Corn: McGwire used steroids, Fox signs Palin, sun sets in west

Fox show coincidentally shares name with phrase Palin apologized for in 2008

The news wasn't exactly Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson or Barack Obama winning the Democratic presidential nomination over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards or...um...the governor of Alaska resigning her job on the Fourth of July.

Nope, as Mother Jones editor David Corn Tweeted Monday afternoon, "McGwire used steroids. Palin signed with Fox. Sun sets in the west."

The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reports that "Palin, who regularly rips the media, is becoming a television pundit at a place where she's likely to feel at home."

"Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has signed a multi-year deal with FOX News to serve as a contributor across all FOX News platforms, announced Bill Shine, Executive Vice President of Programming," a press release today announces.

Kurtz adds that the "network already employs former Bush White House aide Karl Rove and former House speaker Newt Gingrich as highly visible commentators."

In the press release posted by Mediabistro, Palin says, "I am thrilled to be joining the great talent and management team at FOX News. It's wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news."

The press release continues,

"Governor Palin has captivated everyone on both sides of the political spectrum and we are excited to add her dynamic voice to the FOX News lineup." As a contributor, Palin will provide political commentary and analysis for FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOXNews.com, and FOX News-produced special event political programming for FOX Broadcasting.

In addition, she will host periodic episodes of FNC's "Real American Stories," a series exploring inspirational real-life tales of overcoming adversity throughout the American landscape that will debut in 2010.

The Note's Rick Klein Tweets, "Palin's show on Fox will be called 'Real American Stories.' That's with an N at the end."

Klein was making a reference to an apology that Palin had to make during the 2008 presidential campaign.

The Washington Post reported last October, "Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin apologized yesterday for implying that some parts of the country are more American than others, even as similar comments by two Republican congressmen were causing a backlash that threatened their chances for reelection."

In an interview on CNN, Palin said comments she made last week in North Carolina praising small towns as "the real America" and the "pro-America areas of this great nation" were not intended to suggest that other parts of the country are less patriotic or less American.

"If that's the way it has come across, I apologize," she told CNN's Drew Griffin.

NY Times' Jim Rutenberg writes, "Many suspected that when Ms. Palin retired as the governor of Alaska last summer she was doing so to pursue some sort of career in television."

At TPMMuckraker, Rachel Slajda calls the news "inevitable," and adds that the former governor "and her family have grown close with Fox News personality Greta Van Susteren, who often interviewed the Palins during and after the 2008 presidential campaign."

Hot Air's Ed Morrissey believes that some Palin supporters may be unhappy with today's news.

"Sarah Palin’s supporters have reason to cheer, and perhaps lament, the media news leaked to the New York Times this morning," Morrissey observed. "The former governor and VP candidate will become a Fox News analyst, signing a multi-year deal for appearances as a political pundit. That gives Palin an even larger stage, but might mean that she’s looking at a longer game plan than some may want."

A commenter at the Hot Air post noted that GOP operative Roger Stone "predicted this in July":

The obvious place for Palin to re-tool her political image is FOX television. FOX’s viewers are Palin’s potential voters. It is ironic that FOX president Roger Ailes is the genius TV producer who erased candidate Nixon’s flaws in a controlled environment and facilitated the greatest political comeback in American history, is at the helm at FOX.