll, Maddow downplayed what were arguably the most serious accusations of all, those leveled at California state senator Leland Yee. (Video after the jump)

Pass the smelling salts. Wednesday afternoon Pacific Time (early evening Eastern Time), someone at the Los Angeles Times actually noticed something quite a bit less than perfect about the Democratic Party and its politicians.

Okay, it's an analysis piece at the Politics Now blog by Political Editor Cathleen Decker. But most LA Times "analyses" are insufferably far to the left and consist of some combination of blatant falsehoods, mean-spirited attacks on Republicans and conservatives, bowing down to the pseudo-science of climate change, and effusive praise of Democrats even as they fail. Thus, Decker's piece sticks out like a red-clad University of Louisville fan sitting in the deep-blue University of Kentucky cheering section. Excerpts follow (bolds are mine):