Palin fires back at critics on Twitter

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By Sean Lengell

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin used her Twitter page Sunday to fire back at critics seizing on her decision to abruptly resign from office this month and to rebut speculation of an FBI investigation.

Shortly after lawmakers, pundits and political strategists took to the Sunday morning television talk shows to call her decision to step down a political mistake, Mrs. Palin posted several Tweets on the social-networking Web site aimed at reassuring supporters that she had made the correct decision.

"Critics are spinning, so hang in there as they feed false info on the right decision made as I enter last yr in office to not run again," wrote Mrs. Palin, who has been considered a likely Republican presidential candidate in 2012.

A few hours later, in an attempt to debunk speculation that her pending resignation was linked to a rumored FBI investigation, she posted a link on her Twitter page to a Los Angeles Times article that quoted an agency official saying that there was "absolutely no truth" that the FBI was investigating the governor.

Mrs. Palin also earlier in the day posted a link to a letter from her attorney, Thomas Van Flein, which pushed back at allegations, saying that Mrs. Palins resignation had nothing to do with the rumored criminal investigation that she illegally intervened in the construction of a sports complex in Wasilla, the Alaska town where she formerly served as mayor.

But many political figures say that Mrs. Palin's abrupt resignation will haunt her if she decides to run for president.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a potential GOP rival of Mrs. Palin in 2012, on Sunday called her decision to step down from office a "risky strategy" politically.

"Nobody knows whether it's going to pay off or not," he said on "Fox News Sunday." "And even if she did get out primarily because of a feeling of being chased, that's not going to stop if she continues in politics."

Mr. Huckabee, who ran for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination before withdrawing from the race several months before the November election, said Mrs. Palin's hastily called news conference on Friday to announce her resignation has raised more questions than it answered.

"My political mentor, Ed Rollins, the other day on his radio show brought that up - that you don't call a press conference that creates questions. You call one to resolve them," the former governor said.