Politico Sarah Palin ended the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference with a rousing speech before a packed banquet hall in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 11.Palin’s 45-minute speech mainly featured attacks on President Barack Obama’s policies. While she didn’t endorse any of the four remaining Republican presidential candidates – three of whom spoke at CPAC – she did say Republicans must “stand united” around the eventual candidate.
“For the sake of our country, we must stand united,” Palin said, “whoever our nominee is.”
This time next year, she told CPAC attendees, there would be “a true conservative” in the Oval Office.
The crowd’s support of her was evident from the moment she walked on stage — audience members jumped to their feet in a encore that lasted over a minute. The crowd continued to interrupt her with applause and ovations, and at one point, a group even began chanting “Run, Sarah, run.”
Palin spoke effectively to her audience, moving back and forth between praising the Tea Party movement and attacking Obama. She welcomed stereotypes commonly associated with the grassroots, conservative movement.
“We’ll keep our God, we’ll keep our guns, we’ll keep our Constitution,” she said.
As for Obama, Palin criticized him for the trillions of dollars of debt the country has accrued during his presidency.“He mucked it up,” Palin said.Halfway through the speech, members of Occupy D.C. began shouting at Palin in the back of the banquet hall. Immediately, the crowd turned around and began shouting “USA, USA, USA,” until security guards escorted the protesters out.Palin took the interruption in stride and continued attacking Obama’s economic polices. In fact, the night was marked by her poise and banter.
When she was denouncing the President’s jobs plan and a member of the audience shouted at her, she replied “Yeah, WTF, I know!”“We have a better jobs plan and it’s called the free market,” she said.
