Fox News Dumps Sarah Palin
Fox News has ended its contract with Sarah Palin, although the former reality television star will apparently still appear on the network from time to time:
Fox News will not renew its contract with Sarah Palin, whose bombastic appearances have been a cable staple since the former Alaska governor’s failed run on John McCain’s ticket in the 2008 presidential election cycle. When asked for comment, a Fox News spokesperson confirmed the network had amicably parted ways with the governor on June 1.
Palin, 51, is expected to make occasional guest appearances on Fox and Fox Business, and will appear on other networks and cables. She has a show on the Sportsman Channel, does a lot of speeches, and will announce a new publishing project soon.
When Palin was at her zenith, she made frequent appearances, and Fox installed a camera at her house. But executives consider her less relevant now, and her appearances were sometimes hampered by the vast time difference with Alaska. She remains a huge conservative force on Facebook, with 4.5 million fans – twice that of Rand Paul, who has the biggest reach in the 2016 field. She also has 1.15 million Twitter followers.
This has happened before, of course, Palin’s contract with the network was said to be in jeopardy in 2012 and ultimately not renewed in 2013, but Palin returned not too long afterwards. One suspects, though, that this time may be different. Sarah Palin is far from the political force she was four years ago, and barely registered in the 2014 midterms. There’s been next to nobody speculating about whether she might run for President in 2016, which of course she will not do, and her main means of communication with the world at this point seems to be her Facebook page where she receives nothing but obsequiously flattering comments from her remaining fans and on a subscription-based channel on the Internet that seems to have little content other than Palin herself.
There is the “only a female can beat Hillary” crowd that might try to get her to run, as the Fiorina candidacy seems dead in the water. And she might have enough fans to make the top ten in his crazy field. Don’t count her out.
It’s possible, I suppose, that she’ll dangle the possibility of running the way she did in 2011, to market her brand. But I don’t know if she could pull the same stunt twice. She has a small group of hardcore loyalists who still think they’ll been attending President Palin’s inauguration in January 2017. It seems that a lot of people who used to hang on her every word have abandoned her, however, some for Cruz and some for Trump.
Pity. She’s my favorite grifter.
How much money has she lined her pockets with? All of it would otherwise have been spent to usefully oppose things I care about.
She should run for President.
Ailes is moving Fox News left a bit. He dropped Glen Beck. Now he’s dropping Palin. Huckabee’s gone, At the same time he’s giving more prominence to Megan Kelly and his slightly more real-world people. Hannity will be the next to go.
Ailes knows the current right-wing hysteria is burning out, exhausted by 6 years of race-baiting and hate-spewing. He can see his demo growing older and older. He knows the younger audience is turned off and moving to the web. If Fox News is going to survive as something other than a way for charlatans to fleece old farts with phony gold deals, he’s going to have to change.
Sorry to hear this because Palin had great entertainment value.
She is easily the least thoughtful, least introspective, unfiltered major politician in the post-Watergate era. She set the bar low and it will some time – maybe a week of two – before we see the likes of her on Fox again.
@michael reynolds: I suspect Ailes himself will soon be gone with the change of management at FOX. The Murdoch sons have made no secret of their dislike of FOX news and Ailes.
Can relevance go negative? At what point does it wrap around?
Queue up the next Palin-Palooza in 3-2-1…
I expect some attention grabbing ploy shortly.
Palin’s #1fanboy M Joseph Shephard thinks Palin wasn’t dropped but rather chose not to renew her contract and because she is going up run for POTUS. It’s too funny!!!!!!!!
@Gustopher: Lined her pocket-asked for a bent straw, etc.etc.etc. why don’t you look a Killary’s LARGE speaking fee’s with G-5’s pick-up and deliveries…….get a set of CO-JOHN’S Gus and go after the “BIG FISH”…….it’s worth the hunt !!!!!
Like most aging pop stars, or Phylis Schlafly before her Palin will drift into the state then county fair circuit, maybe the occasional book tour signing event as a second tier attraction, marked only by the occasional headline when she says something particularly stupid or outrageous.
@Ron Beasley:
I hope so. But Ailes makes money for them. I’m more worried about what they’ll do with HarperCollins, for obvious reasons.