Sarah Palin premieres as Fox News Channel contributor on Tuesday’s ‘O’Reilly Factor’

Sarah Palin makes debut as Fox News contributor

NEW YORK — Sarah Palin accounts for the controversy she attracts by saying her opponents don’t like the “commonsense, conservative solutions” she represents.

Debuting as a Fox News analyst, the 2008 vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor was the guest of Bill O’Reilly on Tuesday’s edition of “The O’Reilly Factor.”

During the interview, Palin said sinking approval numbers for President Barack Obama reflect “an uncomfortableness” some Americans feel toward his administration.

“It was just a matter of time,” she 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 not allowing Americans to feel as safe as we had felt,” she said.

She told O’Reilly she hadn’t seen a recent “60 Minutes” report about her, explaining she was warned it contained “a bunch of b.s.”

On the claim made on “60 Minutes” that she didn’t understand the nature of her son’s mission when he was shipped to Iraq, she said, “I think that 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.”

O’Reilly told her she now has a forum with Fox News that allows her to “immediately neutralize ‘60 Minutes’” — he snapped his fingers — “like that.” He invited her back on his show any time she wants to set the record straight.

Palin’s multiyear deal with the network was announced Monday.

Fox is owned by News Corp.