If for nothing else, give Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin credit for this one thing: Even as she bashes the press for the way she's covered, she knows exactly how to use the focus on her for her own benefit. Sure, it's pretty hypocritical, but it's also an example of one area in which she's got more than a little political savvy.
So for Tuesday morning's news, Palin did a round of interviews with reporters from a number of outlets -- Fox News, of course, as well as ABC, NBC, CNN, Time and her home state's Anchorage Daily News.
She didn't always perform perfectly, telling ABC's Kate Snow, for example, that were she to become president and be hit with the kind of ethics complaints she says were a primary factor in her decision to resign her current post, "I think on a national level, your department of law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out." (There is, of course, no "department of law," and neither the Department of Justice or the White House Counsel has the power to do what she describes.)
But Palin did get a bunch of time on television getting exactly the kind of coverage she wanted. She took the TV cameras with her on a fishing trip, holding the interviews in her gear and playing the frontier outdoorswoman, the real person victimized by the press. It's the kind of thing her supporters continue to love, and she did manage to get one Fox News reporter to gush, "You have not lived until you've gone commercial fishing with Sarah Palin."
Below, Salon's selection of some of the more memorable clips.
Fox News reporter: "You have not lived until you've gone commercial fishing with Sarah Palin."
Palin tells ABC News, "Politically speaking, if I die, I die. So be it."
NBC's Andrea Mitchell asks Palin if she's having trouble with the nitty gritty in Juneau.
CNN reporter asks: "Is this your unconventional way of announcing that you're going to run for president?"
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