Sarah Palin is no stranger to lobbing pithy takedowns at MSNBC. But her off-the-cuff zinger at Rachel Maddow's expense earned the former governor a double-barreled response from her least favorite network.

Speaking at an event in Illinois, Palin ended a long-winded allegory with a shot at Maddow. "The clerk, she turns beet red, and the veins pop out in her neck--kind of like Rachel Maddow does sometimes," she chuckled. As the audience roared, Palin added: "Now watch, that clip's gonna be on the air for her, doggone it. Get her some ratings."

Shaking her head in wonder, Maddow responded, "For all the things I thought would change in my life when I got a job on TV, I did not forsee becoming a stump speech applause line for politicians who won't agree to do interviews with me." But Maddow took the high road, stating: "I'm not going to get too excited about this."

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One of Maddow's MSNBC colleagues was less forgiving. Naming Palin his "Worst Person in the World," Keith Olbermann spat: "That woman is an idiot." Palin's refusal to face either himself or Maddow in an interview left Olbermann even more enraged.

To put it plainly, and this is a matter of record, that woman does not have the courage, personal or political, to appear on MSNBC. Not without an army with her, and I mean that literally. The half-governor of Alaska, now celebrating two years without holding an actual news conference or having the guts to be interviewed on a network like this one.

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