Palin jokes about palm notes, blasts media, Obama
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin joked Friday about the notes she had written on her hand at a recent speech, yet still angrily criticized the White House and the media for making an issue out of it.
In a speech at an Orange County Republican fundraiser, she repeatedly referred to getting caught with the notes written on her palm at a speech last month. She went one-by-one through each of the thoughts she said she jotted down: energy, tax cuts and lifting the American spirit.
In an obvious shot at President Barack Obama, she said she was “Busted for using a poor man’s TelePrompTer. I was just kicking it old school. It’s the way we used to do it.”
And she was clearly disgusted with the media for making a big deal of it, saying, “Nothing should surprise you with the media anymore. The media is broken.”
Same goes for White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, who wrote the words “hope” and “change” on his hand as he started a daily briefing after the Palin incident. Palin noted Gibbs’ action with a “C’mon guys” and said the country has high unemployment, a poor economy and is at war.
“You have nothing better to concentrate on?” she said. “Quit disrespecting the wisdom of the American people.”
She received rousing applause from the crowd of 1,300.
She also referred to the Bible, telling the audience to look up Isaiah 49:16, which reads, “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.”
Palin said, “If writing on one’s palm was good enough for God, then it’s good enough for the rest of us.”
She criticized President Barack Obama’s administration and Democrats for being out of touch with voters on issues like energy and government spending.
“Energy touches every one of our challenges, from the values of our paychecks to our nation’s interest abroad,” she said, adding that she’s in favor of renewable energy, but it will take decades for the nation to rely on them and the country needs an all-of-the-above approach now.
“It’s about time that President Obama and the Democrats in Congress start listening to the people,” she said. “Let’s drill here and drill now and tap our proven U.S. domestic supplies ... Bottom line: there’s nothing stopping us from achieving energy independence that a good old fashioned election can’t fix.”
She also criticized Democrats’ spending, saying tax cuts and not adding to the debt through spending would better stimulate the economy. She said it “should really tick us off” that America is borrowing money from other countries to create big government programs.
“Government is growing and we are drowning in debt and we have had enough and at every turn Americans have tried to tell Washington and said, ’It’s time to hit the brakes,”’ she said.
