LITTLE ROCK — Sarah Palin, striking several populist themes, urged a cheering crowd in North Little Rock on Tuesday to start a revolution at the ballot box in 2010.
Speaking at a state Republican Party fundraiser in front of a large American flag and an audience of about 5,000 at Verizon Arena, Palin touted limited government, lower taxes and a heavy dose of patriotism as a way out of ballooning national debt and big government.
The event grossed about$400,000 for the state party, said Chairman Doyle Webb. Webb declined to say how much the party paid for Palin to appear. The state GOP rented the arena for $13,500, according to a rental contract signed by Webb and Verizon.
The nation needs to “spend more time lifting up America instead of apologizing for the greatest country on earth,” said Palin, prompting perhaps the loudest applause of her 45-minute speech.
She touched on familiar Republican talking points through most of her speech, criticizing President Barack Obama as a “constitutional law professor standing at a lectern” when he defended treating terrorists as criminals.
The government should “interrogate terrorists and not Mirandize them,” she said to loud cheers.
Characterizing global warming as “snake-oil science” and Obama’s “cap-and-trade” energy proposal as “a bogus scheme,” Palin urged the audience not to be cowed by “Washington elites” who she said tell the American people to “sit down and shut up.”
The former governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate spent most of her time criticizing a growing national debt and stimulus spending, calling it “generational theft.”
“I don’t feel too stimulated,” she said.
The smaller the government the better, she said, praising Tea Party activists for their passion but telling them that they “need to pick a party” and that party shouldbe the Republicans.
Webb said Palin’s speech Tuesday night was the first time she had appeared at a state Republican Party event. Palin said she agreed to do so because Arkansas is the center of political change and is being watched across the country.
Tim Griffin of Little Rock, a Republican running for the 2nd Congressional District seat, was singled out by Palin as a strong candidate.
She praised Arkansas as a “good, patriotic, hard-working part of the country,” and said its natural beauty reminded her of Alaska.
Noting that she had been given a “beautiful .44(-caliber) Magnum” backstage, Palin said she called her son Track, who is in the Army, and asked him to guess what she had been given.
“Moonshine?” she said he replied. The crowd responded tepidly.
After a brief question-and answer session with Webb, who read her questions submitted by audience members, Palin was treated to a calling of the Hogs by the crowd as confetti showered down.
Gabe Holmstrom, senior adviser for the Democratic Party in Arkansas, said Palin’s record is more about celebrity than the “hard work” of governing, citing her resignation as governor last summer.
“Sarah Palin gave up the hard work for the bright lights and big money of a book tour. She’s out there promoting a book that John McCain’s chief strategist has referred to as pure fiction. Arkansans in public service like Gov. Mike Beebe and Sen. Blanche Lincoln are doing the real work that people like Sarah Palin left for them to do,” Holmstrom said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/17/2010