Taegan Goddard, founder of nonpartisan news site Political Wire, floated the idea after the release of Palin’s video remarks Wednesday, writing that “… while it’s not entirely clear what Palin intended, it’s possible she was trying to use dog whistle politics to speak to her religious base who often feel they’re an oppressed minority.”

Commentators have adopted the phrase “dog whistle” to describe Palin’s use of certain words and ideas that will be immediately heard and understood by conservative Christians, but often will not be picked up on by the broader public…

On MSNBC, liberal commentator Ed Schultz also raised the idea that Palin’s use of “blood libel” was intentional, countering suggestions that she was unaware of what the term meant.

“Many people think she’s used the term ‘blood libel’ as an appeal to an extremist Christian conservative base for 2012,” he said on Wednesday night.