Sarah Palin dissed by Fox News

After being given no speaking (or any other) role at the Republican Party’s big hoe-down in Tampa, now comes news that the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, will not be allowed to conduct any interviews during the convention. In essence, her role as a Fox News “contributor” and “commentator” has been suspended, at least for the duration of the convention. For her part, and completely in character, Palin has posted on her Facebook page that she was “disappointed” by Fox’s action.

Palin has also said that her now cancelled “interviews” were really (secretly) going to be Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) praise sessions. As the 2008 Republican Party’s presidential nominee, McCain was allowed to speak to the Tampa conventioneers. He said Wednesday night that the re-election of President Obama would be disastrous for not just America but the entire world. According to McCain, a second Obama term will make the world “darker, more dangerous, and poorer.” (There’s that dog whistle again. Can you hear it?)

As to the dissing of Palin, Fox News offered this as the reason for her non-appearance on their airwaves this week: “Our plans changed based on the fact that the RNC condensed the schedule of speeches from four nights to three,” said Bill Shine, executive vice president of programming for Fox News. “We look forward to having Governor Palin back as soon as we can.”

Palin’s Facebook message reads thusly:

“I’m sorry Fox cancelled all my scheduled interviews tonight because I sure wanted to take the opportunity on the air to highlight Senator John McCain’s positive contributions to America, to honor him, and to reflect on what a biased media unfairly put him through four years ago tonight. Granted, our honored and esteemed war hero has gone through much more than the liberal media can ever do to him in their efforts to harm this patriot. I look forward to hearing his words to his fellow Americans tonight more than any of the other convention speeches. God bless John McCain. Thank you for everything. And happy birthday, my friend.”

Did you catch that, "...more than any of the other convention speeches."? Including the freshly minted presidential and vice-presidential nominees? Talk about "party loyalty" as opposed to personal loyalty.

It is clear and obvious that Palin is now considered a liability by the party bigwigs. Sure, she still is beloved by the “Tea Party” and other hard-right wingers. But that is the problem. Those types have flexed considerable political muscle since the 2010 midterm elections, “primarying” and in some important cases actually defeating those Republican candidates who did not toe their hard-to-extreme line. The party stalwarts, particularly the money guys, recognize that should these folks be allowed a prominent position at its Florida gala, the national audience will be summarily turned off.

So Fox News, as the main propaganda arm and outlet of the party, has elected to temporaily cage its “mama grizzly” so as not to completely scare off those who just might believe F-News' constant harrang, hype and hyperboli.

References:

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/08/29/sarah-palin-fox-canceled-on-me/

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/29/palin-canceled-on-fox/comment-page-2/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin

http://www.foxnews.com/topics/us/sarah-palin.htm