In case you missed it over the weekend, Sarah Palin has left Fox News as a political contributor in a move that sources to New York Times describe as amicable, while sources to The Daily Beast say the split was over a pay-cut.
Whatever caused Palin to leave, Media Matters sees it as pretty big news:
Palin, Fox And The End Of An Era
Wasn’t it fitting that Sarah Palin’s exit from Fox News was made official the same week President Obama celebrated his second inauguration? Didn’t it just seem apt that the once-future star of Fox News and the Tea Party movement lost her national media platform just days after the president she tried to demonize for four years basked in the glow of his easy re-election victory?
Palin’s breakup with Fox was expected, but it’s still significant. A “milestone,” is how former Bush speechwriter David Frum put it.
The move represents the end of a brief, ill-conceived era within the conservative media movement, and specifically at Fox, where in the wake of Obama’s first White House win Palin, along with preposterous cohort Glenn Beck, was irresponsibly tapped to become a high-priced pundit who trafficked in hate.
At Fox, Palin represented a particularly angry and juvenile wing of the conservative movement. It’s the part that appears deeply obsessed with Obama as a person; an unhealthy obsession that seemed to surpass any interest in his policies. With lazy name-calling as her weapon of choice, Palin served as Fox News’ point person for misguided snark and sophomoric put-downs. Palin also epitomized the uber-aggressive anti-intellectual push that coincided with Obama’s swearing in four years ago.
The rest of Eric Boehler’s drivel here.
Howard Kurtz from CNN piles on in a piece titled, “Sarah Palin’s fall from media stardom.” He ends with this:
Palin still has a passionate following and can still make news with a single Facebook posting. But for Fox News, at least, her market value had clearly plunged, and a divorce was inevitable.
Kurtz’s statement is only true, however, if Palin actually wanted to continue as a TV pundit. I got the feeling watching her last year that she didn’t.
Palin did give an interview to Breitbart News on what’s next for her that you can read here.
Personally, I think it’s a good move for her. I’m not sure Fox does anything to help her and if she does decide to make a national run in ‘16, she’ll need to focus on getting candidates elected in ‘14 — something she seems committed to according to the Breitbart piece.