Fox News Paid What for Sarah Palin’s Words?

Posted on Jan 28, 2013

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No wonder Fox News and Sarah Palin parted ways after her three-year contract, reportedly worth $1 million a year, expired. According to a new study released by the University of Minnesota project Smart Politics, the former Alaska governor spoke 189,221 words in 151 appearances, costing the conservative cable news network $15.85 per word.

From Smart Politics, here’s a sampling of what Fox News got for its money:

Palin discussed President Obama by name 786 times compared to just 41 mentions for her self-proclaimed favorite former president Ronald Reagan (as told to Gretchen Carlson) with 41 and Abraham Lincoln with three.

Religion was frequently peppered into Palin’s commentary and the former governor uttered “Amen” 111 times across her 151 appearances.

She also mentioned “God” 57 times, Christians and Christianity 16 times, Moses three times, and Jesus once.

This isn’t to say Palin didn’t occasionally dance with the devil—delivering the PG-13 “heck” 28 times, “darn” nine times, “hell” seven times, and “damn” twice.

Palin mentioned “Muslim” 13 times and “Islam” on six occasions.

Read the full results of the study here.

—Posted by Tracy Bloom.

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