Sarah Palin in the news again--This time she supports creation of a third party

Seems like Sarah Palin is getting some more media attention again. This is from Think Progress:

For months, Republicans have been trying to co-opt the tea party movement, supporting its activities and pandering to activists while discouraging them from forming a third party. RNC Chairman Michael Steele met with tea party leaders in January to encourage them to join the GOP, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) warned the movement not to “fractionalize the Republican Party.” Even tea party favorites like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) have come out against an official tea party, saying that he wants to “avoid a third party by giving Republicans and independents good choices in Republican primaries.”

But appearing on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show last night, contributor Sarah Palin had surprising take, seemingly endorsing the idea of third party to keep Republicans honest:

HANNITY: If it’s a strong conservative that gets the Republican nomination and then a tea party member runs as a third party candidate, do you have any worry about that?

PALIN: I do have a little bit of worry about that but at the same time that can be part of a healthy process, though. A third party candidate can really shore-up a Republican candidate in terms of that Republican candidate having to be very strong and sharp and debate aggressively, regarding the positions that they have taken.

A third party candidate, I think, Sean, can actually help in this process. And if nothing else a third party candidate is going to help keep the Republican Party being held accountable, too.

Here is the video of the Hannity/Palin exchange. From YouTube:



The Think Progress article continues:

Palin’s comments are particularly surprising considering that, in February, she told activists that “the Tea Party movement is not a party” and that they are “going to have to pick a party.” And on Hannity last month, she urged tea party activists to “take over” the GOP in lieu of starting their own party.

Moreover, Palin’s comments seem to contradict the will of the tea party movement. Tea party activists in Florida and Nevada have registered official political parties, but both have met fierce resistance from the grass roots. Twenty tea party groups came out “united in denouncing” the Nevada Tea Party, saying, it “is not now, has never been, and will never be affiliated with grassroots efforts in Nevada.” A Tax Day, Tea Party poll found that 94 percent of respondents believed the third party candidate should withdraw from the race.

I will not go into Sarah Palin's hypocrisy, where she first stated the Tea Party activists that they are not a political party, or when she told them to take over the GOP, whereas now Palin is urging the Tea Party to select their own third-party candidate. The hypocrisy is obvious here. The only thing I have to say here is what the frack is Sarah Palin talking about? A third party Tea Party candidate running against both a Republican and Democratic candidate? I look at the Tea Party movement as an activist conservative movement. It may have first been an activist movement against both parties, but the Tea Party movement gained support through favorable reports by Fox News, and was courted by GOP congressmen. The Tea Party is a conservative movement, whether the Republicans like it or not. Third "Tea Party" candidates will divide the Republican base in elections. Even Mitt Romney warned the Tea Party to not run third party candidates, saying such candidates would divide the GOP, and "That would hand over the country to [President] Barack Obama and [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid, and that would be very sad indeed.” Romney is correct--third party Tea Party candidates would divide the GOP, giving the Democrats better chances of winning seats--whether it is in this election or the 2012 presidential election. With the Republican Party being the Party of No, and obstructionism, I wonder how many moderates and independents are willing to vote for GOP candidates after listening to some of the threats, rancor, and fear-mongering that came from the right--especially after what went on during the debate on health care reform? This midterm election will probably be even more dirty, filthy, and rancorous from the hard-lined right.

There is another point that Sarah Palin made on how a third party candidate "can really shore-up a Republican candidate," and keeping the Republican Party to being held "accountable." Excuse me, Mrs. Palin, how is it that the Republican Party is not being held accountable to its own extremist positions? Look at the House vote on health care reform from two days ago--not a single Republican voted for the health care bill. The Republicans have been marching lockstep in opposition to just about every Democratic legislative agenda. There are almost no Republican moderates in Congress. Republicans being held accountable by third party candidates? It is nonsense.

Then again, maybe Sarah Palin is positioning herself to be the Tea Party presidential candidate for 2012. Maybe the political savvy of Sarah Palin has realized that the Republican Party will completely implode on itself, disappearing from history forever. The new conservative party movement that will replace the Grand Old Party will be the Tea Party, and Sarah Palin wants to be its new leader--fighting her way to replace Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

Of course, that will only happen when pigs fly....