Via CBS News: Palin: Tea Partiers "Have to Pick a Party"
"Now the smart thing will be for independents who are such a part of this Tea Party movement to, I guess, kind of start picking a party," Palin said. "Which party reflects how that smaller, smarter government steps to be taken? Which party will best fit you? And then because the Tea Party movement is not a party, and we have a two-party system, they’re going to have to pick a party and run one or the other: ‘R’ or ‘D’."
From a strategic point of view, she is absolutely correct. If members of the Tea Party movement wish to elect persons to government who are as close as possible to their own positions, they will have to do so via one of the two mainline parties. Further, one would assume that that party would be the Republican Party. The best avenue to use the process their own aims would be via the primary process.
If they try and strike out on their own (like appears to be the case in Nevada), then the likely outcomes will be (as it was in NY23) the election of Democrats.
Now, I must confess that I would love to see a serious attempt at the formation of a third party (it would be fascinating). However, the lack of overall cohesion within the Tea Party movement and the structural conditions that Palin basically notes, mitigate against such an outcome.
As a side note, since I have often been critical of Palin, it only seems fair to indicate when she is correct. No doubt, too, the above statement is to her political benefit, as I continue to think that she is going to run for the GOP nomination. Keeping the Tea Party under the GOP umbrella is clearly to her advantage in that regard.
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February 17th, 2024 at 11:55 am
As a side note, since I have often been critical of Palin, it only seems fair to indicate when she is correct.
Well, that is assuming she had any idea what she was saying.
Remember, it was just a couple of years ago that she addressed the Alaska Independence Party telling them that she thought “party competition” was “so good.”
Palin has a tendency to not know what she’s actually saying. Remember a couple of weeks ago she cited favorably a column by Pat Buchanan when arguing for a US invasion of Iran. Of course, Buchanan was critical of such an invasion.
My sense is that she just says things, without any real care or interest in what they mean. She is sort of like a child repeating things she hears adults say. They kind of sound good to her impressionable ears, but when she repeats them herself they wind up meaning absolutely nothing.
February 17th, 2024 at 12:00 pm
Well, that certainly occurred to me (and the syntax of the actual quote is painful, as it typically the case with her pronouncements).
Still, since she is actually correct, I will just go with that at the moment.
February 18th, 2024 at 12:41 pm
A third party will never have a chance if they don’t start somewhere. If the tea party wants to be taken seriously (instead of as the wingnut Republicans) they need to be serious. So far the only thing they’ve gotten elected are centrist Republicans who are less conservative than some Democrats.
February 18th, 2024 at 1:33 pm
I think you might be referring to echolalia, Ratoe. I just recently learned the term when my daughter was being tested for autism. I didn’t realize that there was a term for it.
And yeah, she’s absolutely right. I, as someone fed up with the right-wing shenanigans, just wish that she hadn’t given them hints. I’m not particularly pleased with the Dems at the moment, but I do think the GOP needs to spend a little more time in the doghouse and remember what the party used to stand for.
Still… I doubt they’re getting many gains from actual independents with the Tea Party. Folks who are outside of the typical Republican base seem to be few and far between in the Tea Party, so it doesn’t appear as if the Democrats would actually be losing any votes from this.