I don’t know what interview you saw, but Palin jumped right on board criticizing Romney’s tenure at Bain. She is as much a populist as any Republican. After all, she went after the oil companies in Alaska for a much greater share of the oil profits. The idea that big business is “looking out for us” is ludicrous. Freedom means a lot of things, including having to watch your back in a dog-eat-dog world.
She did no such thing. Palin said that Romney, along with the other candidates, should be held accountable for what they claim on the campaign trail and, specifically, that Romney should provide evidence to back up his claim that Bain created 100,000 jobs. That's far different from “criticizing Romney's tenure at Bain” as Perry and Newt did.