Sarah Palin delivers bizarre and rambling speech at Iowa Freedom Summit – and her teleprompter freezing is only partly to blame

The former governor’s speech came after announcing she was “seriously interested” in running for president in 2016

Sarah Palin speaks during the Freedom Summit in Iowa (AP)

Just days after Sarah Palin revealed she was “seriously interested” in running for president in 2016, she stood behind the podium at the Iowa Freedom Summit and delivered a bizarre and rambling speech to the audience.

The speech covered everything from attacking critics of American Sniper: “Screw the left and Hollywood!”; to criticising Obamacare: “What will they do to stop causing our pain and start feeling it again?”; to criticising the press: “The press asks, ‘Can anyone stop Hillary?’ This is to forego a conclusion, right?”

Commentators and viewers alike took to twitter to voice their confusion over Palin’s monologue, which rambled for 35 minutes without a clear theme.

Scott Conroy, who reports for Real Clear Politics, covered Palin in the 2008 campaign and who has since written a book on her, tweeted: “I don’t say this lightly. This is the strangest speech I’ve ever seen Sarah Palin deliver.”

At one point, Palin’s teleprompter froze, according to the New York Daily News, causing her to ad lib through part of her speech where she made the odd “the man can only ride ya when your back is bent,” comment.

“Things must change for our government. Look at it. It isn’t too big to fail. It’s too big to succeed. It’s too big to succeed, so we can afford no re-treads or nothing will change with the same people and same policies that got us into the status quo,” she said.

“Another Latin word, status quo, and it stands for, ‘Man, the middle-class every day Americans are really getting’ taken for a ride.’ That’s status quo, and GOP leaders – by the way – you know, the man can only ride ya when your back is bent. So strengthen it. Then the man can’t ride ya, America won’t be taken for a ride, because so much is at stake and we can’t afford politicians playing games like nothing more is at stake than, oh, maybe the next standing of theirs in the next election.”

But according to Bloomberg Politics and US News, the Palin’s excuse of a malfunctioning teleprompter has been used before to cover up odd moments in her speeches.

In response to the speech, the Democrats’ communications director Mo Elleithee issued a simple statement conveying the party’s reaction to Palin’s performance: “Thank you!”