Palin too indecisive to be President

Jena McGregor, writing in The Washington Post, has this to say about Sarah Palin's feigned apparent indecision about running for President:

The bus tour has come and gone. Now, so has the movie premiere.

A flattering “documentary” (from the looks of these clips, it appears more like an infomercial) about Sarah Palin, the former Alaskan governor and one-time vice presidential nominee, had its first showing in the tiny town of Pella, Iowa on Tuesday. But despite plenty of speculation that it could “serve as a galvanizing prelude to Palin's prospective presidential campaign,” the event went off with little fanfare. Palin attended a post-premiere barbeque and had lunch at a Panera Bread restaurant with a GOP fundraiser, where politics reportedly wasn’t on the table.

Her apparent indecision whether to run or not, reports Politico, is starting to frustrate early state political players who are just ready for an answer already. (Palin told reporters Tuesday that she’s “still contemplating” the answer to “such a life-changing, relatively earth-shattering type of decision”; her daughter Bristol, meanwhile, told Fox News the same day her mother’s mind was made up.) But such perennial fence-sitting could do a lot worse than frustrate political operatives. Palin’s keep-them-guessing approach is in danger from turning what was a smart, masterful strategy for publicity into a liability of indecisiveness. ...

... Most politicians do the will-they-or-won’t-they-run dance with the press longer than they should, though Palin has turned it into a high art. This is what I don’t get—the willingness to look indecisive and, potentially, not fully committed to the job, in exchange for a little more time with your name in the news. Unless of course, getting more publicity is more of a concern to you than what voters might think of you. ...

McGregor's post is "Sarah Palin's campaign liability: From movie to bus tour to indecision?" Apparently, she reads Jonathan Capehart's columns, who has long been on to Sarah Palin's game.

Bristol Palin's statement -- On Fox! They report, we decide, right? -- that Sarah Palin has decided whether to run is newsworthy. If she had decided to run, her contract with Fox News would have already been suspended. Is she stringing Fox along? Hoping to keep that check coming a little while longer? That's not a good idea, because Fox' coverage of her candidacy could be devastating. Imagine the stories: "Sarah Palin, 2012's rodeo clown, said, '.'"

Sarah Palin is obviously not running -- of course, I may be assuming she's sane -- but if you want to keep a tiny, rapidly cooling ember of hope alive a bit longer, you may find some comfort in this post: "Sarah Palin 'will run for White House in 2012'." Peter Singleton is believed to be a volunteer, unassociated with Palin.

Palin tries to downplay meeting with Fox News bosses

In Peter Hamby's story for CNN, "Palin: Timing of New Hampshire visit 'coincidental'," Palin's meeting with her "bosses" at Fox News is mentioned:

Palin also addressed her lengthy meeting at Fox News on Thursday and speculation that she might be jeopardizing her lucrative television contract by ramping up her political activity.

Palin said she met with Fox News president Roger Ailes. She told reporters that she did not offer to resign.

"I did get to speak to Roger Ailes, and we always have great conversations," Palin said.

Following yesterday's meeting, a network executive said of Palin: "Right now there is no change in her status with Fox News."

She said not to read too much into the meeting.

"Any time we get to New York I like to hop in and say hi to the folks there who work so extremely hard and get to see some of the hosts and some of the reporters," Palin said before hopping into an SUV.

Remember when this campaign-tour/publicity-stunt/road-trip was announced? Palin said that she would post a schedule of her stops, then none appeared. Yesterday there was video with her in the backseat of a red SUV with Piper in the middle and Palin's mother on the other side, and Palin mentioned that there wouldn't be an exploratory committee. I think -- am speculating -- that Palin has been told that a tour with scheduled stops or the formation of an exploratory committee would result in the suspension of her contract with Fox. There may be other reasons, but Fox News could presume that she's running based on this tour, alone. She could have done a low-key tour of the same places without so much fanfare. She'll obey her bosses, if she wants to keep her $1 Million per year job at Fox.

About upstaging Romney's announcement, Hamby mentioned, "News leaked late yesterday that Palin is organizing a clambake for Thursday evening along the New Hampshire seacoast, just minutes from the Stratham farm where Romney plans to officially announce his second presidential bid." Who was responsible for that "leak?"

Update: Media Matters' "The Palin Bus Tour And Fox News' Ethical Morass" brings-up these three ethical concerns about Palin's tour: 1) Palin keeps hinting that she's running; 2) Fox News personalities are promoting Palin's brand and potential candidacy; 3) Is Fox News applying the Santorum/Gingrich standard to Palin?

Fox News considering Palin suspension

In his "Afternoon Fix: Sarah Palin goes to Fox News," The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza wrote:

Sarah Palin met with executives at Fox News in New York today, a not-exactly-historic stop on her tour of historic American sites. (The former Alaska governor was at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty earlier in the day.) Palin is a paid contributor for the network; she called them “my bosses.” There’s been speculation about whether Palin’s contract with the network will be suspended as she contemplates a presidential campaign. “Right now there is no change in her status with FOX News," said executive vice president of programming Bill Shine in a statement after the meeting.

And Politico's Ben Smith wrote:

After a long meeting at Fox today -- where execs may not have been pleased by the interview she gave CNN -- Sarah Palin emerges with her contract intact.

“Right now there is no change in her status with FOX News," said executive vice president of programming Bill Shine in a statement. The "right now" didn't appear in earlier statements.

If Palin is honest with her "bosses," we should know whether she's going to run before she announces. That will be when Fox News suspends her, like it suspended Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich. Apparently, the network has Palin under surveillance, 24/7, and her status as a paid contributor is being constantly evaluated.

Fox News doesn't believe Palin will run

The L.A. Times' Matea Gold and James Oliphant write:

While her just-announced national bus tour would seem to place Sarah Palin a step closer to a 2012 presidential run, her bosses at Fox News are not yet ready to cut ties with her.

“We are not changing Sarah Palin’s status,” Bill Shine, executive vice president of programming for Fox News, said in a statement Thursday.

Fox News, where Palin earns $1 million a year as a commentator, does not appear convinced that she is making plans to run. The network, which has suspended other political pundits once they started pursuing presidential bids, is keeping her on the air — for now. ...

It's possible that Palin has told her employer that she isn't running.

Sarah Palin stringing Fox along?

Gabriel Sherman has written an article "The Elephant in the Green Room," for New York magazine. The article is about Roger Ailes, the Fox News Chairman. Fox has employed several potential candidates for the 2012 Republican nomination for President, and the article briefly describes how Fox has tried to get Sarah Palin to disclose whether she is going to run.

Fox has already shown Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich the door, because they were thought to be serious about running for the nomination. As for Palin, the article states:

... [Ailes ...] had little choice but to force the hands of the candidates on his payroll. In late February, Shine [Bill Shine, the network's programming chief] made calls to Palin and her husband, Todd, to ask if she was going to run for president. The Palins told him they hadn’t decided. “I’m not sure Sarah has made up her mind one way or the other,” a Palin adviser told me. The network is working hard to get a definitive answer out of her. ...

About two weeks earlier, Huckabee had been called into a meeting with Shine and Dianne Brandy, the network's general counsel, to be quizzed about his intentions, and, apparently, the network concluded that Huckabee wasn't seriously considering a run. They kept him, and, recently, Huckabee publicly said that he wouldn't run.

If Palin were running, she would have had to have left Fox News. If she does intend to run and is stringing the network along until she announces, then she may pay a price in terms of campaign coverage. Palin's may be an unusual case, however. Ailes is said to think, "Palin is an idiot," according to a Republican close to Ailes.

The article also describes how Ailes became disillusioned with Palin.