Van Susteren began the conversation asking Rove what it was about Palin that kept the media speculating, which Rove took as an opportunity to address a SarahPAC statement attacking him for having said that Palin’s schedule in the upcoming months looks like the schedule of a presidential candidate. “I’m mystified,” he admitted, “that she’s all upset about this, that I’m somehow trying to sabotage her campaign, sabotage her in some way, and how dare I speculate on her future.” Rove also responded angrily that “if she doesn’t want to be speculated about as a potential presidential candidate, there’s an easy way to end the speculation,” yet whenever the issue comes up, “she says ‘I haven’t made a decision.” Rove concluded adding a jab at Palin’s lust for attention, calling it a “sign of enormous thin skin that if we speculate about her, she gets upset, and I suspect that if we didn’t speculate about her, she’d be upset about it and trying to find a way to get us to speculate about her.”

Van Susteren tried to bring Rove back from that precipice, asking him to instead “reflect on the media” and the fact that they continue covering her. Rove admitted that she was “a potentially big factor in the presidential election,” and that “if she were to get in, she’d be a contender.” That said, Rove concluded by calling Palin thin-skinned another two times before the segment ended– abruptly, without a goodbye, cut into by a “news break” that likely could’ve waited the extra three seconds.

The segment via Fox News below:

There’s one moment that’s specifically telling in showing just how clever Palin and her team is. They know she needs to prove she’s a real American by devouring some of the many less-than-healthy foods being served at the fair. However, she’s learned from the mistakes of Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry not to show the actual mastication. Instead, we get a quick clip of a deep fried butter stick stand, hear an unseen voice say, “You’re not really going to eat that, are you?,” and see Palin respond with a hearty “Heck yeah” before cutting to something else.

Down home credentials proven. Image protected. Now that’s the work of an ingenious campaign something staff.

Watch the ad from Palin’s PAC below:

(h/t Washington Post)

She’s got a bus covered in over-the-top patriotic images (Liberty Bell, Constitution, American flag, Sarah Palin’s signature) and she’s ready to roll. Sarah Palin sets off on the “One Nation” bus tour Sunday, and we’re getting a preview of the bus itself today. In case you forget the second half of the pledge of allegiance, fear not: it’s on the side of the bus. There’s also an invitation to “join the fundamental restoration of America!” Yep, it’s big and bold, but don’t be confused. It’s not the launch of a presidential campaign. It just looks that way.

“Our nation is at a critical turning point,” Palin explains. “As we look to the future, we are propelled by America’s past. It’s imperative that we connect with our founders, our patriots, our challenges and victories to clearly see our way forward. A good way to do this is to appreciate the significance of our nation’s historic sites, patriotic events and diverse cultures, which we’ll do in the coming weeks on our ‘One Nation’ tour.” So it’s off to explore the nation–and, obviously, to fire up plenty of presidential speculation, as the Los Angeles Times reports:

The first stop will be at the “Rolling Thunder” Memorial Day weekend motorcycle rally in Washington. A “New England” stop would seem to indicate a stop in New Hampshire, which hosts the first-in-the-nation presidential primary.

Palin as recently as last week said she was still considering a run, but refused to offer any clues as to her timetable for making a final decision. Though Scott Conroy, the reporter who broke the story, said aides were calling the tour a nontraditional “exploratory” effort, it was not clear whether she would be filing necessary paperwork to indicate as much. Her website said the bus tour was being funded through her PAC.

More bus photos:

“The new site, sarahpac.com,” writes Andy Barr, “is a necessary step if Palin intends to run for president and for the first time gives her organization the ability to interact with her supporters by providing a centralized location to collect data and solicit donations.” He highlights the email list in particular– something Palin did not have before– as well as its blog and social networking features. Coupled with her speech in Wisconsin on Saturday, Barr is highlighting it as a return to presidential campaign form for the former Alaska governor.

It is true that, should Palin run, she would need the virtual infrastructure in this site and all of its grassroots amenities to do so. 2008 was a campaign defined by internet mobilization; 2012 will demand full understanding and dominance of the web. It is also true that her speech, vintage Palin with its folksy rhetoric, struck a nerve among a certain population on the right that identifies with her in a way that they had not connected to her in some time. But what is also true, and what Greta Van Susteren wryly points out on her blog today, is that her new website could also just herald in a new age for Sarah Palin in which she has a nice website. Just as presidential candidates would need to have interactive websites, so would activists like Palin who are recruiting volunteers and funds for other candidates. Claiming Palin is running for president because of her new website is like saying Michael Steele‘s short-lived career as the editor of “What Up?” was a sign he would run for president, too. That said, it is a fairly smooth way of reentering a rather convoluted national dialogue to which Palin’s position could provide structure.

As Olbermann notes, it is a testament to Palin’s power in the conservative movement that such a mild statement by Pawlenty could be considered “calling out,” but that’s the position Palin currently holds, a conservative Olympian among mortals.

However, that position could be in jeopardy. As Chris Matthews noted earlier on Hardball, Palin’s “crosshair map” has become inextricably linked to this shooting, like a 21st century Google version of Poe’s Telltale Heart. As responsible media figures point out time and again, there is absolutely no evidence of a causal link, nor is anyone in the mainstream media suggesting one, but the juxtaposition will continue to dog Palin unless she does something to mitigate it.

It is unquestionably true that attempts by figures like Markos Moulitsas to blame Palin for the massacre even as it unfolded (and get in a quick book plug, to boot) were utterly reprehensible, an assault on decency that should have been rejected by any who saw it. Ditto attempts to hang the tragedy on “the left,” or to Rush to weave conspiracy theories about it.

But anyone who thinks that Palin’s current situation is simply the result of political opponents pressing an advantage is not living in the real world, and doing Palin no favors. Had Kos and company never uttered a peep about Palin’s “crosshair map,” it would have held off the spotlight for a matter of hours, until someone found the interview of Giffords denouncing the crosshair image over her district. Any news editor who failed to note that interview would have to be fired for journalistic malpractice.

So far, though, the best thing anyone can say about Palin is that she didn’t cause the shooting. Everyone but her most ardent fans (or fearful rivals) sees that the crosshair image crossed a line that even the more common (but in hindsight, ill-advised) bullseye graphic doesn’t approach. Even at the time, conservative darling Elisabeth Hasselbeck recognized this, and said so. For everyone but existing Palin loyalists, this argument is over.

Palin’s response, then, is crucial to how she will be seen by those she hopes to woo, either as a candidate or a media figure. She could have remained silent, and rode the thing out. Such a strategy had a decent shot at success, especially given her brief, but appropriate, initial statement on the shooting.

Unfortunately, that ship sailed when SarahPAC aide Rebecca Mansour floated a ridiculous trial balloon, trying to recast the map’s imagery as “surveyor’s symbols,” despite Palin’s own proud acknowledgement of their meaning. Whether sanctioned by Palin or not, Mansour’s attempt showed a defensiveness that could be interpreted as consciousness of guilt.

Glenn Beck tried to pitch in on his radio show, reading part of an email from Palin which said “I hate violence. I hate war. Our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence.”

The problem is, no serious person is accusing Palin of inciting this incident. The imagery was widely condemned at the time, and as Olbermann pointed out, reinforced by Palin time and again, and this tragedy has sickeningly, indelibly illustrated that point.

Since silence is no longer a real option for Palin, she ought to come out and say something, and perhaps she is preparing to do just that. One option would be to double-down, to defend her choice on the same free speech grounds that she deployed in defense of Dr. Laura. This would surely please her fans, plus a lot of other conservatives who feel besieged by the “violent rhetoric” meme that has emerged. It would also have the illusion of consistency going for it.

But to many who haven’t made their minds up about Palin, that course would seem cold and stubborn.

An apology would certainly be leapt upon by Palin’s critics, who would use it as an admission that she’s unfit to hold office, and who would slam her for waiting so long to issue it. The thing is, they’re doing that anyway.

The advantage of an apology, though, is that it gives Palin the chance to place the issue in its proper context, to say “I shouldn’t have used that image, I’m sorry I did, but it did not cause this tragedy. Focusing attention on a poor decision that I made does a disservice to the lives that were shattered on Saturday, which should be occupying all of our hearts and minds.”

Such an apology would have the added advantage of being the right thing to do. Sarah Palin is not the victim in this story, but neither is she its villain. Her part of this conversation should end, and she should be the one to end it.

The image does, however, still appear on Palin’s Facebook page.

Palin has also reportedly deleted her infamous “Don’t retreat, reload” tweet. Update: The “Don’t retreat, reload” tweet was not deleted.

The website Daily Kos has also deleted a diary about Rep. Gabrielle Giffords entitled “”My Congresswoman Voted Against Pelosi, Now She’s Dead To Me,” but so far has not deleted a post by founder Markos Moulitsas that lists Giffords’ district among those on their “target list,” and noted that “Not all of these people will get or even deserve primaries, but this vote certainly puts a bulls eye on their district.” (emphasis ours).

Moulitsas also used the occasion of the tragedy to work in a Twitter plug for his book, “American Taliban.”

The tweet, it’s worth noting, was sent well before the shooter’s identity had been released.

For her part, Sarah Palin offered the following comment via her Facebook page:

On the tragedy in Arizona
By Sarah Palin · about an hour ago

My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today’s tragic shooting in Arizona.

On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.

- Sarah Palin

While some will take these deletions as some sort of consciousness of guilt, there’s also something to be said for sensitivity to the victims, their loved-ones, and well-wishers. It seems, in some quarters, such sensitivity is in short supply.

Update: To the extent that these items have not been scrubbed, perhaps they now should be, or at least revised in some way.

This post has been updated to reflect that the “crosshair” image still appears on Sarah Palin’s Facebook page. We also have clarified that we are not certain that any images have been removed, only that the original website was down. The headline for this post has been changed, from “SarahPAC Website Removes “Hit List” Image That Included Target On Giffords District,” then to “SarahPAC’s Removes “Hit List” Image Of Giffords District, Her Facebook Page And DailyKos Post Remain,” to its current headline.

Behold her latest offering. A fun new video from SarahPac titled ‘Together’ featuring a slew of Tuesday’s big winners (and Palin endorsements) including: Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, Sean Duffy, and Susana Martinez, also a lumberjack and a roaring grizzly bear…all set to some snappy music! Notably absent are Joe Miller and Christine O’Donnell.

Said Palin on her Facebook page: “Congratulations, America! And thank you, voters!” Said Palin in the voiceover: “We’re going to stand up, we’re gonna speak out. And it may take some renegades going rogue to get us there…This is our movement. This is our moment. This is our morning in America.”

Shorter version: In a catchy one minute vid Palin is essentially claiming credit for the GOP “tidal” wave that just took the House and at the same time putting the establishment GOP on alert. It’s a smart move and highlights perfectly Palin’s unique role in the conservative party. One suspects the GOP has more to fear from Palin’s campaign vids in the next two years than the (slim) reality of an actual presidential run. Watch below.

The video continues the theme and structure of the last one which gained so much popularity a few months ago. Again we have inspirational music playing (a bit more drums this time to show that things just got real). Again we have Palin’s disembodied voice imparting a rousing speech to the masses. And again we see those masses interacting with Palin, seeing her shake hands with the regular people that anyone who has ever stepped foot in a political office ever just doesn’t understand.

The voiceover (which is an edited selection of pieces from her speech at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville last February) plays as follows:

“The Tea Party movement is not a top-down operation. It’s a ground-up call to action that’s forcing both parties to change the way they do business and that’s beautiful. The soul of this movement is the people, everyday Americans, who grow our food and run our small businesses, who teach our kids and fight our wars. They’re folks in small towns and cities across this great nation who saw what was happening and got involved. It is so inspiring to see real people, not politicos, not inside the beltway professionals come out and stand up and speak out for commonsense, conservative principles. Who can argue a movement that is about the people? Government is supposed to be working for the people. That is what this movement is about. This party that we call the Tea Party is the future of politics and I am proud to get to be here today.

It’s a slick piece of filmmaking that mixes tons of flags waving in the wind, hard-fought people marching, and their seeming queen smiling into a potent combination sure to show up on every cable news show in existence over the next few days.

I call B.S. on both Politico and Tommy Christopher here. They say that the rumors would have been given no attention without the statement from Meg Stapleton…

…Hello!!!! Look above! Let’s leave aside the fact that MSM outlets were obviously grilling Meg Stapleton about the divorce rumors. Not only is Dennis Zaki a CNN journalist, but these idiots report blog rumors all the time!

This conflation is vital to their contention that Palin is “shooting down” this rumor, rather than elevating it. But Zaki’s status as a CNN stringer exists only in Zaki’s mind.

A CNN source tells Mediaite that, while CNN has purchased raw footage and stills from Zaki in the past, they’ve never had a stringer agreement with him, and he does not work for the network. The source also pointed out that Zaki has removed the CNN stringer credit from the bio on his homepage.

The terms “freelancer” and “stringer” are similar, but not interchangeable. A freelancer is anyone who provides content to an outlet without being on its staff. A stringer is a narrower concept in which the outlet has an ongoing agreement with a freelancer. Therefore, Zaki is not a “CNN stringer.” He’s a guy who sells video or stills to CNN if they can use them.

Even if he were a stringer, he’s a freelance photographer and videographer, not a freelance journalist. His story about the Palin rumor has nothing at all to do with CNN — or Meg Stapleton’s decision to use Facebook to address it publicly.

The larger issue here is, why would Palin supporters try so hard to make this connection? As I noted yesterday, the value of another overreaching media victim story is far outweighed by the damage inflicted by elevating this rumor to a national news story.