The end of the Sarah Palin era at Fox News was a long time coming.
When the New York Times reported that Fox News and Sarah Palin were parting ways after 3 years, a few hardcore Palin fans may have been disappointed, and Karl Rove probably high-fived someone. The rest of world seems to have been less affected.
Here's why:
She was expensive.
Palin was reportedly paid $1 million a year by Fox News from January 2010 until her contract ended this month. Pricey cable news salaries like that don't last forever, especially for rarely-used contributors.
Karl Rove can't stand her.
"Before the 2010 midterms, Rove complained to Ailes that Palin was damaging the GOP brand and getting too much airtime." — Gabriel Sherman, New York Magazine
Rove, a heavy hitter in the Republican establishment and at Fox News, recently renewed his contract as a contributor with the network. As you can see in this video, he did not care for Sarah Palin.
The "Blood Libel" video.
"Especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible." — Sarah Palin
After the 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Fox News president Roger Ailes advised Palin to "lie low." Instead, she recorded a homemade video pushing back against critics who were highlighting her use of violent rhetoric, accusing them of "blood libel" in the aftermath of the tragedy. Palin's use of the highly charged phrase did not sit well at all with Ailes who reportedly called the former Governor "an idiot."
