Sarah Palin at Tea Party Convention - Is that what 100,000 dollars will get you?

Original Link: http://www.examiner.com/x-33854-Portland-Liberal-Examiner~y2010m2d6-Sarah-Palin-at-Tea-Party-Convention--Is-that-what-100000-dollars-will-get-you

By Jeff Musall

Buyer's remorse, Tea Party people? Sarah Palin delivered her keynote speech at the first (and last?) National Tea Party Convention.

Coming on the heels of racist hate-speech and theocratic thunderings by other speakers, Sarah Palin had a tough pull. Outdoing idiocy gone before to earn her 100.000 dollars. Did she deliver?

I suppose many teabaggers will be raving, talking about her their Sarah kept it real. Palin spoon-fed them the kind of red meat talking points the logic challenged live for.

"How's that hopey changey thing workin' out for ya?" She quips in her down-homey, aw shucksey, Sarah go-to-meetin' (and get 100 grand) kinda way.

She spent a lot of time ranting about terrorism, and the inability of American courts to try terror suspects. Spreading more fear, more hate, more ignorance.

"The government that governs less, governs best" she says. How's that working out in Haiti? Or Somalia?

As she gets close to her end, she shouts "there is nothing wrong with America that together we can't fix as Americans." People working together to solve problems? That's called "government" sister Sarah.

She made nonsensical comments one after the other, and offered nothing of substance. Not a surprise, but is that what 100,000 dollars will get you?

In the aftermath, Bob Shrum perhaps summed it up best.

"More masterful excercise - masterful, in paranoid politics. She came across to me as a merchant of hate with an oh gosh smile."

He then lists the lies she spouted, and said "it's the technique that believes you can say anything and get away with it, as long as you stir up the base."

She said in the question session after, "it would be wise of us to start seeking some divine intervention in this country, so we can be safe and secure and prosperous again. To have people in government who aren't afraid to go that route."

Sorry, Sarah, not every American thinks we need to rely on myths and fairy tales. We want to take real action to solve real problems, Not ask a God to tackle fears of our own making.

When answering the question "how do you see the future of the Tea Party movement?" Palin responds "this is the future of the country." For all our sakes, we should hope not.