“This year is a good opportunity for other voices to speak at the convention and I’m excited to hear them,” wrote Sarah Palin in a statement on Fox News host Greta Van Susteren’s blog. Those other voices will include tea-party senate candidate Ted Cruz, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and the person who helped deliver Palin from Alaska to the national stage at the Republican National Convention on September 3, 2008 — John McCain.
Her full statement:
“ … Everything I said at the 2008 convention about then-candidate Obama still stands today, and in fact the predictions made about the very unqualified and inexperienced Community Organizer’s plans to “fundamentally transform” our country are unfortunately coming true. This year is a good opportunity for other voices to speak at the convention and I’m excited to hear them.
“As I’ve repeatedly said, I support Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in their efforts to replace President Obama at the ballot box, and I intend to focus on grassroots efforts to rally Independents and the GOP base to elect Senate and House members so a wise Congress is ready to work with our new President to get our country back on the right path. This is imperative. As President Clinton said in 2008 while candidate Obama and lapdogs in the media were thrashing his wife’s record and reputation, this is “… the biggest fairy tale.” For the sake of America’s solvency and sovereignty we must close this nonsensical book in November … ”
It’s not entirely clear if she sought a speaking role, didn’t like the time slot the RNC offered, or decided on her own that she’d be better off elsewhere than as a sideshow to Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney. A party official tells Buzzfeed that Palin was invited to speak. Said Chairman of the Republican National Committee Reince Priebus, “Gov. Palin has been a force in our party and while I am disappointed she won’t be in Tampa I know she will continue to be actively engaged in replacing Barack Obama.”
