In her single most high profile speech since her national debut at the Republican National Convention, Sarah Palin blasted President Obama and gave homage to the Tea Party movement on Saturday night at their first national forum in Nashville.
Palin scored a direct shot thirty seconds in, when she welcomed the C-SPAN television audience, saying at least they hadn't been denied access to this event vs covering any health care negotiations, a slam at what Obama has admitted in recent weeks has been a less than successful attempt at transparency.
For 40 minutes, Palin delivered a folksy, sassy, snarky attack, lightened on occasion in giving homage to the Tea Party movement (in which she was paid $100,000). Attempting to take the attention off herself and onto the nascent political force (and as well as delivering another shiv to Obama), Palin said:
"This is about the people, and it's bigger than any one king or queen of a tea party, and it's a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter."
This article appears in Feb 3-9, 2010.