Fox News contributor Sarah Palin will appear on Saturday's inaugural edition of Fox Business' Freedom Watch, a formerly online-only show that regularly featured fringe guests like 9-11 conspiracy theorists Alex Jones and Jesse Ventura, and Thomas E. Woods Jr., who has been a member of the League of the South, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has called a “racist” hate group. Freedom Watch is hosted by Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano, a libertarian who espouses anti-government conspiracy theories and views on Fox.

Jones, who appeared on Freedom Watch in March 2009, calls himself the “founding father” of the movement that claims the government helped carry out the September 11 attacks. Jesse Ventura appeared on Freedom Watch on March 22 and told Napolitano that he believed the government either “participate[d]” in 9-11 or “knew it was going to happen and didn't do very much to stop it.” At no point did Napolitano refute Ventura. To the contrary, Napolitano said Ventura is a “champion of exposing government fraud and lies” and wondered if “people who question the government's involvement will be mainstreamed, rather than looked upon as an extremist fringe.”

In July 2009, author and journalist Michelle Goldberg criticized Freedom Watch for giving a platform “to the kind of rhetoric once confined to the short-wave radio broadcasts of militia movements. After eight years of championing increased executive power, the network now hosts a show whose anti-government fixation sometimes leads to cheerful talk of dissolving the United States and dark warnings of impending tyranny.” Goldberg also noted that Freedom Watch regularly hosted “libertarian anarchist” Lew Rockwell, who “excoriat[es]” Abraham Lincoln and openly pushes for secession.

It remains to be seen whether Freedom Watch will emulate its online iterations and continue to be a constant and friendly platform for fringe rhetoric. In addition to Palin, Napolitano on Saturday will host Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), Ron Paul (R-TX) and Senate candidate Rand Paul (R-KY). Napolitano has done fundraising for Ron Paul, and expressed his “enthusiasm” over Rand's primary victory in Kentucky.