After spending about two years vigorously defending her and the last year trying desperately to educate conservatives about the problem that she has become, at this point in my life it is very difficult for me to get exorcized about nearly anything that Sarah Palin does or says. I have tried very hard to put the Palin portion of my career in the rearview mirror, but her most recent comments in response to Fox News chief Roger Alies' apparent assertion that she had "had no chance" at winning the presidency demand a conservative rebuke from someone who really understands her.
Sarah Palin is now either flat out lying or she has officially become delusional.
In case you missed it (since news about Palin doesn't carry like it used to, it would have been understandable if you did), Ailes reportedly made his declaration about Palin's complete unelectability in a speech this week at the University of North Carolina. While there is no known recording of the address, it appears that Ailes actually did say this because he has only issued a "clarification" and not a full "retraction" regarding his once prized employee .
It also happens to be undeniably true.
I know this because I told Sarah Palin she couldn't beat Obama (and got a cold stare in return) when I met her at her home in early 2009 to do the interview for my documentary film Media Malpractice. I also told Joe Scarborough the same thing in early 2010 on MSNBC.
No matter what Palin currently claims, she knows that Ailes and I are both right. She is very smart and her decision to not even try to win in 2012 proves that she realized that, as Ailes said, she had "no shot."
Of course, this is not even close to what she said in response. Instead, she laughably claimed that she had been underestimated in all of her other political races and that this would inspire her to succeed in the future.
Did she forget that she didn't actually run for president when she had the chance? Or perhaps that she would indeed have to run in order to win? Or maybe she is just hoping that Romney loses (I am convinced this is indeed what she needs have happen to remain relevant) and somehow thinks that being out of any office for over seven years would put her in the driver's seat in 2016.
If that isn't delusional enough, then came the really bizarre part of Palin's response to Ailes.
She asks him to view the documentary film Undefeated as proof that she could indeed win the presidency. The film, in which Palin does not actually appear, deals mostly with her career leading up to her resignation as governor of Alaska.
As someone who informally advised Palin until just after she joined Fox News, I completely agree that, if you could turn back time and pause her narrative at that point, she could have been extremely viable as 2016 candidate. In fact, I told her that in early 2009 and said the same thing to Matt Lauer on the Today Show.
However, stopping her story before the resignation (which is now clear was a transparent and successful gambit to stay famous and get rich), is roughly the equivalent to telling the Tiger Woods tale and ending it at Thanksgiving dinner 2009.
Since her resignation, Palin has pretended to be a Tea Party Republican, endorsed three losing senate candidates in very winnable races, done a cheesy reality show, joined a partisan network, pretended to run for president for attention, and endorsed the corrupt Newt Gingrich for president as well as the absurd concept of a brokered convention.
In short, in a remotely rationally world, she has disqualified herself from ever holding legitimate elected office again. She is no longer a legitimate political figure. She is just a politically based and self-interested entertainer like Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Bill Maher.
Unfortunately, far too few of my fellow conservatives seem to want to understand this obvious reality. Roger Ailes isn't always right, be he sure is here. Palin's Today Show stint made it clear that her Fox days may be numbered. If Ailes cares about the conservative cause he will make sure the counting doesn't take too much longer.