Fox employs every leading potential Republican candidate for President except Mitt Romney. [View All]

Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are all deemed possible 2012 Presidential candidates. They’re also all current employees of Fox News. Not only do they draw a paycheck from the network that would cover their presidential campaigns, they’ve also signed exclusivity deals with Fox. Politico’s Jonathan Martin talks about what this means for him and other political reporters

A note to Tea Party activists: This is not the movie you think it is. You probably imagine that you’re starring in “The Birth of a Nation,” but you’re actually just extras in a remake of “Citizen Kane.”

True, there have been some changes in the plot. In the original, Kane tried to buy high political office for himself. In the new version, he just puts politicians on his payroll.

I mean that literally. As Politico recently pointed out, every major contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination who isn’t currently holding office and isn’t named Mitt Romney is now a paid contributor to Fox News. Now, media moguls have often promoted the careers and campaigns of politicians they believe will serve their interests. But directly cutting checks to political favorites takes it to a whole new level of blatancy.