海角大神

Sarah Palin hasn鈥檛 held office for five years, but the former Alaska governor鈥檚 reach only seems to grow.

The one-time GOP vice presidential nominee has launched her own Internet TV network, named 鈥� drumroll, please 鈥� The Sarah Palin Channel. It鈥檚 a subscription-based service, and she鈥檚 charging $9.95 a month or $99.95 a year.

鈥淚 want to talk directly to you on our channel, on my terms 鈥� and no need to please the powers that be,鈥� Ms. Palin says , which went live Sunday. 鈥淭ogether, we鈥檒l go beyond the sound bites and cut through the media鈥檚 politically correct filter.鈥�

No word yet on how many people have signed up, but given her intensely loyal fan base, it seems a promising venture. And it offers far more than Palin communicating directly with her fans. There鈥檚 also a link to a blog by her daughter Bristol Palin. Her mother, Sally Heath, offers a 鈥渨ord of the day鈥� 鈥� starting with 鈥渞ectitude.鈥� Subscribers can also submit questions to Palin and take part in video chats with her and other subscribers, Variety reports.

There鈥檚 also a 鈥渜uote of the day鈥� (first up, Thomas Paine) and an 鈥渋mage of the day鈥� 鈥� a social-media-ready drawing of colonists and their muskets with the caption:

Atop the home page is a debt clock and the number of days, hours, minutes, and seconds left in the Obama administration. Palin also has a section on her topic du jour, what she calls impeachment.

鈥淚t鈥檚 time to take action and do what we can to stop this imperial president,鈥� says Palin, who serves as the site鈥檚 executive editor. 聽鈥淭hat includes the House doing its job and impeaching.鈥�

Earlier this month, Palin took the long-simmering tea party chatter about impeaching President Obama and blasted it into the open in a column at Breitbart.com. That was music to the ears of the Obama White House and Democratic campaign committees, which are fundraising up a storm around impeachment. Never mind that, by all indications, House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio has zero intention of going there and so impeachment is likely to remain a mirage on the horizon until Obama leaves office in 2017.

Maybe Democrats will cheer, too, about Palin鈥檚 new online channel. After all, it鈥檚 a new way for Palin to spread her polarizing brand, establish a home base for her community of followers, and get them whipped up. Or maybe not. Maybe, as a paid service, it isolates her partisans and keeps them away from the rest of the world.

The first possibility seems more likely. Palin is still a paid contributor on Fox News, and can still inject herself into public discourse whenever she wants via columns, Facebook, and other social media. She鈥檚 also earning free media in the 2014 midterms as she endorses candidates and makes personal appearances around the country. And as much as Democrats relish her at-times-over-the-top rhetoric, she knows how to motivate voters. The closest the Dems have to their own Palin is Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) of Massachusetts, though she鈥檚 not an exact analog (we say, anticipating a wave of angry e-mails).

One more point caught our attention from the rollout of the new Palin channel. According to Variety, it鈥檚 being produced in partnership with Tapp, an online video venture started in March by former executives from NBC and CNN, outlets that don鈥檛 exactly line up ideologically with Palin. Another co-founder used to be chief technology officer at The Onion, another outlet that, it鈥檚 safe to say, isn鈥檛 staffed with Palin voters.

But when there鈥檚 money to be made, ideology rides in the back seat.