Today on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports," Chuck Todd let the cat out of the bag that government employees will be paid back for furlough days in the event of a government shutdown, neutralizing the Democrats' insistence that government employees are slated to get the short end of the stick thanks to the shutdown. Fellow White House Correspondent, Luke Russert tried to undo the damage by insisting that it is in fact possible—and maybe even likely—that government employees will never be reimbursed.

The culprits? The House Republicans of course: "There’s no guarantee those federal workers would get paid. Congress would have to pass that out. And that’s something that’s worrisome to federal workers because there’s no guarantee that this House Republican Congress would pay them at all."

But Russert wasn’t done. When Mitchell later attempted to debunk the “myth where America hates government workers,” Russert once again felt the need to insert himself. This time to remind her of the Washington Post’s sympathy story about the struggling National Zoo employee who’s “working two jobs” and a “father of six,” just “trying to work to pay back his college tuition...”

The only shocker here is that Russert didn’t mention the impending panda blackout.