Fox News announced today that Sarah Palin is rejoining the network as a contributor after allowing her previous contract to expire in January 2013.

Fox portrayed the split with Palin as amicable and Palin herself had portrayed it as her own decision. But some media observers suggested that it was part of Fox's effort to “purge some of its more controversial characters” after the Republican Party had been “damaged badly in 2012 by loud, partisan voices that stoked the base - but that scared the hell out of many voters.”

Palin's return to Fox would appear to signify that any such strategy is no longer in effect. 

In Palin's previous turn at Fox News, she made many false and outrageous statements. Here are some of the lowlights: