“Just because I’m a mom that does not mean that I didn’t want to be there,” Palin told Hannity, responding to Santorum’s accusation that she’s skipping CPAC to earn money and support her kids. “I’m the proud mother of five. My kids don’t hold me back from attending a conference.”
She added, “I will not call him the knuckle-dragging Neanderthal. I’ll let his wife call him that instead.”
Both Palin and Santorum are contributors to Fox News.
Conservative radio host Tammy Bruce, who is close to Palin’s team, excoriated Santorum for his comments.
“Make note: The ‘All she wants is money’ & attacks on her motherhood are the new line against Palin,” she tweeted. “It’s patronizing crap, nothing less.”
“All I said was — she is VERY busy. PERIOD,” Santorum tweeted after the Politico report quoted his appearance on a radio show. “Reporter trying to create something out of nothing.”
“If CPAC were in Anchorage, I wouldn’t go, I have responsibilities, too,” he said.
But listeners can be the judge as Santorum’s comments were made during a live online radio interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny2aopQ08Bg with conservative commentator S.E. Cupp.
“I think the reports were much worse than what he really said. I think some things were really taken out of context. So I will not call him the knuckle dragging neanderthal that perhaps others would want to call him. I’ll let his wife call him that instead.” - Sarah Palin