Palin Tells Michigan Crowd: "Don't Retreat - Reload!"

When Sarah Palin was told to leave Michigan in 2008 when her running mate John McCain pulled the plug on their presidential campaign in this state, Palin said she was shocked.

On Saturday, she told a crowd of 1,400 in Clarkston it definitely wasn't her idea and she paid a political price for saying so.

Palin was the keynote speaker Saturday at Americans for Prosperity's Defending the American Dream Summit at Mt. Zion Church in Clarkston.

Palin spoke for about an hour and then did a 15-minute question and answer, taking prepared questions.

Palin said it was Michigan that got her the reputation for being a rogue candidate during the 2008 election.

She told the crowd a reporter told her the McCain campaign was pulling out of Michigan.

"I was shocked," Palin said. "I said, 'Dang. I wish we were staying in Michigan.'"

She said the comment upset the campaign headquarters who said she was going "rogue."

Her best-selling book "Going Rogue" was based on that comment.

"Why did we give up in Michigan?" Palin asked the crowd.

Her talk was by-the-book: President Barack Obama's health care law needs to be repealed, the "lame-stream media" tells lies and can't stand the success of the Tea Party movement, and Americans pay too much in taxes.

She praised the Tea Party movement.

"It's beautiful. It's needed. It's growing. ... We have to take our message to the ballot box," Palin said.

Palin told the crowd not to back off when the media starts attacking.

"Don't retreat — reload," she said. "Your vote is your arms."

Palin chastised President Barack Obama for saying, "... whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower and when conflicts break out, one way or another, we get pulled into them."

"What kind of comment was that coming from a president?" Palin asked the crowd.

The crowd's bigger reaction of the day came when Palin's husband, Todd, came out from behind the curtain to interact with the crowd after his wife had finished her talk.