When Sarah Palin burst on the national political scene in 2008, her star power was blinding to both her fans and detractors. Love her or hate her, the Alaska governor tapped by Senator John McCain to be his running mate became an instant celebrity. The GOP ticket’s loss that November seemed not to affect her popularity. Palin’s public appearances continued to draw enormous crowds, and her sometimes dubious political comments invariably were treated as news. When she joined Fox News in 2010 as a commentator at a salary of $1 million a year, her future in the limelight seemed limitless.
But every nova eventually fades, and Palin is no exception. Last week brought word that she and Fox would not be renewing their contract — the network had offered only a fraction of that seven-figure salary, Newsweek’s Howard Kurtz reported, and the two sides agreed to go their separate ways.
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Palin was the catalyst for the level of political polarization and contentiousness that has now permeated the country and has ultimately proven herself to be one of the he most malignant political influences of all time.
Good point, bumpy. Before Palin, there was never any contentiousness in politics. Everyone on both sides of the aisle held hands and sang Kumbaya together.
Some of the most intelligent voices in that conversation belong to conservative officeholders... Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, and Nikki Haley? Are you kidding. They're just as divisive, extreme, partisan and recalcitrant politicians that the GOP has and why the Right wing is self-immolating.
The fact that the measuring stick used to determine a Republican politician's rise or fall is wether or not they can get a contract with a media propaganda outfit like FOX, or more specifically, FOX speaks volumes.
"The moment the Republican party becomes the anti-science party, we have a huge problem." Jon Huntsman, former Republican Governor of Utah, Ambassador to China ( in Obama Administration ) and Republican presidential candidate in 2012. A subtext of this remark became an anti-intellectual/education tone by too many of the Republican candidates. Governor Sarah Palin was not alone in this. Governor Jindal, a Brown University Biology Major, pushed for teaching proven non-scientific references to creationism and intelligent design in Louisiana's public school's science texts. I guarantee those two subjects are not scientifically taught in any Biology Course at Brown University. The statements of the Republican candidates at the national, state and local levels are replete with such "war against science and education" examples. Senator Cruz's Texas Legislature Education Committee constantly adds anti-science chapters to its science texts that affect more than books in their state. Even here in the Senate race Senator Brown followed the Republican mantra of anti-education by his addressing his opponent as "Professor Warren" in a condescending manner. And this in a state that pushes and honors education as its way of creating jobs not to mention that women in droves are advancing their career opportunities by going to college. His state, our state, has several of the top universities in the "world!" What advisors came up with that advice? But Senator Brown went with it. The verbal assault on science and intellectual thought goes on and on, just Google it...and no it it is not a liberal conspiracy, it's Science and Education. The smarter Republicans realize that that audience is getting smaller. When Huntsman announced I thought he was the best candidate to run against Obama and could win. It's not just the players that matter, it's what they think and say that matters.
dont disagree. Never was a fan of her but I loved the hypocrisy of the left that a strong woman can actually be a republican (and same for a black)
I don't know about the concerns of the left, but Palin was never strong. She couldn't hold a candle to Kay Bailey Hutchison, Millicent Fenwick, Olympia Snowe, or Condileeza Rice, for example.
Who ever cared about her gender? This individual was an embarrassment and Senator McCain thought that she could be an able president. When Senator McCain named her as his running mate, it was the first true indicator of his alarming decline as a serious voice in the national dialogue.