Sarah Palin Is Out At Fox News Channel

Sarah-Palin-at-Podium

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Fox News Channel have parted ways:

After a three-year run as a paid contributor to the nation’s highest-rated cable news channel, Sarah Palin and FOX News have cut ties, according to a source close to the former Alaska governor.

“It’s my understanding that Gov. Palin was offered a contract by FOX, and she decided not to renew the arrangement,” the source close to Palin told RCP. “She remains focused on broadening her message of common-sense conservatism across the country and will be expanding her voice in the national discussion.”

he source declined to say whether Palin would pursue a television contract with another news network, such as CNN.

After resigning as governor in 2009, Palin became one of FOX News’ marquee on-air assets, appearing frequently across its programming and often generating headlines for her memorable and characteristically provocative commentary.

In 2010, FOX News constructed a studio inside Palin’s Wasilla, Alaska, home where her husband Todd would sometimes act as cameraman and producer during her live television appearances.

This isn’t entirely surprising. There have been signs for quite some time that FNC, or to be more specific Roger Ailes, was souring on Palin. Her appearances on the network have become increasingly rare, which was odd considering the fact that the network went through the effort and expense of constructing a remote studio in her home thousands of miles away form the network’s home office. Additionally, there were reports way back in 2011 that  Ailes was not entirely pleased with Palin both because of the fact that she chose to announce her Presidential intentions on a talk radio show and because of her reaction to the criticism she unfairly received after the Gabby Giffords shooting. Last year, the speculation about the status of her relationship was put into further doubt when she took to her Facebook page to complain about the fact that the network did not utilize her during the Republican National Convention. So, perhaps, this was a long time in coming. 

In any event, I cannot honestly see CNN, and most certainly not MSNBC, giving Palin a contract. Perhaps she will venture into talk radio, or join Honey Boo Boo on the reality show circuit.

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Rob Sterling says:

    Honey Boo Boo? Really?

  2. cd6 says:

    Only dead fish go with the flow

  3. legion says:

    Never forget that this is the person the Republican Party thought was best qualified to become President if anything ever happened to McCain. They wanted _her_ in the Oval Office. I _dare_ you to hold that thought in your head and still maintain any respect for any Republican politician ever again.

  4. @Rob Sterling:

    Yes, really.

  5. michael reynolds says:

    Ah, where have all the Palin defenders gone?

    We have here the classic liberal-conservative dynamic. The conservatives fall head over heels in love with some obvious clown: Palin, Gingrich, George W. Bush, Herman Caine, Michele Bachmann, Glen Beck. . . the list is endless. The liberals point out that the person is a clown. Conservatives yell and bluster and denounce and swear eternal allegiance. And then, five years later, the entire country agrees with us.

    Anyone with an IQ above room temperature saw that she was a phony, an airhead, a narcissistic nitwit. It wasn’t hard. And now her looks have faded, her act is stale, she’s never had a single intelligent thing to say, and in the end she’s just a bore. So now at last she’s fired. Huge shock.

  6. Tsar Nicholas says:

    Surprised it took three years.

    Talk radio is a no brainer. Pun intended.

    Glenn Beck and Limbaugh have made themselves wealthy beyond belief, and actually they’re dumber and less educated than Palin. Seriously.

    Palin could show up tomorrow at some syndicated radio station and get a seven-figure annual salary. Easy. I’d be shocked if she doesn’t go that route.

  7. wr says:

    @michael reynolds: “Huge shock. ”

    Well, maybe not to you. But Smooth Jazz probably had a stroke.

  8. Terri12 says:

    Offered a contract but declined?? Doubt it very much. Roger Ailes has made his feelings about the half-term gov. very clear. She was hired because of looks & potential ratings, after it became apparent that she had no brains to go with either, they started cutting back on appearances. Other Fox hosts were caught mocking her between shows and O’Reilly was the first one who refused to have her on his show after the first 18 mos. or so. I can’t blame him, especially after her remark about building dikes in the Gulf of Mexico where the water was approximately 5,000 feet+ deep. That was her “common-sense conservative solution” to the BP oil spill.

    Her reality shows, along with those of her family, didn’t help to inspire viewers or voters in any way. It certainly didn’t make her look more Presidential. Instead, she appears to have followed in the footsteps of the “tiny Hollywood starlets” that she once mocked. She’s trying to be a starlet or else she is suffering from severe anorexia, maybe both?! Either way, the viewers win, her screeching is gone from the air. Considering the source of her husband’s part-time business income, revealed by one of his “girls” in the aptly titled, ‘Boys Will Be Boys’, also didn’t sit well with her employer. Fox can handle a lot of scandals, Rupert Murdoch’s still going strong, but a prostitution ring being run by the spouse of one of your hosts and especially one who had been considering a run for the White House isn’t conducive to higher ratings.

    There will always be a few delusional fans who actually believe she has a shot at the Presidency. Let them dream, they can’t do anyone any harm and they’re sending Sarah enough $$ to pay for her upkeep plastic surgery-wise.

    We are able to say, “Sarah who?” now that her 15 minutes is finally over. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving person. Good riddance!

  9. Paul L. says:

    @legion:
    Joe Biden is best qualified to become President if anything ever happened to Obama?

    In any event, I cannot honestly see CNN, and most certainly not MSNBC, giving Palin a contract.

    If she is the crazy idiot that you all believe. MSNBC could use her as the new Pat Buchanan
    An example to show the enlightened how stupid, racist,and backwards the GOP is.

  10. Davebo says:

    Joe Biden is best qualified to become President if anything ever happened to Obama?

    Well he’s never been Mayor of Wassila or bailed on a Governors job but still, he had been a senator since 1973.

    And unlike his predecessor he appears to have a heart.

  11. anjin-san says:

    I’m considering putting together a pitch for a Sarah Palin/Tonya Harding reality show. It might just play in Chick-fil-A country…

  12. legion says:

    @Paul L.: Are you seriously comparing her – favorably – to Biden? At the least – the very, very least – in four years, Biden will still be doing his job.

  13. rudderpedals says:

    That home studio can still be a moneymaker. If you know what I mean, and I think that you do.

  14. sam says:

    ““It’s my understanding that Gov. Palin was offered a contract by FOX, and she decided not to renew the arrangement,” the source close to Palin told RCP.”

    It’s my understanding that Roger Ailes thinks Sarah Palin is a fvcking idiot (of course, one might then ask, why is Steve Clem Kadiddlehopper Doucy still on board?).

  15. Moosebreath says:

    “Sarah Palin Is Out At Fox News Channel”

    Her and Jodie Foster, both in the same month. What will we tell the children?!?

  16. labman57 says:

    Sarah needed to part ways so that she could begin to prepare in earnest for her bid for the 2016 Republican POTUS nomination.

    Yeah, I’m joking. In fact, she’s going to undertake her next literary effort:
    Going Gas Range — 101 Moose Meals, from Tundra to Table.

    Unlike her first three efforts, this one will be non-fiction.

  17. anjin-san says:

    Roger Ailes thinks Sarah Palin is a fvcking idiot

    Yet he gave her millions of dollars…

  18. Rob Sterling says:

    @Doug Mataconis: Sarah Palin wasn’t ready for the national stage and might never have been, but your contempt for her is unwarranted and distasteful. She was attacked by the left because they feared her. And regardless of anything else, she is head and shoulders above three of the four most recent Democrat vice-presidential candidates.

  19. Smooth Jazz says:

    ‘We have here the classic liberal-conservative dynamic. The conservatives fall head over heels in love with some obvious clown: Palin, Gingrich, George W. Bush, Herman Caine, Michele Bachmann, Glen Beck. . . the list is endless.”

    Rest assured the list of Liberal clowns is endless as in President Obozo, Nancy “Dracula” Pelosi, Harry “The Hat” Reid etc etc etc….the list is endless. There I said it. Ayuh!

  20. Smooth Jazz says:

    “In any event, I cannot honestly see CNN, and most certainly not MSNBC, giving Palin a contract. Perhaps she will venture into talk radio, or join Honey Boo Boo on the reality show circuit.”

    I know you have to appease your left wing visitors, even you have to post mush, but WHAT MAKES YOU THINK GOV PALIN WOULD WANT TO APPEAR ON CNN OR MSBSC?? How do you even know she didn’t cut Fox & Ailes off? I know you’ve been a Palin hater for years, but you frankly have no clue what happened here. Ergo, you don’t know what you are talking about.

  21. JoshB says:

    @sam:

    I’m pretty sure Doocy’s kid is on Fox now too. The nut doesn’t fall far from the bush.

  22. mantis says:

    Ergo, sucka!

    How’s it going, Kenny G? We’ve missed your wise insights into the matters of the day.

  23. legion says:

    @anjin-san:

    Yet he gave her millions of dollars…

    Nobody said Roger Ailes isn’t an idiot too…

  24. MM says:

    I know you have to appease your left wing visitors, even you have to post mush, but WHAT MAKES YOU THINK GOV PALIN WOULD WANT TO APPEAR ON CNN OR MSBSC?? How do you even know she didn’t cut Fox & Ailes off?

    Why would a grifter stop grifting?

  25. michael reynolds says:

    @Smooth Jazz:

    See, you destroy your own case. The world respects President Obama. No one outside of the fever swamps of the far right respects Ms. Palin. Even Fox no longer respects her. So, that would be you proving how clueless you are.

  26. michael reynolds says:

    @Smooth Jazz:

    How do you even know she didn’t cut Fox & Ailes off?

    Um, because Ailes hasn’t had her on. And keeps saying she’s stupid. So, it’s not hard to figure out who fired who.

    Were you one of those denying that Ailes fired Glen Beck? Because breaking news: he fired Glen Beck. And he just fired Sara Palin. One for being crazy, and the other for being dull.

  27. CSK says:

    I’m surprised the troops from Conservatives4Palin haven’t shown up to inform us that we’re a bunch of old jealous bitter white guys, even if we’re not jealous, bitter, white, or even guys. Which is sort of ironic given that Palin’s biggest demographic is old white guys, whom I’m sure would have absolutely no use for her if she looked like Lotte Lenya playing Rosa Klebb.

    Palin isn’t stupid, exactly. She’s very shrewd in the art and practice of manipulating certain people. But she appears to revel in her intellectual deficiencies–that being what her fans most love about her.

    As for Fox…she dissed her boss publicly on more than one occasion, flopped abysmally with her program for them entitled “Sarah Palin’s American Stories” ( it lasted exactly one episode), and never contributed much more to the discourse than repeating the usual cliches about “sudden and relentless reform” and “commonsense conservatism.” I know of very few Republicans who don’t wish that she’d simply go away.

  28. Andre Kenji says:

    She can start a blog. Or better yet, she can become a OTB commenter.

  29. An Interested Party says:

    An example to show the enlightened how stupid, racist,and backwards the GOP is.

    See, you can talk some sense when you want to…

    She was attacked by the left because they feared her.

    Like many of her admirers, you’re confused…the left didn’t cower at her, the left rightfully laughed at her…

    Ergo, you don’t know what you are talking about.

    That’s awfully rich coming from someone who confidently predicted that Romney would win in a cakewalk…obviously being completely humiliated with pathetic predictions wasn’t enough to keep this clown away forever…not while his dear Sarah is being laughed at yet again…

    Or better yet, she can become a OTB commenter.

    Perhaps she could talk about how she isn’t a Republican even though she votes for Republicans…that would certainly fit in here…

  30. jukeboxgrad says:

    Smooth Jazz, where have you been? I’ve been waiting to congratulate you regarding your astute statements pre-election. Like these, all from the same thread (link):

    Nate Silver is a left wing hack … Obama sychophants in the media such as CNN, ABC, MSNBC & partisan pollsters such as PPP have a vested interested in keeping him in the game by trotting our partisan voting samples … at a time when the massive, unaffiliated trackers Gallup & Rasmusssen have Romney at 5% ahead, at a time when Obama’s Job Approval in Gallup is collapsing, Silver still has Obama winning a landslide with a ridiculous %. … My sense is the post mortem on this election will be brutal if it turns out the media sponsored pollsters juiced their samples all along to boost Dems as conservatives have been saying for months.

    And my personal favorite:

    This guy happens to think MN may flip RED on election day.

    Obama’s margin in MN: 7.7%.

    And speaking of “Silver still has Obama winning a landslide with a ridiculous %,” this is the margin Silver predicted: 2.5%. This was the actual result: 3.9%.

    Please keep us informed about all your future predictions, so I can make sure to bet the other way.

  31. superdestroyer says:

    Who cares? Why does anyone waste a minute thinking about Sarah Palin.

  32. rudderpedals says:

    Saturdays are made for pointing and laughing, that’s why. Humor is never out of order.

  33. al-Ameda says:

    @Smooth Jazz:

    President Obozo, Nancy “Dracula” Pelosi, Harry “The Hat” Reid

    I’m sure you’re very persuasive when discussing and debating politics.
    Stay classy my friend.

  34. wr says:

    @Smooth Jazz: “WHAT MAKES YOU THINK GOV PALIN WOULD WANT TO APPEAR ON CNN OR MSBSC?? ”

    Because she’s a grifter and a media whore who desperately needs publicity to keep the shekels coming in from rubes like you.

    Glad I could clear that up.

  35. Gustopher says:

    Whatever she ends up doing, I hope it makes her rich beyond her dreams.

    Not because I think she deserves it, but because any money she can get her hands on from the faithful is money that could have otherwise been put to use perhaps effectively opposing the things that I believe in.

    So, God bless Sarah Palin. Put her on CNN. Give her a massive salary from a think tank. Send her on the lecture circuit. Give her a talk radio show if her looks start to fade. But please, please keep her grifting going.

  36. bandit says:

    Nothing gets the lunatic h8rs going like a Palin sighting.

  37. Sirkowski says:

    If you read the comments on wingnut blogs, they still want her to run in 2016. They like her because she pisses off liberals. Nevermind that she’s electoral poison.

  38. al-Ameda says:

    @bandit:

    Nothing gets the lunatic h8rs going like a Palin sighting.

    Just to clarify a point, the “lunatic h8trs” you refer to happen to be Palin supporters.

  39. john personna says:

    @al-Ameda:

    I thought he meant “Nothing gets the haters of lunatics going like a Palin sighting.”

    .. though really it is a Palin supporter that sets them off. She can and should net salmon and shoot caribou all day, and more power to her in that.

  40. matt bernius says:

    Hey @Smooth Jazz… given how accurate your Polling and Unskewed Polling analysis is, remind me again why anyone should take anything you say seriously.

    BTW, Dr. Taylor is patiently waiting his apology for all of the nasty and stupid crap you said about his “biases” in the lead up to the election.

  41. grumpy realist says:

    @Tsar Nicholas: As long as it doesn’t require her to do any hard work. I think we have adequate information about Sister Sarah and anything that requires effort: she’ll bail out at the first opportunity.

    How many colleges did she go to before she finally graduated? Five?