The video below is Sarah Palin at the Madison Wisconsin Tea Party rally on 4/16/11.
Palin covered a variety of issues, she gave support to Governor Scott Walker in his battle with union leaders, took the GOP to the woodshed for failing to fulfill campaign promises, tore into the left's big government agenda and how the 2010 elections showed voters rejecting that agenda by handing Democrats historic losses.
Then she ripped into Barack Obama and she did it well by comparing Obama's 2008 campaign promises with the reality of what he did, providing the example of his promise to cut the deficit in half then proceeding to triple it when he was in office.
Some highlights:
GOP:
"We didn’t elect you just to rearrange the deck chairs on a sinking Titanic. We didn’t elect you just to stand back and watch Obama redistribute those deck chairs. What we need is for you to stand up GOP and fight! "
Invoking the national champion University of Wisconsin women's hockey team:
"Maybe I should ask them if we should be suggesting to GOP leaders they need to learn how to fight like a girl."
Governor Scott Walker
"He understands that states must be solvent in order to keep their promises, and that’s what he’s trying to do. He’s not trying to hurt union members. Hey folks, he’s trying to save your jobs and your pensions."
Obama
"We're flat broke, but he thinks these solar shingles and really fast trains will magically save us. So now he's shouting, all aboard the bullet train to bankruptcy."
"..flushed a trillion dollars down the drain on a useless stimulus package and then he bragged about the jobs he created in congressional districts that don't even exist."
"The only future that Obama is trying to win is his won re-election. He’s willing to mortgage your children’s future to ensure his own. And that’s no the audacity of hope, that’s cynicism. Piling more debt onto our children and our grandchildren is not courage! No that’s cowardice. "
"Our president isn’t leading; he’s punting on this debt crisis. Win the future? The only future he wants to win is his re-election."
Much more in the video and once again, Palin, with one speech managed to catch the attention of the left and the right and media throughout the blogosphere and in print.
Reactions
The Right Scoop:
"Sarah Palin, affirming her union connections, gave one of the best speeches I’ve heard her give today at a Tea Party event in Madison, WI."
Johh Nolte at Big Government calls it a "Grand Slam"
If Sarah Palin’s not running for president, what a terrible waste that would be of the single best stump speech I’ve heard since, well, Palin’s ’08 convention speech, which just happened to be the single most electrifying political moment of my adult life. A thrill didn’t just run up my leg that night, it ran up everything in me that’s American, and today in Madison, WI, it happened again. Surrounded by an obnoxiously hostile, astro-turfed, pro-union crowd that tried and failed to drown out her message with obnoxiously hostile astro-turfed noise, the former Alaskan Governor took the fight directly to the growing pile of Obama’s failures in the most effective way we’ve heard yet from a potential GOP challenger.
If you want to know why Obama’s Palace Guards in the MSM are determined to destroy this woman and all of popular culture has risen up to help, press PLAY. If you want to know why the GOP Establishment had better start looking over their collective shoulders, press PLAY.
Riehl World View:
It's ironic to watch so many so called establishment Republicans who seem to want to be leader of the free world dance their way around the more serious political battles of our time. They criticize, they pontificate, or editorialize, yet from ObamaCare to a budget deal, they're also careful to not too directly engage. The same can be said of them for what has played out in Madison, Wisconsin over the past month.
Whether it's talking about death panels, or blood libel, to now showing up in Madison - that's not former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. As I said to a friend and colleague tonight, wherever the current battle is, that's very often where you can find Palin. One of the first requirements for leadership is to show up out front. No one will ever accuse Palin of not doing that. Doing so also has an interesting side benefit for any would be leader. When you lead, people tend to follow and support you, even if not at first.
Headlines (H/T Memeorandum)
Sarah Palin to GOP: 'Fight like a girl'
Palin in Madison: Veni, Vidi, Vici
Palin rallies Madison tea party crowd
Sarah Palin Goes Where The Battle Is
Sarah Palin to Obama: You ignored us in 2010, but you cannot ignore us in 2012!
Palin: Wis. gov doing the right thing with unions
Breitbart- "I Repeat to the TrumkaObama Class War Cult: Go To Hell"
.