A report in the New York Times reveals that Roger Ailes, president of Fox News, has a special relationship with the front-runner for the nomination of the Republican Party for president. Rudy and Roger go back 20 years and share a level of intimacy that is well illustrated in this paragraph:

“Mr. Ailes served as the media consultant to Mr. Giuliani’s first mayoral campaign in 1989. Mr. Giuliani, as mayor, officiated at Mr. Ailes’s wedding and intervened on his behalf when Mr. Ailes’s company, Fox News Channel, was blocked from securing a cable station in the city.”

It shouldn’t come as any surprise to find politicians and propagandists shacking up with one another. Theirs is an incestuous collusion of benefit swapping that goes back decades. What’s interesting is the specific rewards Giuliani has enjoyed thanks to the generosity of his favorite friend from Fox:

“Since the beginning of this year, Mr. Giuliani has appeared for 115 minutes in interviews on Fox. More than half of those minutes, 78, were spent with Mr. Hannity, co-host of the “Hannity & Colmes” talk show.”

That makes Rudy the most frequent guest on Fox News amongst all presidential candidates. It pays to have friends in high places. And I’m sure that’s exactly what Ailes, and his boss, Rupert Murdoch, are thinking when they throw their considerable weight behind White House wannabes.