Sarah Palin's cheat sheet

Moments after criticizing President Barack Obama for using a teleprompter to give his speeches, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was caught using crib notes scribbled on the palm of her left hand to remember her top priorities.

Asked by a moderator to identify her top three priorities, Palin first mentioned the need to cut spending. Then she looked down at the palm of her hand and appeared to be reading notes of what to say next. The words "Energy," "Tax" and "Lift American Spirits" were visible in a photograph of her hand that appeared in the media. The phrase "Budget cuts" also appeared with the word Budget crossed out.

Ironically, Palin had just finished criticizing Obama for using a teleprompter to give his speeches. "This is about the people," she said in her speech. "And it's bigger than any king or queen of a tea party. And it's a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter."

During the question and answer session, Palin was also asked for her response to President Obama's policies. "We hear about the Obama plan. What's the Palin plan?" the questioner asked.

"The Palin plan is quite simple and I kind of get a kick out of it," she said. "I think it probably drives some of the elitists crazy that I don't get angry out about it, I get a kick out of it when they say that I'm too simple minded and too plain spoken, but my plan is quite simple and that is to support those who understand the foundation of our country."

She then tried to provide more specifics on the economy and national security. "When it comes to the economy, it is free market principles that reward hard work and personal responsibility," she said. "And when it comes to national security, as I ratchet down the message on national security, it's easy to just kind of sum it up by repeating Ronald Reagan when he talked about the Cold War. And we can apply this now to our war on terrorism, you know. Bottom line, we win, they lose. We do all that we can to win."

Palin also made headlines on Fox News Sunday, where host Chris Wallace asked her why it was okay for Rush Limbaugh to use the word "retarded" but not for White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Palin, a new Fox News contributor, also criticized the McCain campaign's "poor" media strategy as an explanation for why she had never appeared on a Sunday morning show before this weekend.

"Our politically correct society is acting like some giant insult's taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards," Limbaugh said last week. But although cited her Down's Syndrome baby and took offense at Emanuel's use of the word "retarded," she defended Limbaugh from charges that he should apologize. "They are kooks, so I agree with Rush Limbaugh. Rush Limbaugh was using satire to bring attention to what this politically correct," she said.

Wallace interrupted: "But he used the "R" word." Palin replied: "Using satire. Name calling by anyone -- I teach this to my children, you teach it to your children and your grandchildren, too. Name calling by anyone, it's just unnecessary. It just wastes time."

Asked to distinguish Limbaugh from Emanuel, Palin added: "I didn't hear Rush Limbaugh calling a group of people whom he did not agree with 'F-ing retards.' And we did know that Rahm Emanuel, it's been reported, did say that. That's a big difference there."