Shooting the messenger is an established reaction for those leaders who reject reality and refuse to confront unpalatable truths. But, after a fleeting moment of gratification, the wheel of history invariably rolls over them. While he still has time, therefore, Mr Bertie Ahern should consider the larger picture. He has presented himself to the public as a reforming Taoiseach and has asked to be judged by certain criteria. Following criticism of that performance, should he now complain of an orchestrated media campaign and a "vendetta"?
Both Mr Ahern and Mr Ray Burke attempted to draw "a line in the sand" and to blank out the Haughey years. The Taoiseach said on Wednesday: "I am working to overcome the legacy of the past in a way that properly discriminates between the good and the bad; so that we can have a public life of which we are proud and in which there can be trust."
A laudable objective. But who decides the dividing line between "good" and "bad"?
And what about the public's right to know so that it can judge matters itself?
On September 2nd, when the Dail met to consider the implications of the McCracken tribunal's damning report on payments to politicians, Mr Ahern recognised that the public required "an absolute guarantee of the financial probity and integrity of their elected representatives" and "to know they were not under financial obligations to anybody".
He made that statement on the day the former minister for foreign affairs, Mr Burke, tried to explain to the Dail the circumstances surrounding his acceptance of £30,000 in cash from a construction company in 1989. The Minister said he was being "smeared" by allegations that he had received £80,000 from Bovale and James Murphy Structural Engineers (JMSE) who were seeking to have more than 700 acres rezoned in north Co Dublin.
Mr Ahern insisted there was no evidence his Minister had engaged in wrongdoing and he refused to have a preliminary investigation of the matter conducted by the Moriarty tribunal which was then being established.
Ms Mary Harney and the Progressive Democrats supported Mr Ahern's position in spite of the "extraordinarily large amount of money" given to Mr Burke.
Within two weeks, the situation had changed. A letter from Bovale, dated three days before the money changed hands, was published, which offered to procure planning permission for the land; spoke of the expenses involved; and estimated the costs of the operation to be in the region of £1.5 million.
The Progressive Democrats regarded the development as "extremely serious" and demanded the matter be investigated by a tribunal. After a few days hesitation, Mr Ahern reluctantly agreed.
An opinion poll showed 79 per cent of the public did not accept Mr Burke's version of events. And, by last Saturday, many people in Fianna Fail and most people in the Progressive Democrats believed Mr Burke was terminally damaged.
Ms Harney said as much yesterday in an interview. While insisting there was no evidence of wrongdoing against Mr Burke and that her party had not sought his resignation, she believed he had done the right thing in resigning from the Government and the Dail.
Ever since the Government had been formed, 14 weeks earlier, she said, allegations concerning the minister had overshadowed Government business. And she quoted his statement of resignation with approval.
In that, Mr Burke said: "I believe that the holder of my office must be allowed the opportunity of giving total focus to those most pressing issues (the Northern Ireland talks) and should not be subject to distractions from any other quarter." The ongoing controversies made that impossible.
There was a palpable sense of relief within the Progressive Democrats that a nightmare had ended. And a very definite effort was made not to become involved in Fianna Fail's media conspiracy allegations.
Ms Harney objected to inconsistency in media demands on her party but she recognised no vendetta against the Government.
There was fear and loathing within Fianna Fail. Members of the Government and the parliamentary party who had been prepared to accept Mr Burke's resignation as a minister were appalled by his decision to resign his Dail seat.
A totally clean cut might have been in Mr Burke's best interests but where did that leave them? Down one in their Dail numbers.
And what did it say about Mr Burke's relations with his Cabinet colleagues?
Backbenchers were well aware of the softening-up process that had been going on. They had heard two Fianna Fail Ministers of State publicly express concern that Mr Burke would not be able to fulfil his Northern responsibilities because of the controversy.
And they were aware of the vitriol sloshing through the party following the humiliation of Mr Albert Reynolds. But the sudden loss of a Dail seat was catastrophic and a sure recipe for a loss of political nerve.
Moving to shore up morale by identifying external enemies, Mr Ahern picked on Fine Gael and a media conspiracy.
The Irish Times loomed large in that regard because it had demanded that the findings of the McCracken tribunal be rigorously implemented in relation to the dubious, offshore Ansbacher accounts.
And it had insisted that questions remained unanswered concerning Mr Burke's receipt of a very large amount of money.
Last Saturday, this newspaper revealed that Mr Ahern had also interviewed Mr Burke over his handling of the passports for sale scheme in 1990.
And that Mrs Maire GeogheganQuinn, a former minister for justice, had viewed her colleague's handling of the matter with grave concern in 1994.
It is clear that the Taoiseach would have preferred these matters to remain secret. His flailing Dail attacks on Mr John Bruton and Mrs Nora Owen for "leaking" the details - something they denied - and for "hounding an innocent man into resignation" was the work of a rattled man.
Mr Ahern and some of his Cabinet colleagues have reason to be worried.
For the past couple of months, Mr Bruton has insisted that collective Cabinet responsibility would taint all members of those Haughey governments if any wrongdoing was established by the Moriarty tribunal. It is a Damoclean sword hanging over the Government.
Yesterday, Mr Charlie McCreevy joined with the Taoiseach in laying into The Irish Times, one of his favourite targets. And the Minister for Finance included "upset personnel in RTE" in the make-believe vendetta against Mr Burke.
Dr Jim McDaid surfaced from Tourism, Sport and Recreation to talk about the nefarious doings of the "politarazzi" who were being "fed by Fine Gael".
It wasn't clear whether Dr McDaid was likening Mr Burke's resignation to Princess Diana's death; or whether political correspondents had acted like the freelance photographers who had followed her car. Whatever the Minister's intention, the comment reflected the deep-seated anger, concern and over-the-top reaction of Fianna Fail Ministers.
Before the anti-media campaign totally blinds them to reality, they would be wise to take soundings among their own supporters.