Rupert and James Murdoch were a great tag team yesterday before the Parliamentary inquiry. In fact, I dare say the pie attack coupled with Mrs. Murdoch’s response lent sympathy toward the Murdoch clan and ultimately helped Rupert Murdoch take the upper hand in the hearings.

But in this country, Media Matters, the left in general, and the Obama Administration are savoring the possible destruction of News Corp, which they view as an enemy.

It’s both sad and funny that the Obama Administration and Democrats are considering stretching the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act relating to bribing foreign officials to try to kill off one of the handful of major news organizations not giving Obama a free, near propagandistic ride like MSNBC does.

But what’s so hilariously hypocritical about all of this comes down to Eric Holder and bananas. Nope, not kidding.

Yesterday, I mentioned a reporter at the Cincinnati Enquirer, Michael Gallagher, who had written an 18 page exposé on Chiquita Brands International and its corporate goings on in Central America. The report sourced phone calls leaked to the newspaper that were not obtained legally.

Gannett, the publisher of the paper, was never called before Congress. It’s CEO was never attacked the way Murdoch is being attacked. But the left howled over the comparison. They should have waited until today. Because there’s more.

The Chiquita banana phone “hacking” was not quite the same as the News of the World stuff. The difference was that Gallagher, the reporter, was actually given the voicemail codes by a Chiquita employee. It’s a difference of degree, but a significant degree.

But that’s not the real story about the Chiquita banana nonsense. The real story was that the reporter uncovered that Chiquita, with the help of a guy named Eric Holder, was illegally bribing terrorist groups in South America. And Eric Holder used his influence with one Michael Chertoff, then a high-ranking Department of Justice attorney, to make sure the U.S. never charged Chiquita with breaking the law.

And what did the media focus on at the time? The voicemail access, not the explicit and illegal bribes paid to terrorists.

This time, however, it’s different. And the left is cheering on Eric Holder’s attempt to go after News Corp by stretching a federal law he himself, without stretching, helped a corporation get away with violating and then used influence with the American government to avoid prosecution.

*Link to the Democratic Underground for the bit about Eric Holder was totally intentional.