WASHINGTON -- A group of Occupy protesters interrupted Sarah Palin's speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, only to be drowned out quickly by the crowd chanting "USA! USA!"
"See, you just won. You see how easy that is?" Palin told the crowd after joining their chant.
The crowd went wild for the former Alaska governor and Republican pick for Vice President in 2008, who drew so many attendees to her speech that organizers added multiple overflow rooms. During the introduction to Palin's speech, vice chair of CPAC and CEO of the National Rifle Association Millie Hallow said other politicians' speeches had been good, but that Palin's would be even better.
Palin's speech never touched on the Republican candidates specifically, instead going after Planned Parenthood, the Environmental Protection Agency and Washington, D.C., in general. Mostly, though, she spoke about President Barack Obama, whom she said pushes his views on the American people and has a weak foreign policy instead of a strong defense.
"This isn't some sort of international community organizing we're talking about," she said of Obama's foreign policy.
She mocked the president's "Winning the Future" campaign, reusing a joke about the initials.
"Win the future, W-T-F, I know," she said.
Palin also spent a significant amount of bashing other national politicians, if not by name. She said many come to Washington promising they will eliminate government and call it a "cesspool." "It's not a cesspool, more like a hot tub," she quipped.
She said Tea Party members of Congress, especially those elected in 2010, are not included in those remarks, and that in 2012 they need to win the Senate to change government.
"Maybe instead of calling Washington a swamp, we should call it a wetland. Then maybe it would slow the growth of government," she said.
Palin has not endorsed a candidate, and did not do so on Saturday. She said continuing the race will strengthen the nominees and that Republicans must "stand united behind whoever our nominee is." She hinted, though, that some might be better than others.
"Our candidate must be someone who can instinctively turn right to constitutional conservative principles," she said, "it's too late to teach it at this point."
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