Were Democratic attacks on Rush Limbaugh coordinated with the White House? Watch Paul Begala hilariously duck and dodge and dance around Anderson Cooper's many futile questions about the matter.

Begala joined with fellow ex-Bill-and-Hillary-Clinton aide James Carville in recent months to highlight Limbaugh's influence over the Republican party and general ridiculousness, like saying he wanted Barack Obama to fail. That much is agreed upon.

What's not nailed down — but reported convincingly by Politico — is that Begala coordinated his campaign with White House buddies like Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff. He and the president's press secretary publicly slammed Limbaugh.

It was a terrible White House conspiracy, you see, to engage in, uh... politics. That's basically illegal for Democrats, right?

CNN anchor Cooper wanted to get to the bottom of things partly because Begala, a CNN "analyst," used his CNN time as part of his scheme. So Cooper put on his very serious squinty face while interviewing the strategist.

Begala, in turn, did his best impersonation of a dodgy, slithering Richard Nixon aide, because why not get yet another day of free press out of the Limbaugh bashing?

It's just smart flackery: When the news media discusses the non-scandal of Rahm Emanuel planning to make Rush Limbaugh the face of the Republican party, it just reinforces the idea that Limbaugh is the face of the Republican party, a story that would otherwise be dying off right now.

Besides, Anderson loves making that serious squinty face.