an ardent Democrat, he's considered one of the most liberal members of Congress. (Here's more on his legislation to help out the long-term unemployed.)

Of course, he's only recently become a Republican on the Fox News rolls because he was the proponent of a piece of legislation they wanted to do a warm and fuzzy report about. In previous incarnations -- such as when an appeals court ruled against McDermott in his court fight with Cryin' John Boehner over those released incriminating audiotapes -- they readily identified him as a Democrat.

Back in 2002, Bill O'Reilly devoted the better part of a whole "Talking Points Memo" segment to castigating McDermott for "giving aid and comfort to the enemy". He was definitely a Democrat then too.

It's sort of the usual Fox principle -- if a Republican is caught in a sex scandal, ID him as a Democrat -- in reverse.