Fox News chairman Ailes told Palin not to make the ‘blood libel’ video

• Tweet
• 
• 

• Tweet

Among former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s (R) many lucrative jobs is her stint as a Fox News contributor for $1 million per year — which likely also provides her with her largest audience. So before she took to the airwaves to accuse her critics of “blood libel” for tying her infamous crosshairs map to the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), Palin reportedly called Fox News chairman Roger Ailes for advice.

Gabriel Sherman of Daily Intel reports that Ailes told Palin to keep her mouth shut. Specifically, he is said to have told her, “Lie low. There’s no need to inject yourself into the story.”

Palin then told him that most of her political advisers had given her the same advice. She then went on to both make and defend the video, which was most notable for its ahistorical use of the term “blood libel” and its subsequent negative effect on her approval ratings. It also failed to stop anyone from connecting her crosshairs map to the Giffords shooting.