Fox News has been accused at times by progressives of acting as an arm of the Republican Party, particularly in the wake of its parent company's $1 million donation last month to the Republican Governors Association. During the current election season, however, that support has become particularly noticeable.

When Sarah Palin spoke with Fox's Bill O'Reilly on Wednesday about Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell's campaign in Delaware, the two of them sounded less like a host and a news analyst than like a pair of political strategists hashing over plans for how Fox could best serve the Republican Party.

Palin even went so far as to advise that if O'Donnell is going to overcome negative perceptions of her, "She's going to have to ... get out there, speak to the American people, speak through Fox News."

O'Reilly had begun by citing recent harsh criticism of O'Donnell by former White House adviser Karl Rove, who told Fox's Sean Hannity on Tuesday night, "I wasn’t frankly impressed by her abilities as a candidate. ... There were a lot of nutty things she has been saying that don't add up.”