Sarah Palin co-hosts TODAY; Matt jokes she joins 'lamestream media'

Sarah Palin made her debut as a TODAY co-anchor in the 8 a.m. hour — or as Matt put it, joined what she often calls the "lamestream media."

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How'd it feel? "Organized chaos," she said after it was all over. "I've always said if everything is under control, you're going too slow, as Mario Andretti says too. It's been a great morning." 

The former vice presidential candidate jumped right in, throwing her opinions around with our TODAY Professionals panel and weighing in on her experience raising teenage daughters, or as Palin joked, it's "a crap shoot; you do as best as you can." 

"That's our motto," Matt joked about the broadcast. "We have that hanging on our wall here." 

Not everything went as expected: Palin learned the joys of live TV when Tori Spelling, who joined TODAY to chat about her new party planning book, asked the former Alaskan governor if she'd have another kid. "Ah ... no — the grandkids will come next," Palin said,. seemingly a little surprised.

And the day wouldn't have been complete without Palin weighing in on the 2012 GOP election. She warned candidates not to "play it safe" with their vice presidential picks. 

The interest around her co-hosting gig fueled "Matt Lauer" and "Sarah Palin" to the top of the Twitter trends in the United States. 

But the Palin kept it all in perspective, recounting an amusing interaction with a fan before the broadcast: "The nicest lady in the world, she stopped me, asked me where I was heading. I said 30 Rock, and she said, 'Oh honey, come here! I told you, Tina Fey is here.'" 

More Sarah on TODAY:
Sarah Palin to GOP: ‘Don’t play it safe’
Palin avoids a style snafu on TODAY
Palin becomes a Professional, slams 'Game Change'
Tori Spelling asks Sarah Palin if she'll have more children
Pic of the day: Sarah Palin 'doing her homework,' Matt says
Matt to Palin on co-hosting prep: 'Reading some newspapers?'