Sarah Palin rocks NRA crowd in Houston, receives standing ovation

http://youtu.be/BGO4clmlwR0 




by Josh Painter
At the National Rifle Association's 2013 annual meeting in Houston Friday, Sarah Palin excoriated President Obama for exploiting the grieving parents of the Sandy Hook shootings by “making them backdrops” at anti-gun rallies. She also lambasted the nation's media for being his partner in the process:

“That same media is now the reliable poodle-skirted cheerleader for the president that writes the book on exploiting tragedy,” she said, wearing a T-shirt that said “women hunt.”

Palin insisted that all Americans felt “despair, sadness and absolute anger” when they saw what happened in Connecticut. She said everyone should care more about those getting gunned down every single day on the streets of places like Chicago and New York City, but that shouldn’t guide public policy.

“Now, emotion is a good and a necessary thing. But we have politicians exploiting emotion for their own agenda,” she said. “We have well-meaning Americans who are desperate to respond.”

Emotions, she said, won't make anybody safer and won't protect rights of law-abiding firearms owners -- “the good guys.”

Introduced by NRA Executive Director Chris Cox as an “NRA Benefactor Member,” the former Alaska governor called out the hypocrisy of politicians who blame guns rather than the shooters who misuse them:

“We could use a bit more emotion by the way of what goes on every single day on the streets of cities like Chicago and New York,” Palin said.

Speaking of New York, Palin took the opportunity to take a swipe at Bloomberg, a mayor she has vehemently opposes for what she describes as his nanny state politics. In her last big speech at a major conservative gathering in March, Palin made headlines for sipping a “Big Gulp" on stage, a knock against New York's ban against certain large sugary drinks.

“Now I see that the mayor of New York now wants to ban public displays of legal tobacco products,” she said, referring to his recent push to keep tobacco products out of sight at stores in order to de-glamorize the product.

“I tell ya," she said, as she pulling out a pack of chewing tobacco. "Don't make me do it.”

With the crowd roaring, she put the pack back in her pocket.

“It's funny because Todd's been looking for this all morning.”

The first woman to campaign on the Republican Party ticket for vice president, also paid tribute to her hero, the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and slammed the media again for its failure to cover the trial of late-term abortion provider Kermit Gosnell.

The Mama Grizzly praised her “brother and sister” NRA members, “What keeps us reloading in this fight are the faces I see here today,” she said. “I love you guys.” The crowd returned the love with frequent applause during her speech and a standing ovation at its end. In her closing remarks, Gov. Palin encouraged them, “Keep the faith. Stand up for our freedoms. God bless you all. God bless the United States of America.”