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Sarah Palin told the National Tea Party Convention on Saturday night that "America is ready for another revolution," and that the tea party movement would lead it.
"This movement is the future of politics in America," the former Alaska governor told the estimated 1,100 people who paid at least $350 each to attend the speech in a hotel banquet room and dine on a steak-and-shrimp dinner.
In a 40-minute speech followed by a 15-minute session answering questions pre-selected by the convention organizers, Palin, a tea party hero and prospective 2012 GOP presidential candidate, praised conservative activists, but repeatedly insisted she is not seeking to become the movement's leader - even as the crowd chanted "run, Sarah, run."
In remarks laced with harsh attacks on Democrats similar to the rhetoric she used during her 2008 GOP vice presidential campaign, Palin assailed President Obama and congressional Democrats for their stewardship of the economy, bailout and stimulus packages, and also for what she deemed a lax stance in the war on terror and an overly conciliatory foreign policy.
Palin called for "tough actions like sanctions on Iran," and faulted the administration for allowing the Christmas Day bomber to invoke "our U.S. Constitutional right to remain silent," and said that treating terrorists like criminals helped create the atmosphere that let the would-be attacker board the flight without setting off red flags.
"To win that war, we need a commander-in-chief, not a professor," Palin said, to one of many standing ovations she received.
She accused Democrats in Washington of presiding over out-of-control spending and said "they're sticking our kids with the bill and that's amoral - that's generational theft."
And she accused Obama of breaking his campaign promises to increase transparency and limit the role of lobbyists, at one point mocking his campaign themes. "How's that hopey, changey stuff working out for you?" she asked rhetorically, to wild applause.
Palin touched on one of the touchstone themes of her vice presidential bid - off-shore drilling - in calling for a more diversified energy portfolio, and she also threw in some media-bashing and religious conservatism for good measure.
Political leaders should "start seeking some divine intervention again in this country, so that we can be safe and secure and prosperous again. To have people involved in government who aren't afraid to go that route, and also afraid of the political correctness that, you know, they have to be afraid about what the media would say about them if they were to proclaim their reliance on our creator."
Palin, who was paid $100,000 by convention organizers to deliver the keynote address at the conclusion of the three-day event, reiterated her intention of donating the fee to conservative causes and candidates.
The convention featured sessions on political organizing, as well as speeches from conservatives including Colorado Congressman and 2008 candidate for the Republican presidential nomination Tom Tancredo.
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