Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz and hundreds of veterans held a protest at the World War II Memorial in Washington this weekend.
The memorials have been closed since the government shutdown last week and Palin told the crowd that she was shocked at how the Commander In Chief was treating his veterans.
Palin said : “Our veterans should be above politics.”
The government shutdown has forced national parks , museums, zoos and memorials to close down . Some National Parks were reopened over the weekend, but most government employees are still going without a paycheck .
Palin said : “We are here to honor our vets… You look around though and you see these barricades and you have to ask yourself is this any way that a commander in chief would show his respect, his gratitude to our military. This is a matter of shutdown priorities.”
Palin wasn’t the only conservative politician on the premises this weekend. The veterans also received support from Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz.
Cruz also tried to pin blame on the shutdown on Obama, saying: “Let me ask a simple question: Why is the federal government spending money to erect barricades to keep veterans out of this memorial?”
Following the shutdown earlier this month, a group of veterans broke through the barricades so that they could honor those who perished during World War II. The barricades were put back up and now officials are trying to keep the veterans out of the national memorial.
George Rathmell, a former Army Chaplain, said: “Whether it’s peacetime or war, our people do so much. The military’s done so much. The scars, many of them never heal. Even if they’re not on the outside, they’re on the inside.”