Sentence:  In Ottawa, Senator Marjory LeBreton claimed in a speech on Wednesday that allegations of spending abuses by her colleagues were “hyped-up media stories” that were inevitable in a “town populated by Liberal elites and their media <WSD>lickspittles</WSD>.” 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A fawning toady; a base sycophant.<ref name="OED:lick-spittle"/>