 4 years ago 
 
 (CNN) – Sarah Palin blasted President Barack Obama and gun control advocates Friday, blaming them for "exploiting" recent mass shooting tragedies to promote their political agenda. Text Size - 
 
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 At the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting, Palin slammed Obama for flying the grieving parents of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Air Force One and then “making them backdrops” at rallies. (PHOTOS: NRA annual meeting) 
 
 “That same media is now the reliable poodle-skirted cheerleader for the president that writes the book on exploiting tragedy,” she said, wearing a T-shirt that said “women hunt.” 
 
 Palin insisted that all Americans felt “despair, sadness and absolute anger” when they saw what happened in Connecticut. She said everyone should care more about those getting gunned down every single day on the streets of places like Chicago and New York City, but that shouldn’t guide public policy. It's the manipulation of the people by the politicians for their own political ends. The lamestream media just plain doesn’t get you, and you don’t give up. Newtown families also participated in media interviews and appeared in an ad made by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the pro-gun control group co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In her last big speech at a major conservative gathering in March, Palin made headlines for sipping a "Big Gulp" on stage, a knock against New York's ban against certain large sugary drinks. "Now I see that the mayor of New York now wants to ban public displays of legal tobacco products," she said, referring to his recent push to keep tobacco products out of sight at stores in order to de-glamorize the product. "I tell ya," she said, as she pulling out a pack of chewing tobacco. “It’s funny because [my husband] Todd’s been looking for this all morning.”
– Sarah Palin proved again yesterday why she's an NRA favorite: She won a standing ovation at the group's annual convention after a strong attack on President Obama for "exploiting" the Newtown rampage, reports Politico. In the main part of her speech, she said the media attacked President Bush when he used images of the 9/11 attacks in his re-election campaign. “That same media is now the reliable poodle-skirted cheerleader for the president that writes the book on exploiting tragedy." Palin, adorned in a "women hunt" T-shirt, also noted that son Trigg's nickname is "Trigger" and that she has a nephew whose middle name is Remington. But she got her biggest laugh going after New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, maybe the nation's biggest anti-gun advocate. At the CPAC convention in March, she mocked his big-soda ban by sipping a big gulp. Yesterday, she pulled out a can of snuff to mock his fight against tobacco products, reports CNN. "Don't make me do it," she said, before putting it away untouched. “It’s funny because Todd’s been looking for this all morning.”