Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin drew thousands of supporters and pro-union counter-protesters to the state Capitol Saturday, where she encouraged the crowd to support Gov. Scott Walker and prepare to take on President Barack Obama in 2012.
Palin gave the keynote address at the annual Tea Party Tax Day Rally, where both sides of the debate over collective bargaining showed up in equal numbers to hear what the conservative superstar had to say.
""I'm in Madison today because this is where real courage and real integrity can be found,"" Palin said while praising Walker for his fiscal reforms.
""He's not trying to hurt union members,"" she said. ""Hey, folks, he's trying to save your jobs and your pensions.""
Palin denounced union leaders, who she said disregarded the interests of the workers they represent.
""Real solidarity means coming together for the common good. This Tea Party is real solidarity,"" Palin told her followers as the protesters surrounding them chanted in opposition.
Although she tried to garner support for Walker's agenda, Palin's focus remained on Washington and the 2012 election.
She criticized Obama, saying he is spending irresponsibly and increasing the national debt with projects like the proposed high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee, which Walker rejected federal funding to construct.
""We're flat broke, but he thinks these solar shingles and really fast trains will magically save us,"" she said. ""All aboard the bullet train to bankruptcy.""
Palin accused ""rent-a-mob"" Democrats of acting violent during the Capitol occupation in response to Walker's budget repair bill.
""Mr. President, you and your cohorts threw all the hatred and all the violence that you could at these good folks here in Madison, Wisconsin,"" Palin said. ""But you lost here and Madison, you defended that 2010 electoral mandate.""
As Palin praised Tea Party supporters in Madison as ""patriots"" and ""heroes,"" droves of Madisonians like 26-year-old Timothy Huber showed their opposition.
Huber, a pharmacy technician at the UW Hospital who described himself as a leftist libertarian, said he supported U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in his presidential campaign until Palin was put on the ticket.
""I listened to enough of what [Palin] said during the election,"" Huber said. ""[McCain] decided he was going to go hard party line and it cost him the election because he decided to team up with insanity.""
Waukesha resident Paula Quinn said she was excited to see what Palin had to say and that she was frustrated with partisan politics.
""If we all want to truly solve the problems of our nation we have to get together and talk, not scream at each other from across the aisle,"" Quinn said. ""It is time for grown-ups to take over now.""
However, Palin urged mainstream Republicans and Tea Party members alike to stand up and fight the Obama administration at all costs.
""Let the 2012 election begin here,"" Palin told the crowd. ""We will fight for America and it's starts here in Madison, Wisconsin.""
