Did Sarah Palin Really Snub Obama in Speech Yesterday?

Sarah Palin is often skewered by the Media for what she says. But it's what she didn't say yesterday that is grabbing headlines. According to reports, Palin never thanked Obama by name for bringing about the death of bin Laden but did do so regarding former President Bush. And while that's technically true, the reports fail to mention that, well, she actually did thank the current president.

Confused? Let's straighten it out.

Palin was in Denver, CO yesterday for a charity event at Colorado Christian University raising money for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, a nonprofit group that provides grief counseling and other support services to the families of fallen service members. About 1,000 people attended and Tickets were $25 apiece. In addition, a silent auction raised $24,000.

The former governor gave a rousing speech about God and country. But here's how the Denver Post covered it, which focused on her comments regarding OBL:

"Their courage and their determination brought us justice," Palin said of those who hunted the terrorist figurehead for nearly 10 years. "They know that freedom isn't free. It's a God-given right and worth fighting for."

Palin never mentioned President Barack Obama by name — instead saying, "We thank President (George W.) Bush for having made the right calls to set up this victory."

From that story, our friends over at Mediaite wrote a story with the following headline: "Sarah Palin Speaks On Bin Laden’s Death, Though Obama Doesn’t Merit A Mention."

According to the Post's story, that's technically true. But if you dig a little deeper, you quickly find it's not that black and white.

"From what I recall she didn't mention the president [Obama] by name," John Andrews, who was in charge of the event for the university's think tank, the Centennial Institute, told The Blaze. "But she did make mention of the current president."

And, it turns out, Andrews -- the former president of the Colorado Senate who's also a Denver Post columnist -- is right.

We found some video of the event posted by the liberal group Right Wing Watch. While the description of their video says Palin "sought to credit President Bush for the capture of Osama Bin Laden while not mentioning President Obama," the video shows that's not entirely true:

Did you catch it? Here's what she said: "And we thank our president, we thank President Bush ... ."

The Associated Press noted the mention in its story on the speech, separating the two mentions with a period and indicating they were two definitive mentions:

Palin did acknowledge President Barack Obama, though not by name. She also named former President George W. Bush.

"Yesterday was a testament to the military's dedication in relentlessly hunting down the enemy during many years of war," Palin said. "And we thank our president. We thank president Bush."

That sure seems like she mentioned "the president" and didn't set out to snub or completely ignore him. Sure, she didn't mention him by name and the crowd obviously loved the Bush mention better, but is that so wrong?

According to Andrews, there were no prepared remarks distributed before the event. And from his vantage point (he's sitting directly behind Palin and to the left in the video), he said Palin's remarks were a combination of printed and hand-written notes.

"In the end, what she said was true," Andrews noted, explaining that "Obama's policies in the Middle East are largely the extent of Bush-era policies."

Author's note: full disclosure -- I once worked for Colorado Christian University and have contributed writing to the Centennial Institute.

This story has been updated.