The price of Palin

From TPM:

Over the course of three years as a Fox News paid contributor -- earning a reported $1 million a year -- former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made $15.85 per word, according to a study from the University of Minnesota's Smart Politics published Monday:

A Smart Politics review of the more than 150 FOX broadcasts in which Sarah Palin appeared as a paid commentator from 2010 through 2012 finds that she spoke 189,221 words on air during this span, for an average pay rate of $15.85 per word.

According to the study, Palin appeared on the network in some form an average of once every 7.2 days. Most of her appearances were on "Hannity" or "On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren."

Nice gig if you can get it, huh? For money like that, it's no surprise that Sarah Palin quit as Alaska's governor after serving only one-half of one term. Well, John McCain made her a right-wing celebrity, and she's been milking that for all it's worth. (Her whole family has been milking it, in fact.)

Fox 'News' hired her for the same reason they hire so many other Republican politicians. Of course, as Republican as they are at Fox, money still trumps politics. Palin was very popular with their intended audience, but now she's fading from the limelight.

But I don't know. Real Clear Politics reports that Fox 'News' offered Palin a new contract, but that she declined. Of course, we don't know how much money they were offering with that one. Or it might be that once a week just isn't enough exposure to keep a celebrity a celebrity.

On the other hand, if you want to be a right-wing celebrity, you need to be on Fox, one way or another, don't you think? Look at Glenn Beck. (Note that Rush Limbaugh predated Fox. He had an established audience before Fox even existed, which is probably why he's an exception.)