Palin Says She Has No Problem With GOProud

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said in a Wednesday evening appearance on Fox News that she does not object to the participation of GOProud, a group of gay Republicans, at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference.

“I don’t have a problem with different, diverse groups that are involved in political discourse, and having a convention to talk about what the answers are to their problems that face America,” Palin told Fox.

After former Republican Senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) accused Palin of pursuing “more lucrative options” rather than attending CPAC 2011, Palin shot back at him saying she wouldn’t call him “a knuckle-dragging neanderthal that perhaps others would want to call him.”

Palin declined the invitation to participate in the conference, as she has done in the past, but other influential Republicans have withdrawn from the conference due to GOProud’s participation. Socially conservative groups like The Heritage Foundation withdrew and Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) shadowed these groups by withdrawing their invitations, although their withdrawals are not concretely linked to GOProud’s participation.