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Sarah Palin bashes establishment GOP in CPAC keynote speech, narrates Green Eggs and Ham

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Breanna Deutsch Contributor
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Although the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference was nearing its end, the Potomac Ballroom filled to capacity as one of the conference’s most anticipated speakers, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, took the stage.

Palin was greeted by a roaring crowd on Saturday evening as the CPAC’s final speaker of the year. Her speech took an optimistic tone, focusing mainly on what she characterized as America’s awakening to the fallacies and failed policies of the Obama administration.

“I look at you,” she said pointing to the audience, “and I look out at the year ahead and I feel good about America.”

The former governor noted that Americans no longer buy the promises and the catchy jargon that won Obama the presidency in 2008 and 2012.

“That hope and change, it went from a catchy campaign slogan to a reality. And along the way, ‘hope and change’ … ’yes we can’ … became ‘no, you can’t.’ No, you can’t log onto the website. No, you can’t keep your healthcare. No, you can’t make a phone call without Michelle Obama knowing this is the third time this week you’ve called Pizza Hut delivery,” Palin said to a laughing crowd.

Palin narrated an amusing rendition of the tea party version of Dr. Seuss’s “Green Eggs and Ham” to mock Obamacare, and went on to say that Americans are not blind to the various scandals that have plagued the Obama administration over the past year, including the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, and IRS’ targeting of conservative groups.

“Americans are not quite as obedient as they thought we were. See, they set up a lot of hoops, making us pay for insurance that we don’t want and don’t need. Telling us there is nothing to see in Benghazi… But we did not jump through those hoops like we were supposed to. It’s like ya’ll went rogue,” said Palin.

Palin also addressed an issue that had largely been avoided throughout the three day conference — the tension between establishment Republicans and tea party conservatives.

“Some GOP experts subscribe to the old saying ‘do not interrupt while they [Democrats] are in the process of destroying themselves… It may be true, but you do interrupt when they are in the process of destroying your country,” she said.

The GOP must maintain Republican principles if they want to win elections in the future, according to Palin.

“America is counting on the GOP to get it right, and that is why the establishment can’t blow it,” she said. “No Republican can get elected promising higher taxes, wasteful spending, increased debt, bigger government, rewarding lawbreakers — amnesty — No. So why are they voting for these things now? And why reward them with your votes?”

She advised establishment Republicans to remember who worked to get them elected.

“You know that 2010 GOP election victory that swept you into power, you didn’t build that — the tea party did,” she told the packed ballroom. “So dance with the ones that brought ya… And if you want another sweep, then pick up a broom and join the party.”

But Palin deflected chants from members of the audience calling for her to run in 2016 with a joke about doing hot yoga rather than “taking a run.”

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