I think the question comes though, why do we draw the line so demonstrably further for Democrats? In this case, it's "the more power or influence a person used to have." People really want their heroes to be Superman and their enemies to be Lex Luthor. It's a manichean stupidity that shouldn't be entertained.I think the question comes though, where do we draw the line?
I think a good rule of thumb is, the more power or influence a person has, the higher the standards we should hold them to.
If you consider Jon Stewart et al. to be liberals, which seems to be the case, it's much more rare to see them bang their own walls. They are what I can best call "passive political figures": they don't act on their own (barring, perhaps, Stewart - haven't been keeping much of an eye on the rest), but they still propagate a certain point of view, and due to their popularity, people tend to listen.