After not being given a speaking slot… at least not offered one for prime time (or any other) role at the Republican Party’s big party 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.
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.
– Sarah Palin
Palin has also said that her now cancelled “interviews” were really (secretly) going to be a Senator 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 tonight that the re-election of President Obama would be disastrous for not just America but the entire world. According to McCain, a second Obama presidency 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.” Sounds like b.s to me!! You be the judge!
It is clear and obvious that Palin is now considered a liability by the party establishment 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 mid-term elections, “primarying” and in some important cases, actually defeating those Republican candidates who did not tow 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 could be summarily turned off or frightened into not voting.
So for now, Fox News, the supposed fair and balanced news outlet and the only center-right news outlet (which the majority of Americans consider themselves) has elected to hold its “mama grizzly” in abeyance so as not to scare off the Independents!?!
Video: C-SPAN: Vice Presidential Candidate Gov. Sarah Palin (AK) Full Speech at the RNC
The 2008 GOP Convention was the first time most Americans were introduced to Sarah Palin and she rocked the house the night of her convention speech and quickly changed the face of the McCain campaign. Palin soon overshadowed McCain on the campaign trail and within days the McCain/Palin ticket had surged into the lead. And for those who either don’t or choose not to remember that they were ahead in the polls after Palin joined the ticket, Greta Van Susteren just recently pulled out those old polls. Amazing what fear will do.
Update: Good for Neil Cavuto and Sean Hannity!! Cavuto and Hannity featured Sarah Palin on Thursday night, on the closing and biggest night of the Convention, on Fox Business News as well as on Fox Cable News.
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
h/t to Herbert Dyer, Jr. at Allvoices
Related:
Pingback: Sarah Palin: Third party is ‘a possibility’ if GOP forgets its conservative platform « CITIZEN.BLOGGER.1984+ GUNNY.G BLOG.EMAIL
Pingback: The Lesson in the Betrayal of Sarah Palin | askmarion
Pingback: Sarah Palin Back as Fox News Analyst… | askmarion
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wished
to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts.
After all I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again
very soon!