Wait … what? Debbie Wasserman Schultz attacked the mainstream media for its bias and hostility toward Ben Carson? Ahhh, but there’s a catch in this nice find by Newsbusters. It turns out that DWS had to use Carson as the rhetorical diversion to protect Hillary Clinton from renewed media scrutiny into her serial fabulism — and by a surprising source:

At first, Wasserman Schultz tries challenging Andrea Mitchell on the value of the story. “Why on Earth are we talking about this?” the DNC chair laments — and Mitchell shuts her down:

MITCHELL: Good to talk to you. I have to tell you, I’ve covered her a long time, I was unaware of this. But she first said it when she was First Lady in 1994 at a meeting on the Hill, and then it was written up by Maureen Dowd back in 1994. It doesn’t track. Maureen wrote, “Mrs. Clinton offered the story to illustrate how far women had come. She said ‘it was not an isolated situation’ for women to be turned away by military recruiters. She lauded efforts to bring women into more aspects of military service.”

That said, she had worked for both George McGovern, you know, and Gene McCarthy, she was actively against the war in Vietnam. Why on earth would she go to a Marine recruiter in 1975? And try to – and she was a lawyer professor in Fayetteville, Arkansas, married to Bill Clinton, or engaged to marry Bill Clinton. It doesn’t make sense.

SCHULTZ: With all due respect, Andrea, why on earth are we talking about this?

MITCHELL: Because she brought it up in New Hampshire the other day. If she hadn’t brought it up, it would not be an issue in this campaign.

Wasserman Schultz then tries to change the subject to the progress of women in the military, but Mitchell isn’t having any of that, either. Finally, Schultz reaches for the Ben Carson card:

Do we need every single experience in a person’s life to be written in stone and blood and verifiable? There are things that happen to people all across America that can’t be verified. And I know your next question’s going to be about Ben Carson. And I think quite frankly, the same goes for stories about Ben Carson. The issues that are important to Americans in this race are who is going to go to bat for them, have their back, and make sure that they can build those cornerstones of a middle class life.

If Team Carson doesn’t have that in an ad by Monday, someone should be fired for malpractice. “Even the DNC recognizes that Ben Carson is the true candidate of the middle class!” it should scream in 48-point type, although that’s not exactly a tough argument to make when running in a field that includes a real-estate multi-billionaire and the scion of a dynastic political family. And really, everyone in the GOP field can use this to point out that even Democrats think the media has run off the rails, at least if they don’t want to pick up the fabulism attack on Hillary themselves. It’s the Debbie Downer gift that keeps on giving.

Speaking of which, the Democratic field — which means Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and comic relief Martin O’Malley — will hold their second debate tonight. Wasserman Schultz did her best to bury these events, and this might well be the best-hidden presidential debate in history. Even those inclined to spend Saturday night huddled around a TV watching political news will likely be much more interested in following the updates from the Paris attack than watching the softballs tossed around the stage in the CBS News event. It runs from 9-11 pm ET, so be sure to tune in if you have no friends, no family, and no social life whatsoever. The rest of us will catch up with the transcripts later.