Roger Ailes probably didn't care that Sarah Palin wasn't running for president, he just wanted her to announce it on Fox News. By shunning an exclusive interview with Fox's and Palin-exclusive-nabber Greta van Susteren and instead opting to just announce her non-exclusive non-intentions on October 5, it sent the Fox News president over the edge.  New York's Gabriel Sherman explains: 

[H]e was livid that Palin made the October 5 announcement on Mark Levin's conservative talk-radio program, robbing Fox News of an exclusive and a possible ratings bonanza. Fox was relegated to getting a follow-up interview with Palin on Greta Van Susteren's 10 p.m. show, after the news of Palin's decision had been drowned out by Steve Jobs's death. Ailes was so mad, he considered pulling her off the air entirely until her $1 million annual contract expires in 2013.

Sherman also reveals that Palin's announcement wasn't a slip-up, or a spur of the moment decision. He writes, "Palin is said to have made her announcement on Levin's show because she's been upset that Fox News has given a platform to Karl Rove, one of her principal critics." It's a feud we've noted in the past. So what about her future? Ailes is still head of the Fox News channel and she's, well, not much of a political story anymore. "Palin hasn't turned into the television asset Ailes had hoped," Sherman writes. "Palin's contract is up in 2013 and it's unclear what the current fracas will mean for her future on Fox News. Part of her appeal as a pundit was that every appearance on the network was turbocharged by the 'will-she-or-won't-she run' speculation." The last bit of political drama to be wrung out of the Palin saga, Sherman notes, is which of the 2012 hopefuls Palin will endorse. There's still no word if it's going to be a Fox News exclusive. 

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Alexander Abad-Santos