Over the past week, Fox News and other conservatives have been caterwauling about a video of Wisconsin students participating in an anti-Walker protest.

Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft declared that for liberal “loons,” it is “never too early to indoctrinate the children.” And, in his usual understated and classy fashion, he included the following photoshopped image in his post:

This morning on Fox & Friends, the weekend crew hosted Fox employee and potential presidential candidate Mike Huckabee for some Obama/Democrat bashing. During the segment, they discussed the video of the Wisconsin students protesting.

After playing the clip, guest host Peter Johnson Jr. asked if this video was like “something out of, I don't know, Red China or something?” He added that he had “never seen kids used in that fashion.”

Huckabee announced that he has a “problem with indoctrinating these kids,” and said that the students likely have “no idea” what Walker has done to spawn these protests. While he said that he had no problem with the actual kids, he “blame[s] parents, who would use their children in a way for such a overtly political game without them having any context at all.” Watch:

As we've pointed out, right-wing media outlets like Fox had no problem with kids being involved in numerous tea party and pro-life rallies.

But the hypocrisy is actually much worse than that. In 2009, Fox spent weeks relentlessly hyping the first round of “FNC Tax Day Tea Parties.” On the day of the events, they carried live coverage from around the country.

In Boston, Fox Business host Cody Willard interviewed a group of children at the tea party event. He announced that he was here with the “next generation of taxpayers.” After asking some protesters chanting “end the Fed!” to quiet down since he was “on [their] side,” Willard kneeled down and engaged the sign-holding kids. He asked one girl if she was “worried about [her] taxes going up,” and a young boy if he was “worried about me stealing your money, dude?”

Watch:

While Fox was upset that the Wisconsin students spent their day off at the WI protests, I don't remember them complaining about kids attending the “FNC Tax Day Tea Parties” on a Wednesday.

It's almost like there's a double standard here.

UPDATE:

During a Tea Party Express rally in 2010, Media Matters filmed Fox News reporter Griff Jenkins asking a child about the “costs of the government” on her shoulders.