Knowledge Creates Power: Tea Party Convention Update

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Tea Party Convention Update

Palin Goes After Obama at Tea Party Convention

The Democratic agenda is "running out of time," former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Saturday at the National Tea Party Convention, claiming that the conservative tea party movement is part of a brewing "revolution" that constitutes the "future of politics."

Palin, who delivered the keynote speech on the closing night of the three-day gathering of conservative activists, aligned herself squarely with the movement, frequently using the word "us" in describing it.

"This is the future of our country. The tea party movement is the future of politics," she said.

The former GOP vice presidential nominee pointed to the room full of activists, as well as the recent election of Republican Scott Brown to U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, as the sign of a political tide change.

"If Scott Brown is any indication, it’s running out of time," Palin said of the Democratic agenda.

"It’s a ground-up call to action that is forcing both parties to change the way they do business, and that’s beautiful."

Palin got an ecstatic response from the hundreds of tea party activists in the banquet hall in Nashville, where they had spent the last few days hashing out ways to grow the movement and defeat Democrats in the 2010 midterms. Though tea party groups have faced criticism for being disorganized and been cast occasionally as angry rebels without a cause, the former governor said the activists have started something that Washington must heed.

"America is ready for another revolution, and you are a part of this," Palin said.

The former governor used her speech to go after President Obama as well, hammering him for his economic, foreign and security policies.

She zeroed in on the Obama administration's handling of the alleged Christmas Day bomber.

Echoing wide-ranging complaints among Republicans that the administration should not have let suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab get "lawyered up," Palin said the administration is treating the incident like a "crime spree," rather than an act of war.

"Treating this like a mere law enforcement matter places our country at great risk," she said. "To win that war, we need a commander-in-chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern."

Palin, in a pre-taped interview with "Fox News Sunday" earlier in Nashville, said the way Obama is approaching national security is causing an "uneasiness" among many Americans.

"We are in war," Palin said. "These are acts of war that these terrorists are committing. We need to treat them a little bit differently than an American who is worthy, an American being worthy of our U.S. constitutional rights. I don’t think the terrorists are worthy of our rights."

Palin, in her keynote address, also blasted the administration for "wasteful" stimulus spending, urged Congress to kill the latest stimulus-style proposal and said the last year has proved that the administration’s attempts to extend an open hand to hostile nations, like North Korea, has not worked.

"It’s no wonder that our president only spent about 9 percent of his State of the Union address discussing national security, foreign policy, because there aren’t a whole lot of victories he can talk about," she said.

Palin addressed the convention despite facing some controversy over the $100,000 speaking fee she was receiving and the fact that two other scheduled speakers, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., dropped out following ethics committee questions over how the convention profits would be used.

But Palin says she will not personally benefit from the engagement and that the speaking fee will go back to the "cause."