Mon Mar 14, 10:07 am ET

Sarah Palin is reportedly on the outs with Roger Ailes

By Holly Bailey

Sarah Palin stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy when in the aftermath of January's deadly shooting in Tucson she posted a video on Facebook accusing the media of "blood libel" for linking her political rhetoric to the massacre.
But it turns out the video may have been more than just a political misstep for Palin. Her decision to speak out may have also alienated one of her key patrons, Fox News chief Roger Ailes, who had urged his employee to keep quiet about the debate.

"Lie low," Ailes told Palin, according to New York Magazine's Gabriel Sherman. "There's no need to inject yourself into the story."

According to Sherman, Ailes wasn't the only one urging the former Alaska governor to stay out of the limelight. She reportedly told Ailes that her attorney, Washington power lawyer Bob Bennett, had told her not to respond.

But Palin did it anyway--and in the process irked Ailes, who reportedly pays her $1 million a year to be a Fox News contributor. "The Tucson thing was horrible," a source close to Ailes told Sherman. "Before she responded, she was making herself look like a victim. She was winning. She went out and did the blood libel thing, and Roger is thinking, 'Why did you call me for advice?' "

According to Sherman, Fox is now weighing whether to press Palin more strongly on whether she'll run for president in 2012. Earlier this month, the network suspended the contracts of two other Fox News contributors, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, as they openly explore bids for next year's GOP nomination.
(Photo of Palin: Scott Sady/AP Images)