Only on Fox News, and maybe only on BFF Greta Van Susteren’s On The Record, would Sarah Palin be able to tout quitting her job as governor halfway through her first term as some kind of political judiciousness and have it accepted without challenge – or without a host falling over in laughter. But that’s exactly what happened last night as Palin held up her own decision to “know when to fold” as an example for embattled Rep. Todd Akin. And then she went on to urge a third-party candidacy if Akin refuses to drop out.

But first, Van Susteren took time out to give some props to the Republican pariah from Wasilla for her chops in endorsing Akin’s Republican primary opponent in the first place.  Noting that Republicans “would probably love your choice now,” Van Susteren said, “I think it’s only fair to take a few seconds and to gloat a little bit.”

“I won’t gloat about it,” Palin said, before quickly adding that she was “right” to support Akin’s opponent, Sarah Steelman. Then Palin suggested she did that only to thwart the Democratic plot that was behind Akin’s candidacy:

Claire McCaskill and the Democrats thought that they were so clever in fighting so hard to get Akin on the ballot as the winner in the GOP primary and, um, you know, many of us who recognize that cleverness, that craftiness from the left, ‘cause we’re kind of getting used to the games that they play, wanted to do something about it.

Palin said she had some sympathy for Akin. “But you gotta know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em,” she added. “Believe me, I’ve walked it before. I know when you have to hold that mantle and then hand it to someone else in order to progress a positive agenda. That’s what I had to do in Alaska.”

Actually, the two situations could hardly have been more different. Akin is in a campaign. Palin walked away from a governorship. But maybe Palin was referring to some of the speaking engagements she reneged on. Or maybe she was thinking of last summer's bus tour that she "folded" halfway through?

Palin said she'd support Steelman as a third party candidate if Akin won’t drop out. “We have to figure out, OK, well, what is next? …Maybe it is a third party run of Sarah Steelman’s that I could get behind.” Palin thought the party adopt Steelman’s campaign slogan as its name: the status quo has got to go.

So just who is this “we” Palin is talking about? Her own party wants nothing to do with her. She is persona non grata at both the upcoming Republican convention and on the campaign trail. And she’s the poster child for what Republicans didn’t want in a vice presidential candidate this time around. I have a feeling nobody in the GOP is going to be beating a path to her door for strategy advice any time soon.

More importantly, having the conservative vote split by a third party candidate is probably not going to help the situation for Republicans. But far be it from Van Susteren to say or do anything to undermine the Palin-as-profound-pundit charade.

Sounding like a sports coach, Palin said, “This is not going in (Akin’s) favor. So you have to step aside from self, from your self desire to get in there and serve and do what you believe is right and you have to, in a sense, take one for the team!”

She continued,

“If he doesn’t do it, then it’s gonna be third party then. We’ll do whatever we can to not quash this opportunity that we have to take Missouri, for the good of the country and for the good of every citizen of Missouri, to take it back… It’s doable, it’s winnable, Missouri is. And that leads to winning the Senate. That leads to reversing a lot of the things that Obama and Biden have done to put our children and grandchildren in the chains of dependency, to shackle our kids and grandkids in the debt that they have continued to perpetuate, Greta.”

The fact that Palin’s appearance was halfway through the show, instead of as the top guest says a lot about the weight - or lack thereof - that Republicans are giving her opinions right now.