Ann Coulter: GOP has a 'problem with charlatans' like Sarah Palin

Conservative author Ann Coulter on Monday night lamented that "charlatans" like Sarah Palin managed to remain prominent voices within the conservative movement, according to The Shark Tank.

At a Lincoln Day Dinner event in Florida, she was asked about the possibility of a brokered Republican convention.

"One of the ones promoting that is Sarah Palin, who has suggested herself as the choice,” Coulter replied. "I think as long as it’s between us girls, I’ve been observing something about her. I don’t think it’s likely to happen. I don’t know what these people are cheering for."

Palin told CNN she was open to running for president if Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney can’t obtain enough delegates to get the nomination.

Many had believed that Palin’s “One Nation” bus tour was a precursor to a her White House bid. But Palin never made it to her scheduled stops in the key primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, returning to her home in Alaska half-way through the high-profile tour. In October 2011, Palin announced she would not run for president.

"And just a more corporate problem is I think our party and particularly our movement, the conservative movement, does have more of a problem with con men and charlatans than the Democratic Party," Coulter continued. "I mean, the incentives seem to be set up to allow people, as long as you have a band of a few million fanatical followers, you can make money. The Democrats have managed to figure out how not to do that."

"Dennis Kucinich, he's a nut, he has fanatical followers, [but] he doesn't gets a show on MSNBC. He doesn't get any kind of gig on MSNBC. He's road kill. Howard Dean doesn't get a show. Howard Dean was fairly respectable for a Democrat. No, you embarrass us and drag this thing out, and you are finished in the Democratic Party."

She noted that Republicans had been asked to sign a number of controversial pledges, such as Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge and The Family Leader's marriage pledge. But the only pledge, Coulter joked, that she would support was one that said: "If I lose the nomination, I pledge I will not take a gig with Fox News or write a book."

[Image via Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons licensed]