Sarah Palin rallies the conservative faithful in liberal bastion of San Jose

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Sarah Palin ventured into liberal territory Thursday, rallying an estimated crowd of 1800 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. Her message: Fire the Democrats on Capitol Hill and replace them with candidates who embrace the conservative values of lower taxes, less spending and smaller government. here is an excerpt from the story written by biased reporter Karl Kahler for the left wing Mercury News:

"Are you ready to take it back," she asked, "and put government back on the side of the little guy and have government work for you instead of you having to work for government?"

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Palin parodied "Saturday Night Live" by saying, "Nov. 2 is right around the corner. I can see it from my house!"

The public forum was sponsored by the conservative Liberty & Freedom Foundation, whose executive director, Victor Cocchia, asked: "What better place to come to educate people as to the conservative message than the Bay Area, where conservatives are marginalized and not heard very often? "

Instead of hecklers, people in the crowd shouted in agreement. When one man hollered, "Throw the bums out!" Palin replied,

"Amen, brother. You betcha."

Palin attacked "Obamacare," President Barack Obama's landmark heath reform package, as "the mother of all unfunded mandates," and she assailed the 2009 stimulus bill and all the "shovel-ready projects" it was supposed to fund.

"Now we know what they were shoveling, and it wasn't asphalt," she quipped.

Palin ridiculed the leadership of Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, saying they're like "permanent residents of a unicorn ranch in Fantasy Land."

In a speech tailored to California interests, Palin also lambasted the cutoff of water to millions of state residents because of "a two-inch fish," the endangered Delta smelt.

"Where I come from," she said, "we call that bait."

There was a question and answer period after the address, and then a VIP reception was held at the Marriott Hotel. There, fans willing to donate $500 to the foundation were able to meet the first woman to be the Republican Party's vice presidential candidate and have their pictures taken with her. That was followed, reports the Mercury, by a dinner for those who contributed $350 to LFF.

Update: TheRightScoop has a short video clip from the governor's speech.

- JP