Fox News chief Roger Ailes was furious that Sarah Palin announced she was not running for president — not on Fox News. Palin in October gave the exclusive to Mark Levin, a conservative radio talk show host.
New York Magazine’s Roger Sherman, however, did get this exclusive story, and writes that, “Part of [Palin’s] appeal as a pundit was that every appearance on the network was turbocharged by the ‘will-she-or-won’t-she run’ speculation. She’s now given up that chip to play,” and explains:
Fox was relegated to getting a follow-up interview with Palin on Greta Van Susteren’s 10 p.m. show, after the news of Palin’s decision had been drowned out by Steve Jobs’s death. Ailes was so mad, he considered pulling her off the air entirely until her $1 million annual contract expires in 2013.
After the announcement, he called Fox’s executive vice-president Bill Shine into a meeting. Shine is the network’s principal point of contact with Palin. Ailes told him she had made a big mistake. “I paid her for two years to make this announcement on my network,” Ailes pointedly told Shine. Sources described the episode on condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the relationships.
Palin is said to have made her announcement on Levin’s show because she’s been upset that Fox News has given a platform to Karl Rove, one of her principal critics. “She isn’t happy with Karl,” one Palin adviser told me. “From day one, he hasn’t been very nice.” Levin had become Palin’s biggest booster in the conservative commentariat, and Palin is known for rewarding loyalists, and punishing her detractors.
Pity. No doubt all America is saddened for Sarah…
On January 13 of this year, The New Civil Rights Movement wrote,
“Sarah Palin ended any chance she had at the presidency of the United States of America yesterday when she posted her “blood libel†video and announced to the world her better angels are obsessed with blame, self-​defense, and finger-​pointing instead of leadership, religious epithets instead of openness and understanding, and one-​upsmanship instead of honoring timing and tradition.”
It sure took a long time to make it official…