Palin Premieres as Fox's Newest Pundit

Sarah Palin is officially a member of the media.

The vice-presidential also-ran made her debut on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" Tuesday, beginning her correspondent career with a conversation about President Obama, the economy and her own background as a politician.

Palin, Bill O'Reilly's guest on the popular Fox program, didn't mince words as she talked tough with the host, defending herself against a "60 Minutes" report about her, which she called "a bunch of b.s."

The "60 Minutes" report claimed Palin didn't understand the nature of her son's mission when he was shipped to Iraq, an idea Palin vehemently denied to O'Reilly.

"I think these are the political establishment reporters who love to gin up controversy and spin up gossip. The rest of America doesn't care about that kind of crap," Palin said.

Yet Palin confirmed as true charges laid out in a new book "Game Change" that as recently as before the 2008 vice presidential debate she believed Iraq was behind the 9/11 attacks.

“I did talk a lot to [campaign strategist] Steve Schmidt about the history of the war and where the attackers could have come from,” Palin said. “I do admit to asking questions about that.”

Palin turned the conversation away from herself to talk about President Obama's sinking approval ratings, saying the numbers reflect a degree of "uncomfortableness" Americans feel about the second-year president.

"It was just a matter of time," the newly crowned pundit said.

"There is an obvious disconnect between President Obama and the White House, what they are doing to our economy and what they are doing in terms of now allowing Americans to feel as safe as we had felt," she said.

O'Reilly invited Palin to return to his show any time she wanted, saying she could use his program to set the record straight about her politics.

Palin will be a regular contributor to Fox News and host an occasional program about inspirational Americans, the Fox network announced Monday.