Fox News Suspends Gingrich, Santorum Until They Confirm They Aren't Running for President

Apparently, someone at Fox News happened to leaf through a book on journalistic ethics today. That's the only explanation I can come up with to explain why the network is suddenly concerned that many of their contracted political contributors are also considered to be potential candidates for president in 2012.

Whatever the reason for the sudden interest in professional integrity, Fox News anchor Bret Baier today announced that network policy necessitates the suspension of its contracts with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum because they seem to be planning to launch presidential campaigns. 

Fox's embrace of ethical standards may have come fashionably late, but they're all about talking the talk now. Witness what vice president of legal and business affairs Diane Brandi said to the Los Angeles Times today.

"We can't have Speaker Gingrich on our payroll while he is in the midst of an exploratory committee to see if he's going to run for office," she said. "It's a clear conflict."

Of course, there's Fox "clear," and then there's what the rest of us generally understand "clear" to mean. Fox seems to be making fine distinctions in determining which of their contributors to suspend for considering a run for the presidency, because many of them are considered to be potential 2012 candidates, including Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin. In fact, while her credibility is pretty low as a potential candidate for president, the possibility of Palin running is routinely discussed by both the general public and all arms of the media. A poll released today suggested that Huckabee is the current GOP frontrunner among Southerners.

So why weren't their contracts up on the suspension block today, Ms. Brandi? 

"As soon as each of them shows some serious intention to form an exploratory committee, we would take the same action," Brandi said. "Huckabee is on a book tour, so I think his present intention is to sell books."

As for Palin, "She hasn't yet shown a serious intention to form an exploratory committee."

That's true. All Palin has done is aggressively attack everything President Obama does or doesn't do and release a rebuttal video to his speech at the Tuscon massacre memorial, complete with fireplace and flag in the background. Oh, and she stated in an interview that she thinks she could beat him in the election. But as long as the words "exploratory committee" aren't actually spoken in public, I guess she can continue to earn her $1 million a year right up to her announcement that she's going to run.

Meanwhile, Santorum and Gingrich have until May 1 to tell Fox that they are definitely not running, at which time they can come in from the cold and resume using the network as a forum for their political propaganda. Because at Fox News, it's not the principle that counts - it's the appearance of caring about principles.