Suppose you were a Democrat. And suppose you were a member of the mainstream media. But we repeat ourselves.

Mark Twain’s original quip noted the symbiosis between idiots and members of Congress, but it’s clearly a plug-and-play observation, clearly transferable to relationships among other institutions. And perhaps nowhere is this more the case than with the mutually beneficial relationship between the Democrat Party and the mainstream media, through which the former gains a guard dog against legitimate oversight and the latter gains an undeserved air of respectability.

More evidence of this cozy relationship emerged in recent days, as House Republicans announced that they’d launched an impeachment inquiry into the Biden Crime Family. The reaction was both swift and predictable: Rather than responding to the substance of the allegations against Joe and Hunter, the Denialist Democrats denounced the inquiry and continued to trumpet their laughable “not a shred of evidence” claims.

More remarkably, though, the White House demanded an investigation of the investigators. And the mainstream media obliged.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s statement was matter-of-fact: “Through our investigations, we have found that President Biden did lie to the American people about his own knowledge of his family’s foreign business dealings,” he said, adding that “these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption.”

This was too much for the White House Counsel’s office. In a 14-page memo from spokesman Ian Sams to “editorial leadership at U.S. news media organizations,” the Biden White House challenged their mainstream media water-carriers with the following subject line: “It’s Time For The Media To Do More To Scrutinize House Republicans’ Demonstrably False Claims That They’re Basing Impeachment Stunt On.”

Leftmedia bias is nothing new, of course, but the paternalistic tone of the White House memo shows the level of subservience that Democrats expect from our ostensibly independent press. Exhibit A would be a bizarre “Facts First” “fact-check” of Speaker McCarthy’s statement.

As National Review’s Becket Adams writes: “Out of the more than 2,300 words published by CNN, not one points to a single falsehood, lie, or even inaccuracy spoken by McCarthy during his announcement. In fact, the article concedes nearly all the speaker’s chief points. Instead of fact-checking McCarthy as the article promises, the reporters dedicate their efforts to reminding readers, repeatedly, that eyewitness testimony and suspicious bank activities are not necessarily evidence that the president engaged in an international influence-peddling operation.”

Seems odd for a “fact-check” not to fact-check the facts, no?

Perhaps the most hilarious of CNN’s charges against McCarthy is in response to his statement that “The President did lie to the American people about his own knowledge of his family’s foreign business dealings.”

This is a factual assertion — one that even the White House has had to walk back in recent weeks. And yet CNN can’t even muster the nerve to acknowledge it, instead stating, “Joe Biden’s unequivocal denials of any business-related contact with his son have been undercut over time.”

“Undercut over time.” Indeed, just like the mainstream media’s credibility.