In light of the news that Sarah Palin will join intellectual luminaries such as Karl Rove, Dana Perino, and Mike Huckabee as a Fox News Network contributor, I just want to offer FNC head honcho Roger Ailes a heartfelt "thanks."
We all know that Fox News is somewhere to the right of the teabagging hordes and even in non-political stories doesn't have half the journalistic integrity of The Onion. Sure, Fox does its level-best to support the reactionary right, but as the hiring of Sarah Palin demonstrates, Fox is first and foremost a business, and this is a decision that Ailes hopes will make him a billion dollar earner.
There's no question that Fox is providing the fuel that keeps conservative rage burning, but that doesn't mean that Fox is ultimately good for the political right. Nothing demonstrates that better than their embrace of Sarah Palin. Like the rest of "The Fox Nation," Sarah Palin believes 'her America' is under siege. She sees herself as a victim, under constant assault from a Godless, amoral, anti-American cabal.
Sarah Palin may think she's one of the last few "Real Americans" to grace our country, as evidenced by her continual whining about how the media has victimized her. But Palin has no way of explaining why, when given the choice between the Obama-Biden ticket and the McCain-Palin ticket, the American public overwhelmingly chose Barack Hussein Obama and Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. to lead the federal government.
In the most intensely-watched presidential election in our nation's history, covered from all angles on blogs, internet media sites, cable tv, network tv, and newspapers, Sarah Palin had her chance and lost. She wasn't rejected by some tiny America-hating elite. The media did not cost her victory. She was rejected by American voters, not Katie Couric.
From the start, Sarah Palin lived in a conservative bubble, but since her 2008 defeat, she's moved deeper into wingnut territory. At this point, the only suitable home for Palin is in the virtual political world manufactured by Fox News, an alternate reality in which she can continue to feed that big chip on her shoulder.
It'll be crazy entertaining to watch (death panels, you betcha'), it will boost her political profile within the Republican Party (Going Rogue, 2012!), and it while it will further cement Fox's role as the go-to network to see what the right-wing noise machine is up to, it won't do a damn thing to enhance their credibility. So for all that and the many laughs Sarah Palin's new gig will no doubt provide, thanks, Rog. We appreciate it.
Join the discussion in clammyc's (snarky) recommended diary, breakingest: Palin resigns as FOX contributor.
