Bret Baier discovers not everyone cheerleads for pols like Fox News

Bret Baier probably thought he was getting a really good tweak in by highlighting CNN personalities who have previously criticized incoming host Eliot Spitzer for his behavior while he was governor of New York:

In fact, the clip does more to point out that CNN seems to have an atmosphere where criticisms can be made of politicians from both sides of the aisle, instead of following Fox News' pattern of blatant promotion in favor of the Republican party (Fox's parent company has literally invested in the GOP).

There are a lot of once (and future?) Republican candidates on Fox's roster (Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum, among others) but you'd have a hard time assembling a similar montage of criticism of them by Fox News personalities. It's not how things are done over there. And when criticism is offered, the critic is often pilloried for deviating from the official line as Karl Rove was when he discussed Christine O'Donnell's “checkered background.” Rove soon returned to Fox with praise for O'Donnell, apparently learning his Fox News lesson.

At the same time, Fox News is repeating - practically verbatim - Republican talking points disguised as news coverage.

So, while Baier points and laughs at CNN, the joke seems to be on Fox.