Here in the real world, Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) has said that he would not endorse his Senate primary opponent, Christine O'Donnell, because of her use of “personal smears” during the campaign. But I guess that's not the story that Fox News wants to tell, so instead they're baselessly speculating that President Obama bribed Castle with a job.

Keep in mind that the smears during this primary were so vicious that Erick Erickson -- who has apologized for referring to former Supreme Court Justice David Souter as a “goat fucking child molester” -- backed away from O'Donnell's campaign. That happened after, in the words of Politico's Ben Smith, “A conservative firm until recently employed by the Delaware primary campaign of conservative Christine O'Donnell against Rep. Mike Castle casually leveled an extraordinary -- and unsupported -- charge of a gay affair against Castle in a video posted to its website today.”

Erickson wrote that while he “would rather see the Democrat get elected than see Mike Castle get elected,” he was “moving on” due to O'Donnell's reaction to that video:

O'Donnell's campaign did distance her from the video, but the damage is done. These were the people she hired for her campaign. That's a judgment issue. Likewise, to my knowledge, neither Christine nor her campaign distanced herself until the next day when asked about it on a radio show. In doing so, the Hotline notes, “O'Donnell . . . call[ed] it an ”insult" to both Castle and his wife. In the process, though, she repeats the rumor several times." [Emphasis added]

So yeah, Castle not jumping to endorse O'Donnell isn't really a shock. But this is Fox News, so of course, there has to be a sinister Obama-led conspiracy behind everything. Funny, if Castle HAD endorsed O'Donnell, I somehow doubt they would have speculated that he had done so because the GOP had offered him a job.

Sean Hannity got things rolling last night, asking Newt Gingrich, “Now why in the age of Joe Sestak and all these other cases that came out in Colorado, Romanoff, why do I suspect there might be a 'you don't endorse her, by the way,' we might have a little job waiting for you at the end of the rainbow here? Why wouldn't he be gracious and call her, congratulate her, and rally around her like he promised to do back in May?"

Note the entire lack of anything remotely resembling proof here -- Hannity is just baselessly speculating on the fly. And Gingrich was quick to shoot him down, saying that “I don't think Mike Castle needs or is going to take a job” and calling him a “man of great integrity.” Watch:

The folks at Fox & Friends -- who are well-known for running with wild tales absent anything remotely resembling evidence - were quick to pick up on the entirely concocted tale: