Palin: Politically speaking, 'If I die, I die.'

KOTZEBUE, Alaska — Sarah Palin says she's not a quitter, she's a fighter, but adds that, politically speaking, "if I die, I die. So be it."

Sporting fishing waders and a T-shirt, Palin defended her decision to resign as Alaska governor in half a dozen interviews broadcast and published Tuesday morning. The former vice presidential candidate invited media outlets to Dillingham, an Alaska town of about 2,500, where she was fishing with her husband, Todd, and children.

Palin wouldn't rule out a 2012 presidential run, and told CNN that "all options are on the table" for her future.

"I don't know what doors will be open or closed by then," the Republican told Time magazine. "I was telling Todd today, I was saying, 'Man, I wish we could predict the next fish run so that we know when to be out on the water.' We can't predict the next fish run, much less what's going to happen in 2012."

But she told ABC's "Good Morning America" that she recognizes she might not have political staying power after her surprise resignation Friday, which came just as she had been expected to elevate her national profile ahead of a possible 2012 GOP presidential run.

"I said before ... 'You know, politically speaking, if I die, I die. So be it,'" she said.

"I'm not going to take the comfortable path. I'm going to take the right path for the state," she said of her resignation, which she characterized as a matter of progressing in an unconventional way.

"That caught people off guard. ... It's out of the box and unconventional. That's what we are as Alaskans and certainly how I am as a public servant."

Palin criticized President Barack Obama, a possible sign she's looking toward the 2012 presidential race.

"President Obama is growing government outrageously, and it's immoral and it's uneconomic, his plan that he tries to sell America," Palin told Time. "His plan to 'put America on the right track' economically, incurring the debt that our nation is incurring, trillions of dollars that we're passing on to our kids, expecting them to pay off for us, is immoral and doesn't even make economic sense."

The outgoing Alaska governor told the Anchorage Daily News she stepped down because ethics complaints against her and her squabble with lawmakers would have paralyzed the 18 months she had left in office.

"Especially when all these lawmakers are lining up for office," she said. "Their desire would be to clobber the administration left and right so that they can position themselves for office. I'm not going to put Alaskans through that."