Fox News political analyst Brit Hume and anchor Bret Baier attempted to shift responsibility for the possible government shutdown from Republicans to Democrats by blaming biased reporting from the “mainstream media” and not the actions of Republicans in Congress for the popular perception that Republicans would be responsible for a government shutdown.

The government may shut down after Republicans attempted to use a looming government shutdown as leverage to defund the Affordable Care Act. According to the Huffington Post, the GOP-led House of Representatives “passed a stopgap funding bill Friday that will shut down the government unless Democrats agree to defund President Barack Obama's marquee health care law.” Economists fear that a government shutdown -- especially if it were followed by a potential default on the federal debt -- could hurt financial markets, elevate the unemployment rate, and further slow a sluggish economic recovery. More than 783,000 federal employees could be sent home, according to a CNN analysis.

On the September 30 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Baier introduced a commentary from Hume by claiming, “The mainstream media across the board has apparently made its call about who will be to blame if the government shutdown occurs, partial or not.” Hume then elaborated, saying, “One reason people think Republicans are to blame for government shutdowns is so much of the media keep telling them that's the case.”

A recent CNN poll found that 46% of Americans believe that the GOP would be responsible for a government shutdown, while 69% of Americans believe Republican members of Congress have acted “mostly like spoiled children.” Americans may feel that way because, acccording to Mother Jones, “Republicans have been very clear all along that they were deliberately stringing out the budget process so they could use a shutdown as leverage for their demands.” Even other Republicans have been critical of the shutdown strategy, with Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), famously calling it the “dumbest idea I'd ever heard.”

Fox's own pundits have been divided. Sean Hannity said that defunding the ACA via a government shutdown is “the hill to die on,” for the GOP. Charles Krauthammer described that same strategy as “really dumb,” and “nuts.” But those comments both acknowledge the GOP's responsibility for employing a strategy that could shut down the government.

In reality, Democrats have already shown a “willingness to compromise,” according to Roll Call, which reported that “House Democratic leaders said on Monday that they are prepared to vote for a rider-free continuing resolution at sequester levels -- a cave from earlier condemnations of the House-passed $986 billion topline.” Roll Call's David Hawkings reported that, unless Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner changes his mind, the shutdown is inevitable, but that's not likely because Republican leadership are under too much pressure from within their own party to compromise.

Hume previously acknowledged the right wing media's role in fueling such partisan showdowns in Congress, saying of some Republicans in Congress, “if you're sitting over in the House of Representatives and some measure to defund Obamacare comes along and you think it's a suicide mission because it might involve a government shutdown you're going to be hesitant to oppose it anyway because you don't want the most conservative -- you don't want the tea party and you don't want the conservative radio talk show hosts on your back.”