Palin's swipe: Rick's wife can call him a 'Neanderthal'

Sarah Palin made clear Wednesday night that she took offense at Rick Santorum’s suggestion she’s not attending CPAC because she’s out making money and taking care of her kids, calling his claims “uninformed” and saying she will leave it to his wife to label him a “knuckle-dragging Neanderthal.”


“Just because I'm a mom that does not mean that I didn't want to be there,” Palin said in an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, referring to the gathering of conservatives in Washington that begins on Thursday.

“I'm the proud mother of five,” Palin added. “My kids don't hold me back from attending a conference."

The former Alaska governor said Santorum, who is likely to run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, may be “uninformed” as to why she can’t attend the conference — her aides have said it is a scheduling conflict — and made it clear that he was crossing a line in his criticism of her.

“I will not call him the knuckle-dragging Neanderthal,” Palin said. “I'll let his wife call him that instead.”

Palin has declined each of the four invitations she’s received to speak at the annual CPAC gathering, and has had a public spat with outgoing American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene over the last few years.

“I've never been to CPAC, I don't know what the big brouhaha is,” Palin said. “I don't know why anybody would think it is that big of a darn deal not to be there this time.”

Santorum said in an interview Tuesday — first reported by POLITICO — that Palin had declined the invitation because of “business opportunities.” He later said his comments were misinterpreted.

Interviewed late Wednesday night by Fox News's Greta Van Susteren, Santorum reiterated his contention that his comments were overblown.

"She is busy," he said. "She has family obligations. It is halfway around the country. There's nothing more to it than that. They took some things took some liberties. ... They write this story, they never called and said 'do you have a comment? Is this what you meant?' They just ran the story and then did this.

"We've watched every episode of 'Sarah Palin's Alaska,' he added. "We enjoy it. I know she has obligations to do other things outside of the work she does at Fox. I said I assume she has other things to do."