Fox News confirmed Friday that it made Sarah Palin an offer she could refuse. And that is exactly what Sarah Palin did: refuse the offer. The offer was reportedly a token offer and Sarah Palin had no choice but to end her three-year tenure as a contributor on the conservative Fox News network.
Palin's original contract with the network started in January 2010 and ended this month. The three-year contract with Sarah Palin was reportedly worth $1 million a year to Ms. Palin. Palin was such a star at the network, that Fox News had a small television studio built in her Wasilla, Alaska, home for easy access to Fox’s viewing audience.
Sarah Palin had come into national prominence when Senator John McCain (R-AZ) name her the Republican Presidential nomination for Vice-President in 2008. The selection of Sarah Palin was considered one of the worst selections for Vice-President in American history. Palin overshadowed McCain for negative reasons during the fall of 2008 campaign.
Sarah Palin was credited with the rise of the Tea Party in 2010. On February 6, 2010, Palin appeared as the keynote speaker at the inaugural Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Sarah Palin has said that the Tea Party movement is "the future of politics in America."
The Tea Party gained close to 60 seats in the House of Representatives, many of them Republicans running under the label of "The Tea Party."
On the heels of the Tea Party victories, the expectation was that Sarah Palin would seek the Republican nomination for President in 2012 and despite many signals that she would take the plunge, the announcement never came.
The Tea Party and the Republicans lost many of the 2010 gains in the House of Representatives. Also, in a year that was to be the end of the majority democratic rule in the United States Senate, the Democrats actually gained several seats.
And Barack Obama was re-elected President of the United States with roughly the same margin of victory as in 2012. Not coincidentally, the Tea Party and Sarah Palin's popularity slid.
It is not know if Sarah Palin will sign on with another network. Without the hefty platform of Fox News it is unlikely Sarah Palin will retain her enormous popularity. Politico reported that Sarah Palin told told Breitbart News that she doesn’t want to “just preach to the choir" and that she is looking to take her message to a "larger audience."
Finding another audience that is bigger than Fox News is unlikely. However, Palin told Breitbart News the “door is wide open.” Palin named conservatives in the media such as Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh and of course, the writers at Breitbart News who interviewed for the story. She see them as voices to look at as the 2014 election approaches.
“I know the country needs more truth-telling in the media, and I’m willing to do that,” she said. “So, we shall see.”
What is plainly obvious is that Sarah Palin downfall coincided with the downfall of the Tea Party. This downfall was the reason that Republicans were meeting in Charlotte, N.C., recently to discuss the reasons and how to fix it.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said in the keynote address at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting in Charlotte that “We’ve got to stop being the stupid party. It’s time for a new Republican Party that talks like adults.”
Apparently, Fox News got the memo. If only Sarah Palin had just read the memo.
Send John Presta an email and your story ideas or suggestions, johnpresta@att.net.
John is the author of an award-winning book, the 2010 Winner of the USA National Best Book award for African American studies, published by The Elevator Group, Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots. Also available an eBook on Amazon. John is also a member of the Society of Midland Authors and is a book reviewer of political books for the New York Journal of Books . John has volunteered for many political campaigns.
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