Fox News has been trying to shield Governor Chris Christie from as much criticism as they can after the Bridgegate scandal blew up on him Thursday. Remember, Roger Ailes had openly recruited Christie to run for president in 2012.

A few months ago, Ailes called Chris Christie and encouraged him to jump into the race. Last summer, he’d invited Christie to dinner at his upstate compound along with Rush Limbaugh, and like much of the GOP Establishment, he fell hard for Christie, who nevertheless politely turned down Ailes’s calls to run. Ailes had also hoped that David Petraeus would run for president, but Petraeus too has decided to sit this election out, choosing to stay on the counterterrorism front lines as the head of Barack Obama’s CIA.

During the almost two hour press Bridgegate conference, Fox News cut away about half way through and never returned while the New Jersey governor talked for another 45 minutes.

On Friday, during Gretchen Carlson's show, I admit I was stunned that vicious right wing talk show and poll denier host Mike Gallagher didn't buy Chris Christie's know-nothing act.

Gallagher: You either believe him or you don't'. if there's not any evidence to suggest that he knew what was happening American's will still have in their hearts a belief that it's either feasible that he didn't know what was going on in this tight knit, his self described tight knit circle of aides or he was aware..

Carlson: Did you believe him when you heard him yesterday?

Gallagher: I did not. I don't believe it's even conceivable that with all the press that we were getting here in the NY area when it was happening in September that he wouldn't have said to somebody, what the heck is going on? I can't wrap my brain around somebody being loyal to him and doing something on his behalf politically and not telling him so that they would be the beneficiary of his appreciation.

Wow, if a right winger like Gallagher doesn't believe him, Christie is in more trouble than I thought.