[Friday] night I sat amongst 1,300 dedicated Republicans and listened to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin address the Orange County Republicans' Lincoln Day Dinner.
During the speech, Palin reminded those attending that she is a true conservative "rock star." From smart-energy policy to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, she pulled no punches and made sure that the crowd was having fun. At one point she exclaimed, "Fight hard against Alan Grayson for the rest of the country."
Palin was sure to recognize the recently powerful and influential tea party movement by saying "Tea partiers are all good patriotic Americans." She even made room for the mainstream media by reminding the crowd how they continue to let Barack Obama blame his problems on President George Bush and Republicans in congress even though Democrats controlled the hill during the final years of the Bush presidency.
To finish, Palin instructed Orange County Republicans to march forward and to stick by their principles and their guns in order to win at the ballot box in 2010 and 2012. At the conclusion of Palin's speech the TeenAge Republicans and I were not only impressed and inspired by Sarah Palin but were truly optimistic about 2012.
To learn more about what Palin said to the group and the events leading up to her speech, visit my twitter page @http://twitter.com/JacobEngels
Jacob Engels is chairman of the Florida Federation of TeenAge Republicans