Palin: 'November cannot come soon enough'
Former Alaska governor on GOP convention, party platform
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," August 27, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome back to Tampa, Florida, where we are coming to you live from the Republican National Convention. Now over the next three days, some of the top Republican lawmakers will be here to speak to the thousands in attendance at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.
Now, one GOP superstar, however, not attending the convention is former Alaska governor, Fox News contributor Sarah Palin, who joins me now. Governor, good to see you.
SARAH PALIN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you, Sean. I'm not there in Tampa, but I'm here in Gilbert, Arizona, where we're campaigning!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
For so many great candidates across this great state. Because it's very important, down ballot, as the Politicos would say, down ballot campaigns, but these are the important races, Sean. Because as I said in my speech earlier, it doesn't matter really who we're going to be replacing the party in power with, if we don't really shake things up in Washington, D.C. and put government back on the side of the people. That's' what we're doing here in Arizona is campaigning for those who promised to do exactly that.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: You know, just before I came on the air tonight, I ran into Ted Cruz, I supported Ted Cruz, you did, Mark Levine and others did, and then we have Mourdock in Indiana. It's amazing the impact that the conservatives have had in terms of the nominating process. What is your reaction? Do you think things have changed in terms of establishment versus Tea Party?
PALIN: I think people have just decided that the status quo has got to go, that we can't afford four more years of what we have just been through. And people are deciding, no, we need people who agree with its sudden and relentless reform that is needed to really tackle the problems in D.C. That are -- you know, they're causing overspending, and crony capitalism and corruption. And we're just saying, no, we're going to take it back, we're going to put government back on the side of the people.
HANNITY: All right, Governor, you ran --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: A lot of fans there. Hopefully we'll have a few here tomorrow night. We were supposed to have a full crowd tonight.
But let me ask you this, you ran, and in 2008, you wanted the McCain-Palin ticket to hit harder at Obama.
PALIN: Yes.
HANNITY: There's a very different Barack Obama running this time around. I think this is has been the sleaziest, slimiest campaign I've witnessed in my lifetime. Let's go back, I want to intersperse some words of Obama in 2008 with what's going on today and I want to get your reaction to the tone of how Obama is running this campaign. Let's roll this tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
THEN-DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE BARACK OBAMA, AUG. 28, 2008: You don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.
JOE SOPTIC, FORMER STEELWORKER, POLITICAL AD: I do not think Mitt Romney realizes what he's done to anyone. And I furthermore -- I do not think Mitt Romney is concerned.
STEPHANIE CUTTER, OBAMA DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER, CNN, AUG. 8: I don't know the facts of when Joe Soptic's wife got sick or when she died. But as I said before, I do know the facts of what Mitt Romney did with G.S. Steel.
OBAMA, AUG. 28, 2008: If you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters.
PRESIDENT OBAMA, OCT. 17, 2001: Their plan, which is let's have dirtier air, dirtier water --
OBAMA, APRIL 3: It is thinly veiled social Darwinism. Some are middle class families who have children with autism or Down Syndrome.
OBAMA, AUG. 28, 2008: If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, D-FLA., MAY 1: I think the agenda of the Republican Party, and of Mitt Romney, has clearly been clearly interpreted as an attack on the issues that matter to women.
POLITICAL AD: This is a guy who says corporations are people and straps the family dog to the roof of his car.
VA. STATE SEN. LOUISE LUCAS, D-PORTSMOUTH, "THE JOHN FREDERICKS SHOW"/WHKT AM 1650, JULY 20: He's speaking to that fringe out there who do not want to see anybody other than a white person in a leadership position.
OBAMA, AUG. 28, 2008: So, if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters.
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN, AUG. 14: They're going to put y'all back in chains.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the e-coli club.
OBAMA, APRIL 3: These are people who count on Medicaid.
OBAMA, AUG. 28, 2008: If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Governor, I know that's long, but there's a different Obama running this time than in 2008. Do you think voters will see the difference?
PALIN: Yes. Sean, you know, some of us had him pegged four years ago. Remember when he promised to fundamentally transform America. We knew right then during the campaign that we were in for a world of hurt under Obama's failed liberal socialist policies and ideas that he would really ram down our throats. So, nothing comes as a surprise to me when I hear now the tone that President Obama is taking in his campaign.
Shouldn't surprise people. But the point now is that we have opportunity to do something about it. We're at a key pivot point in our country. We are deciding now what direction will America go? Will we keep working hard for American exceptionalism? Will we reward hard work? Will we develop our God-given natural resources? Or will we succumb to this government dependency that Obama seeks for all of us really and this quashing of the American spirit. We have a choice in which way we're going to go.
So, now we have the opportunity, November cannot come soon enough, it's time that we turn things around.
HANNITY: You know, governor --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HANNITY: That's a great crowd. One thing, Governor, I'm having a hard time understanding how -- here's a guy that said if I don't fix this, it's a one term proposition. Said he'd cut the deficit in half in his first term. By now he predicted unemployment would be in the five percent range. Here's a guy that promised so much and failed in so many ways.
PALIN: Yes.
HANNITY: And yet there are still people in this country that defend this. You know, I defined Obamamania in 2008. What is this stubborn Obamamania, a stubborn hypnotic trance? What do you think about the people that under no circumstances, you know, can see that Obama does any wrong?
PALIN: And you're right, he has broken so many promises. Remember, he promised that ObamaCare wasn't a tax, and yet we find out now that it's the largest tax in U.S. history on the middle class. So many broken promises. The only one he has kept is that he will fundamentally transform America into something that really we don't recognize. No, don't be surprised, Sean, about these broken promises. Just seems to be kind of the nature of the beast, of this administration.
Again, though, we have opportunity to take it back, to turn things around. And these people who still have that addiction to the "hopium" that he had promised, the hopey changey stuff that was really bogus four years ago, they have about 71 days to open up their eyes and realize the path he has put on us is a path toward insolvency. It's a path toward fewer freedoms and really orchestrated chaos and bankruptcy.
HANNITY: All right, governor, great to see you. By the way, I think there are two little girls over your left shoulder that are looking for you to autograph their hair ribbons.
PALIN: Well, I think we will be here for a while tonight because this wonderful town here in Arizona has been so hospitable and patriotic. Independent people who love Arizona, love all of America and is recognizing that it's time for a change, the status quo has got to go.
HANNITY: All right, Governor, we know you'll be around the country throughout the campaign and as always, it's good to see you. Thanks for being with us.
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