There's a fire in Sarah Palin's belly? -- UPDATED

Sarah Palin has said that she has a fire in her belly. I don't know: Acid reflux disease, technically known as GERD, may cause heartburn and its symptoms can be mistaken for other maladies. Anyway, CBS News has a story/transcript of what Palin said about the matter when she appeared on Fox News Thursday and talked with Greta Van Susteren:

... Asked by host Greta Van Sustren if she has the "fire in the belly" for a run, the former Republican vice presidential nominee and Alaska governor responded, "that's a great question."

"I think my problem is that I do have the fire in my belly," said Palin, a Fox News contributor. "I am so adamantly supportive of the good traditional things about America and our free enterprise system and I want to make sure that America is put back on the right track and we only do that by defeating Obama in 2012. I have that fire in my belly."

"It's a matter for me of some kind of practical, pragmatic decisions that have to be made," Palin continued. "One is, with a large family, understanding the huge amount of scrutiny and the sacrifices that have to be made on my children's part in order to see their momma run for president. But yeah the fire in the belly -- it's there."

"That's kind of my problem is that it's such a roaring fire in my belly to preserve and restore all that's good about America that I struggle with that every single day," she added. ...

Palin attributes the fire to a desire to "preserve and restore all that's good about America," but doesn't tell us what has been lost and what may be lost. The story of America is a story of change. The CBS story hints that she may be bothered by a belief that America is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s.

Now, I'm not experiencing any heartburn, but think I would be if I believed nonsense like that.

The CBS story also has video of the interview and mentions that Palin's fire breathing remarks are at about the 8-minute mark.

Update: The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, who has grown increasingly skeptical of Palin's prospects over time, concludes an interesting post with: "We take Palin at her word that she has the requisite “fire in the belly” necessary to run. But does she have her mind wrapped around the mechanics of how (and if) she could turn intrigue over her and her family into actual votes?"

Update: The NY Times' The Caucus blog has a story about whether Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann will run. It appears as though Bachmann is closer to an announcement that Palin.