Irrelevant? Hardly

In an election cycle dominated by the Tea Party and strong conservative rhetoric, perhaps the best choice CPAC could have made for a closing speaker was Sarah Palin, the irrelevant, annoying, dumb, stupid, washed up, useless former Governor from Alaska that is an embarassment to the Republican party.

Or not.

Palin electrified the crowd. There's no other way to describe it. They were all beyond eager to see her. So much so that at the end of the three different events before she spoke, the crowd chanted her name.

There were plenty of good speakers at CPAC, but I'm pretty hard-pressed to find one who topped Sarah Palin in terms of delivery and laying out the problems with the current administration and how we can go about fixing it.

It was even better when the small occupy contingent couldn't even get out the first "mic check" before the entire crowd drowned them out by turning as one on the small area they were planted, raising their fists, and chanting "USA." Even Palin got in on it. You can't plan that! She may not be running, but like Rush Limbaugh, Palin's influence is strong.

After the speech, Palin came down to the VIP area in front of the stage to shake hands and get pictures. The crowd was unbelievable. I was lucky enough to use the Yellow Badge of Power to get close enough to grab pics. Even people outside of the VIP area were standing against the waist-high barrier trying to get close enough to hand in their badge or program for her to sign.