Sarah Palin was in Barack Obama’s hometown Wednesday night and was simply dazzling. She had two appearances: The first was a GOP fundraiser, where she reportedly wowed the leaders of the party, and the second was to a sold out crowd at the Rosemont Theater.
As expected, Sarah went after the Obama regime and Congress, relentlessly. She talked about offshore drilling and the need to toughen up rules and oversight...while still drilling for much needed oil and natural gas. Sarah also noted that the modern day Tea Party movement started in Chicago.
Then Sarah went after Highland Park High School for forcing the girls basketball team to cancel a trip to Arizona. As a former championship winning ball player herself, Sarah understands what this trip would mean to the team and how utterly ridiculous the decision to boycott Arizona is, just because the state chose the Rule of Law over absolute chaos. More on this in a minute.
The gang from HillBuzz.org was at the event, and give us their perspective:
This was very much a presidential campaign speech by Palin — as she continues to work out her platform, sound out her supporters, and hone what works for her. We’d call it a tour-de-force, but Palin still has a year or so to go before she declares her candidacy…so we need to leave her room to improve between then and now. If she’s this good today, in May of 2010, we don’t know what to call the caliber of what she’s capable of with more than a year more of this under her belt.
She was funny, sharp, relaxed, natural, and unapologetically conservative while pointedly criticizing the disaster that is the Obama Administration — while offering her own solutions to remedy this president’s many defects.
It would be hard to imagine 5,000 people hanging on Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty’s ever word the way they do with Palin.
Do 5,000 people even know who Pawlenty is?
Can 5,000 people pick Romney out of a lineup?
These are questions the RNC needs to ask itself every day — while it gets the heck out of Palin’s way and lets her do her thing.
For those who are not familiar with the Boys From Chicago, as their organization’s name implies, they are lifelong democrats who founded their group to support Hillary Clinton. A real sincere bunch, they were quite angered when Obama, who they call Dr Utopia, secured the democrat party nomination. They knew first hand what America was in for with the devout Marxist and his cohorts at the helm. Once John McCain announced his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, these guys became strong supporters, actually campaigning for the duo throughout Chicagoland.
Since then, the group have become some of Sarah’s strongest supporters, and have joined the fight to retain our Freedom and Liberty, and stopping the Obama regime from further advancing it’s horrific agenda. Their website has become a must read, as they can articulate conservatism quite well, and bring a unique perspective to it all. You can check ‘em out here.
C.Steven Tucker was at the event and was able to take some bootleg video that is quite good. It’s interesting to note that as the video starts, Sarah is discussing massive corruption in government, comparing the corrupt Chicago machine to the mess she faced in Alaska, and discusses how she cleaned house, and urges folks to do the same in their state.
This was a serious red meat speech and we too feel this is just a warm up for what we will see in 2012. Unapologetic and firm in her beliefs, we haven’t had a leader like Sarah since the Great Ronald Reagan was with us.
This is what America is looking for: Someone who actually stands for something, and doesn’t compromise their core beliefs for political expediency. Sarah knows who she is, and doesn’t need focus groups and polling to tell her what to think, what to say, or how to act.
One of the things the Chicago media focused on was Sarah’s obvious disgust with Highland Park’s decision to not send the girl’s basketball team to Arizona, a trip they worked hard for. From the Chicago Sun-Times:
With 4,000 Chicago area fans cheering her on, former Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin trained her sights Wednesday night on Highland Park High School, which conservative talk radio has targeted for canceling the girls basketball team's trip to a tournament in Arizona.
"Them are fightin' words when you say a girl can't play in the basketball tournament ... for political reasons ... so we're going to see about that," Palin said.
"I said, 'Wait, I thought it was already a crime for an illegal alien [to be here]," Palin said to raucous cheers at the Rosemont Theatre.
Noting that the Highland Park girls held bake sales to pay their way to the national finals for the first time in 26 years, Palin suggested conservatives could get the girls to Arizona despite High School District 113's decision to keep the girls home this winter.
Palin noted the school is still sponsoring a trip to China.
"You know how they treat girls in China?" Palin said. "It makes no sense. Even if they have to do this on our own. ... If the kids have to 'Go Rogue' girls."
In an earlier e-mail to Pioneer Press, school district assistant superintendent Sue Hebson said the decision is not a political statement, but rather for the safety of students.
"District 113 boasts a diverse student population and, as a school district, we believe in equal opportunity for each of our students," she said. "We cannot commit at this time to playing at a venue where some of our students' safety or liberty might be placed at risk because of state immigration law."
For 70 minutes, Palin optimistically preached patriotism, praised Illinois for giving the world Ronald Reagan and the Tea Party movement; slammed President Obama, moderation and Illinois' corrupt politicians -- who she said reminded her of the people she kicked out of office back home in "Alaahhhska."
Palin spoke in a black leather jacket and mini-skirt with her brunette hair hanging down, and a mammoth American flag behind her.
The former Alaska governor led off by saying, "I'm really glad to be here on the president's home turf. ... The eyes of America are on this state, watching what will come out of the political process and the 2012 elections: If it can be done in Illinois, it can be done anywhere."
She urged her enthusiastic fans not to settle for moderates to represent them: "Some Republicans apparently thought they'd have to move to the middle to win. I said, 'No, no, no, no, no. You win by letting the middle move to you. You let the folks in the middle of the road know that your ideas are the right ones."
When she mentioned "Republicans In Name Only" or "RINO's," a member of this very participatory crowd yelled out "Mark Kirk" -- the self-styled moderate GOP Senate candidate who did not attend Wednesday night's event so he could vote in Washington, D.C. Kirk has equivocated on whether he is seeking Palin's endorsement in his campaign for Obama's old Senate seat.
When Palin said Obama "buffaloed a whole lot of good people," an audience member shouted out "Liar!" -- echoing a South Carolina congressman's shout during Obama's State of the Union Speech.
This Palin-loving crowd loved it when Palin bashed the "Lamestream media."
"Somebody told me, 'You know you're going into enemy territory.' I said, 'It's Chicago -- it's not MSNBC."
Palin said the mainstream media demonized members of the Tea Party movement - which includes Palin, and, judging from the cheers, many members of this audience.
"We're being called 'racist' and 'seditious' and 'redneck,'" she said. "I really don't mind the 'redneck' part. I'm fine with that one. It's no mystery who we are: We're Americans; everyday hard-working patriotic Americans. The 21st Century Tea Party movement, it starts right here in Chicago. This is where it starts. So Illinois, your place in the history of this grass movement has been instrumental."
Earlier, Palin impressed Illinois' top Republicans willing to spend $500 to $25,000 at a fund-raiser for the state party.
"We talked about the situation in Illinois -- the deficit, the high taxes, job creation," said the party's nominee for governor, State Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington. "I told her, 'Your being here is helping rally the troops and get the message out.'"
Brady and his lieutenant governor candidate, Jason Plummer, both made last-minute decisions to attend the party fund-raiser.
"She came in and was gracious enough to help us raise money," said state Sen. Jim Durkin. "It was very low-key, no speeches. She just met with people and talked with them. She said we have the chance to win many seats. People were very eager to take out their check books."
Durkin brought a picture he took with Palin, himself and Mike Ditka at a Latrobe, Pa., rally a week before the 2008 election, which Palin signed for him.
"She said this could be a good year for Republicans," State GOP Chairman Patrick Brady said.
"It was a moving experience," said former GOP candidate for governor Adam Andrzejewski. "She was very personable. She was encouraging us to keep up the fight for reform in Illinois."
Some 4,000 Sarah Palin fans paid the more reasonable $56 to spend "An Evening with Sarah Palin" later at the Rosemont Theatre.
Lest you think Sarah’s ire over Highland Park’s decision to keep the girl’s at home was simply political theater for the crowd, she was also banging away on her Blackberry and posted this on twitter:
Bloomberg News’ John McCormick reports:
Sarah Palin, speaking in President Barack Obama’s adopted home state of Illinois, rallied Republicans for electoral victory in November in places that have traditionally voted Democratic.
"The eyes of America are on this state," she said. "If it can be done in Illinois, of course, it can be done anywhere."
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"We’re looking for principled conservatives who won’t pull a bait-and-switch when they get to D.C.," she said, predicting victory for her party in November’s elections.
"We will get there," she said. "God has shed his grace on thee."
The former governor, 46, said Obama won by misrepresenting himself, and his popularity has fallen as Americans have gotten to know him better.
"He buffaloed a whole lot of good people," she said. "But now, their eyes are opened because he today, finally, has something he didn’t ever have before -- he has an actual record in office."
"I almost feel a little bit sorry for the president and those on the far left," she said. "He expected us, I believe, to actually thank him for providing constitutional rights to terrorists." Palin and some political allies have criticized the Justice Department for advising some terrorism suspects of their rights to remain silent and to have a lawyer.
‘European-Style Socialism’
Palin said Obama is directing America toward a "European- style socialism with a European-style debt crisis right around the corner."
Palin’s appearance was sponsored by a Chicago radio station that features syndicated programming from Glenn Beck, Dennis Miller and other conservative commentators.
Sarah is shown with WIND Chicago’s Amy Jacobson from the Big John and Amy Show in the lead photo above.
More from Bloomberg:
Palin has remained coy about her presidential aspirations while traveling nationwide selling her memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life."
Her next book, "America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag" is scheduled to be released by publisher HarperCollins on Nov. 23. HarperCollins is a unit of News Corp., which employs Palin as a Fox News contributor.
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A heroine of the Tea Party movement, which has protested federal deficits, growth of government, and Democratic health- care legislation, Palin has continued to keep a busy travel schedule. Later this week, she is scheduled to appear in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention.
Last month, Palin headlined the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, where she criticized the Obama administration’s plan for added offshore oil and gas drilling as insufficient to address energy needs.
‘Drill, Baby, Drill’
"Let’s drill, baby, drill, not stall, baby, stall," she said, reprising one of her lines from the 2008 campaign.
That was before the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig off the Louisiana coast. BP Plc has struggled to control the leaking well, which has spilled an estimated 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) per day.
Palin didn’t back away from that position in Illinois.
"We do have to drill, we cannot stall," she said. "We do need oil. We might as well get it from here, where we do have stricter oversight and more concern for the environment."
All in all Sarah has shown she is more than willing to take on all comers and is on a mission to not only defeat the steady march of Marxism, and the Obama regime, but to take on those who play petty politics. As I write this, early Thursday morning, it seems Sarah’s call for the Highland High School girl’s basketball team to "go rogue" has caused quite a stir in the national media, with the school being called out for playing politics with the team.
This is the first time in decades the team has won the right to compete at this level and it would be a crime for a bunch of far left, radical zealots to punish these girls. If these loons want to hold the opinion that the Rule of Law is bad, well...OK..free country, but to impose their will on these girls, to oppress them in this manner, cannot be allowed to stand.
This is yet another example of the totalitarian nature of the radical left Marxists that make up the democrat party.
BTW...if folks think Sarah was done when she left the Rosemont theater....She was still banging on her Blackberry into the night and sent out this tweet saying how she couldn’t wait to get to Arizona, and taking a not so subtle swipe at the so-called "Defenders of the Wildlife" group that has been mis-representing her positions on wildlife management.
*Stacy Drake contributed to this report
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