That Hopey-Changey Stuff
Facing an adoring crowd 1,100 strong at the anti-establishment National Tea Party Convention in Nashville on Feb. 6, Sarah Palin packed her speech with her trademark folksy zingers. "America is ready for another revolution," she said, and took aim at the White House's efforts to spark the ailing economy by asking, "Did you feel very stimulated?" In perhaps her most memorable line, she also lit into President Obama's campaign promises of change. "I got to ask the supporters of all that, how's that hopey-changey stuff working out for you?" she said.
But one quip came back to bite her. The tea party movement, she told the crowd, is "a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter." The implication that President Obama is overly scripted started to look hollow when observers spied words scrawled on Palin's left palm during the speech: energy, tax cuts, and Lift American Spirits. A crib sheet of her own? You betcha.