The most skillful and witty parody of Sarah Palin's faux-modesty, clumsy and cliched language, and outsider-turned-insider punditry Friday was written by Palin herself. The National Review rounded up the Super Bowl predictions of several famous and D.C.-famous conservatives, and Palin's was among them:

Who would I choose? Well, for what it’s worth, just my two-cents — because my pick really isn’t worth a hill of beans and I trust Americans to choose their own favorite — I say, in order to keep this competitive battle going, to continue the needed vetting and debate, if I were there, I’d vote for Eli!

Okay, okay, stay with us. It really is brilliant. Once she announced she wasn't running, Palin was often asked who'd she endorse. Every time, she'd feign modesty, saying in December, for example, "I think today, my personal endorsement, probably doesn't amount to a hill of beans today, at this point in the race." Instead, she'd trust "The wisdom of the people... They will be making up their own mind." When Palin did quasi-endorse Gingrich, she said, "If I had to vote in South Carolina, in order to keep this thing going, I would vote for Newt." The implication was that she was not really supporting Gingrich, but hoping to hurt Romney with a long primary fight. The same goes for Nevada, Palin said Tuesday: "[I would vote for] whoever it is, to allow the process to continue. I still say that competition breeds success for the U.S. and that’s what we need in this debate…so I would continue to vote for whomever it is to allow the process. At this point it looks like Newt.”

"Hill of beans," trust the people, vetting, etc. -- she parodied it all in her two-sentence Super Bowl pick. What is going on? Is Palin playing with us? With her fans? Is she bored? Let's not forget that self-parody and irony are the tools of the coastal elite.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at ereeve at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Elspeth Reeve