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Palin: 'Everyone Here Today Supporting John McCain, We Are All Part Of That Tea Party Movement' (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | March 26, 2010, 4:50PM

Sarah Palin and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

2010 elections, AZ-SEN, J.D. Hayworth, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Senate '10

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Sarah Palin just campaigned for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the man who made her a national star when he selected her as his running mate for vice president in 2008 -- their first appearance together since the 2008 campaign ended.

McCain is being opposed in the Republican primary by former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, who is seeking to mobilize Tea Party movement support by casting McCain as an establishment moderate Republican. But Palin, herself a beloved figure among Tea Partiers, declared: "Everyone here today supporting John McCain, we are all part of that Tea Party movement."

Palin also joked: "When you talk about that Tea Party movement, some would claim John was there at that first Tea Party movement. (Crowd laughs. John McCain laughs.) And I'm kidding. But I've gotta remind people, before there were protests in the street or marches on Capitol Hill, there was the maverick fighting for us."

Palin touted McCain's opposition to the Obama administration's key programs -- especially the newly-passed health care law, with Palin tying Obama to Fidel Castro.

"Hey by the way, I see today that Fidel Castro likes ObamaCare, but we don't like ObamaCare. Doesn't that kinda tell you something?" Palin said. "When it came to this, John fought against a government takeover of one-sixth of our economy, and he told the president that transparency in the legislative process shouldn't be just another campaign promise, and in Obama's case just another campaign promise that's been broken."

Palin also countered Hayworth's argument that the state needs new leadership, after 24 years of McCain in the Senate. "We've got huge challenges to overcome in this country. And yes, we need these new Republicans," said Palin. "We need this new blood coming into the system and new party officials, and those who are willing to stand up and speak out for commonsense conservative solutions. But we also need statesmen and heroes like John McCain in there, to help us get through these challenging times in these coming years."

Palin also dismissed reports in the media about violence and threats against Democratic politicians over health care, calling it a "ginned-up controversy about us, common-sense conservatives, inciting violence because we happen to oppose some of the things in the Obama administration."

"But this B.S. coming from the lame-stream media lately about us inciting violence, don't let the conversation be diverted," said Palin. "Don't let a distraction like that get you off track. Keep fighting hard for these candidates who are all about the commonsense conservative solutions that we need."

It's interesting to note that Palin herself has been implicated in these controversies, after she posted an online message calling for fundraising efforts against the 20 House Democrats who voted for the health care bill, and who come from districts carried by the McCain-Palin ticket in 2008. What alarmed some people was the use of cross-hair imagery on a map of the country, with the targets placed over each of the key districts. As she said on Twitter: "Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: "Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!"

When McCain spoke, he responded to President Obama's speech yesterday, in which Obama defied Republicans to campaign on a platform of repealing the health care reform law, in light of the various benefits included within it. "And my attitude is, 'Go for it,'" Obama said.

McCain declared: "We're gonna 'go for it,' an we're gonna repeal this bill. We're gonna stop this spending."

McCain also said: "Our answer is, yes, we're gonna 'go for it,' and we're gonna get it, and we're gonna restore the government back to the people of this country, because this is a right-of-center nation, and this president is governing from the left, and it will not stand."