The meme o’ the week onto which much of the media is beginning to fiercely glom with faux indignation, wherein Republicans are getting oh-so-perilously close to “overreach” territory with their investigating and publicizing the latest roster of Obama administration, was going strong into Tuesday morning. Oh, yes — of course there are legitimate and important aspects of these investigations and certain questions that still need answering, they’ll agree temperately, before turning the focus to cautioning Republicans on going too far with any unfortunate rhetoric that might overshadow their oversight efforts. That was the tack employed by former Team Obama front man David Axelrod during an appearance on MSNBC this morning, during which he lamented that Darrell Issa might already have “torqued this thing up so high that he threatens to take the party over the cliff.” Riiiight, via Mediaite:

There are clearly serious things that ought to be looked at, and the Congress has the right to look at them. And the question is just, will they overplay their hand? You know, if, Darrell Issa has torqued this thing up so high that he threatens to take the party over the cliff. And if I were Republicans, I would say to Issa, in the parlance of his old business, ‘please step away from that car.’ I think that there’s real danger here for them.

Rejoinder: Will concern-trolling journalists and talking heads ‘worried’ about the Republicans overplaying their hand, overplay their hand?