When Sarah Palin told Fox News on Wednesday night that she turns to Newsmax as one of her primary news sources, she ticked off MSNBC host Keith Olbermann.

On Thursday night, the left-leaning Olbermann opened a broadside against the former Alaska governor for her choice of reading matter — especially her use of Newsmax.

Olbermann reacted to statements the former vice-presidential candidate had made to Sean Hannity when the Fox host asked her what she regularly reads.

Palin’s response?

“I read Newsmax and the Frontiersman and Wall Street Journal and everything online. I absorb the news via many, many sources.”

On Thursday night, Olbermann featured the Palin response in a full segment on his cable show.

Olbermann opened the segment by alluding to Palin’s interview with Katie Couric during last year’s campaign, when Palin declined to tell Couric what newspapers and magazines she reads regularly.

Referring to Palin’s statements on Hannity’s show, Olbermann snarled that “a year and six weeks” after the Couric interview, Palin announced that she reads Newsmax.

Olbermann displayed three headlines from the Newsmax Web site, derisively noting a Newsmax headline: “Sarah Palin tells Hannity: I read Newsmax.”

Olbermann’s guest Craig Crawford, columnist and political analyst for CQPolitics, then said: “I would like to see politicians where they talk about something like this to show a little balance, that they try to get information [from] both sides. We’ve got so many people just reading what they want to hear. And in this case, Newsmax.”

But Crawford then added — no doubt surprising Olbermann:

“I actually read Newsmax. I read Talking Points Memo, Huffington. I mean, I like to get a wide range.”

Olbermann also may be steaming about Palin’s comments during an exclusive Newsmax interview on Tuesday, when she said:

“Thank you so much for your daily updates. If it weren’t for Newsmax, there’d be a lot of us wondering what the heck was going on that day.

“It is very valuable, very helpful, and I appreciate all that you guys are doing to get a good message out there.”