I really didn't think there was a way to make Fox News any worse (short of hiring either Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter), but it looks like I was wrong. Fox News is nothing if not creatively evil, and they have found a way to descend to a new and frightening level of unfair and unbalanced. They hired Sarah Palin.
Sarah Palin has signed a contract with Fox News. She will not have a daily show, but will do some kind of intermittent series. She will also probably be appearing sort of regularly as a panelist on some of the Fox shows.
My first reaction was to wonder why they would hire someone who had such a poor and very limited knowledge of American politics and world affairs. But then I came to my senses and realized that knowledge, facts, understanding or truth has never been very important to the "talking heads" or owners of Fox News. Fox will happily trade truth for advertising dollars, and Palin does have a hardcore base of followers among the teabag set.
Some are now saying that the new contract with Fox means Palin will not run as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Democratic strategist Paul Begala said, "I do think maybe it suggests, sadly for Democrats, that she might not be running." McCain campaign spokesperson Nancy Pfotenhauer said, "There's a slight indication she may not run."
I think that is wrong. No one made that assumption about Mike Huckabee when he signed with the network to do a show. Why should they think it of Palin? I think Palin wants the gig at Fox News not just for the money, but because it'll help her keep her name before the right-wing voters. Besides, she's quit everything she ever tried. Why would this new job be any different?
I think when the 2012 campaign gets revved up, we'll see both the Arkansas preacher and the Alaska quitter campaigning hard for the nomination.
From Palin's resignation speech:
ReplyDelete"Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me - sports... basketball. I use it because you're naïve if you don't see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket... and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can WIN. And I'm doing that - keeping our eye on the ball that represents sound priorities - smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom! And I know when it's time to pass the ball - for victory."
I still think Palin is a team player, more concerned about advancing conservative principles than she is about her own personal political ambition. Just remember, she didn't actively seek the vice presidential nomination - it fell in her lap by default, if the authors of "Game Changer" are to be believed.
Taking the gig at FNC gives her a chance to be a "point guard" for the conservative movement and continue to make pretty good money after her book sales start falling off. She's also returning to the career she first pursued prior to going into politics.
Ted, the bottom line is this: come the next presidential campaign season, one of us is going to be right, and one of us is going to be wrong.
In the meantime, Palin Divorce Watch: Day 164.
where's a good bolt of lightning when you need one?
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