TPMDC

Palin Sitting Down With Hannity For First Interview Since Arizona Shooting

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin will sit down Monday with fellow Fox pundit and notorious softball lobber Sean Hannity, according to the New York Times, for her first interview since wading into the debate over the Tucson shooting.

Palin’s decision to do her first post-Tucson interview on Fox News isn’t too surprising given that she’s a paid Fox contributor who’s often expressed disdain for the so-called ‘lamestream media.’ But Hannity’s show in particular should provide her with a very friendly setting to speak her mind without getting grilled.

In the past, Hannity’s show has given Republicans a safe venue to sit in the spotlight while avoiding tough questions others in the media were dying to ask. Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, and Christine O’Donnell took to his show after they face planted out of the starting gate in the midterm elections. And Palin herself has been down this road before, having gone on Hannity’s program in 2008 after her much maligned performances in interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric.

Palin became the center of much media attention in the wake of the Tucson tragedy for her history of fiery rhetoric and for a map issued last year by her PAC that used gun sights to identify congressional Democratic districts that she hoped to target in the midterms. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head in Tucson on Saturday, was among those targeted on the map.

In an online video posted Wednesday, Palin accused her critics of “blood libel” for linking her to the shooting, immediately prompting another round of criticism against the former half-term Alaska governor.

2012, 2012 Presidential Primaries, 2012 elections, Fox News, Giffords shooting, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity

Editor & Publisher

Josh Marshall

Managing Editor

David Kurtz

Senior Associate Editor

Paul Werdel

Associate Editor

Sara Libby

Assistant Editor

Igor Bobic

Reporters

Brian Beutler

Carl Franzen

Sahil Kapur

Eric Kleefeld

Eric Lach

Nick Martin

Evan McMorris-Santoro

Ryan J. Reilly

Benjy Sarlin

Front Page Editor

David Taintor

Poll Editor

Kyle Leighton

News Writer

Pema Levy

Video Editor

Michael Lester

Polling Fellow

Tom Kludt

Video Fellow

Clayton Ashley

Publishing Fellow

Christopher O’Driscoll

Research Interns

Michael Brooks

Publishing Intern

Miles Read

General Manager & General Counsel

Millet Israeli

VP, Ad Sales

Mary Cadwallader

Bob Edmunds

Bruce Ellerstein

Waldo Tibbetts

Manager, Ad Operations and Sales Support

Versha Sharma

Deputy Publisher

Callie Schweitzer

Director of Technology

Eric Buth

Designer/Developer

Ni Mu

Matthew Wozniak

Tech Fellow

Dennis Cahillane