The video she's produced about her time in Iowa is normal if she's a politician, bizarre if she's a private citizen, and selfish if she's a celebrity

Sarah Palin has released a new video that features moments from her recent visit to the Iowa State Fair. It is exceptionally well done: the production value is high, the former Alaska governor is cast in her best light, and it concludes with a grizzly bear rearing up on its hind legs and roaring as these words appear: "Thank You Iowa! See you September 3." That's when she is scheduled to give a Labor Day speech to tea partiers in Indianola, Iowa. So does this mean she is running?

Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review thinks so: "Is there any other conclusion after watching the Iowa video?" she writes. "I think she just shared which way she is leaning." An eagle-eyed Wall Street Journal reporter offers an alternative scenario: "Most suspect Ms. Palin will either endorse Texas Gov. Rick Perry or run herself," says Danny Yadron. "In one scene, the former governor poses for a picture with girls in burnt orange 'Americans for Rick Perry' t-shirts. Make of that what you will."

I won't hazard a guess -- yours is as good.

I will say this. That video is a perfectly normal thing to produce and release if you're running for president of the United States. But if you're just a private citizen touring around Iowa, playing up the notion that you're just a regular person, it's perhaps the most extreme act of narcissism I've ever seen. And I've watched more episodes of The Celebrity Apprentice than I care to admit.