Palin: "Tea Partiers have to pick a party."

CBS News ^ | 17 Feb 2010 | Scott Conroy

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

In front of a crowd of Republican Party activists and the tea-party movement’s rank and file here on Tuesday night, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin seemed to put a damper on speculation that she might consider running for president in 2012 as a third-party candidate.

Asked what her advice would be to conservatives as the November elections approach, Palin first lavished praise on the Tea Party movement, calling it "a grand movement" and adding, "I love it because it’s all about the people."

But she quickly pivoted to the broader question of whether the Tea Party movement might successfully field its own candidates in national elections, and on that point she sounded far from convinced.

"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’."

Palin said that the Republican platform best meshed with the Tea Party’s creed. However, she mentioned that her husband Todd was not a registered Republican and that the party should be open to embracing independents.

[ari-freedom]

they won’t blame obama for the bad economy. They’ll always blame someone else until there are no more rich people or corporations. It’s more about jealousy than greed. They would be perfectly happy living for subsistence as long as everyone else is in the same situation.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

RE: "You have painted the picture that the Republican Establishment would like to happen."

Here's another picture (high-res) of the Republican establishment that I remember from 1964. They made this happen -- with a lot help of their sister Party. I'm still livid.

Nelson Rockefeller according to Stuart Spencer (Rockefeller's public relations head) said, "We had to destroy Barry Goldwater as a member of the human race."

Mainline Republicans have to destroy the Tea Party?

[OneWingedShark]

>>I disagree; the tea-party is not about a party... it is about standing up for liberty and against government tyranny/over-reaching.
>
>Question for you then:
>Does one do this by waving signs, or by getting elected?

Well, one certainly can’t do it by either: a) doing nothing; or, b) taking it in the arse. Or can they?

[Wonder Warthog]

"We should focus on appealing to conservative and right-centre independents - people who at some point in their lives probably were Republicans, but left in disgust over the spending and big government drift."

Well, I'm definitely conservative, and I was NEVER a Republican (nor a Democrat). And I've been that way as a matter of principle.

[ari-freedom]

they voted for GOP in VA, NJ and even MA

[paulycy]

Sarah:

With all due respect we only need to pick a party at election time. We do *not* need to become a partisan force. We are much more powerful if we keep our options open and stick to holding all partisan groups to Constitutional principles.

My guess is that the vast, vast majority of times most Tea Party participants will vote GOP. But not necessarily 100% of the time. And that smaller portion of the time we need our non-partisan integrity to stand up to a misbehaving party.

It is entirely possible that the best thing for an election might be to vote for a third party to INTENTIONALLY split a vote for a weak or unacceptable candidate. We may even choose to lose an election (not very often) to send a message that we will support the Constitutional candidate over the partisan candidate.

If we don't reserve this non-partisan, non-centralized power to our movement then we are ceding a great deal of that power to centralized partisanship which has failed us time and time again.

Partisan political parties are necessary electoral tools. It is not necessary, or even wise, to become the tool rather than using it.

I'll be looking forward to hearing your views on these things once your understandable duty to John McCain is over and you are truly free to speak your mind.

Just my $.02.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Individual voting records is what counts...and significant party line votes.

Can’t paint them with the broad brush...like you can the RATs.

[OrangeHoof]

So often, the primaries get largely ignored and the “knighted” candidate wins easily. Far more seats seem to be in play this year all across the country and I think the Tea Partiers deserve much of the credit for that. However, come November, we’re still down to D, R and L. Like Sarah says, “pick a party”.

[Recovering_Democrat]

TEA PARTIERS WILL SUPPORT CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS. IN THE *RARE* INSTANCE THAT A DEMOCRAT IN A GIVEN CONTEST IS MORE CONSERVATIVE THAN THE REPUBLICAN, THEY WILL SUPPORT THE DEMOCRAT.

THEY WILL NOT SUPPORT LIBERALS OF ANY PARTY!

The media is making this out to be more complicated than it really is! We are CONSERVATIVES. Mostly social conservatives AND fiscal conservatives...but ALL OF US ARE FISCAL CONSERVATIVES to the nth degree! Constitutionalists, in other words.

We are NOT "fiscal conservatives" like Susan Collins....we're fiscal conservatives like Ronaldus Magnus.

[TigersEye]

Either the GOP puts up candidates that Tea Party minded people can vote for or they lose elections. End of story.

[marron]

Most tea partyers are probably GOP, but a fair number are probably Dems. The effects are being felt in both parties, which is why with the Dems in control of both houses of congress they are suddenly backing away from O’s bills. Prior to the tea uprisings the Dems were jamming it home without even caring what anyone thought; post-tea the Dems are backpedaling, some long time politicians are getting out having read the polls presumably.

On the Repub side, you see a similar dynamic. Pre-tea, the Repubs are doing backflips trying to reach across the aisle and help O enact his agenda; it was hard to find even one Repub speaking out against the O on anything. Post-tea, the Repubs are suddenly finding their spines and backing away from O. Suddenly girls like Steele and Lindsay and even for whole moments at a time McCain are posturing and posing as real genuine conservatives trying to stand athwart history, or whatever it is they think we do.

The Sorosians and the Romniacs are both going to try to either coopt them or sideline them. Anyone trying to separate them into a formal movement is probably working for one or the other and the result is going to be the end of the movement. Its only a movement because no one owns them.

The right answer is for the Dems and Repubs within the movement to each get active in their own parties. Imagine a world in which we had a real two-party system, with two actual constitutionalist parties vying for victory at the ballot box. What would it be like to have two parties that both believed in the founding principles, and either one could be trusted in office. I think it would take a spiritual awakening, but we’re way past due.

[OneWingedShark]

>they voted for GOP in VA, NJ and even MA

So? What does that mean, really? Doesn’t it, if anything, merely suggest that the GOP is the lesser of two evils.

[ari-freedom]

McCain was the lesser of 2 evils and that didn’t help him

[OneWingedShark]

>McCain was the lesser of 2 evils and that didn’t help him

Why should it _HELP_ anyone?

[Eska]

For last couple years on FR, I have said Palin would never burn her bridges to the repubs.

Back in 2002, AIP wanted her to do a 3rd party run against Murkowski;(probably would have won too) she said no way; wasn't letting the dems sneak into Gov of Ak over conservatives splitting their votes.

For as dumb as they believe her to be; me thinks she's awful sharp. Now I hope the Repubs can bring themselves to be half as smart as Palin.

[AuntB]

When you find an existing party that holds to these simple principles, let me know. At this point neither is doing much of a job. The Tea Party movement needs to stay outside any party, and call them all to account.

[SoCalPol]

The main focus for the Republican Party should be
Strong National Defense, Fiscal Resonsibality.
and dialing back on the nanny state.

Be it Tea party, the Conservative Marching and Chowder Society, or the I am more Conservative than You Yada, Yada society.

There are the few key beliefs and the rest will come along.
Too many groups, Too many contracts, Too much navel gazing.
Too many people trying to justify their existance by trying to reinvent the wheel.

People just need to work within the Republican Party to help elect the adult Conservatives to office.

There are two Parties and only one can win.
Third parties do not win State or National elections.
they only facilitate a Democrat victory.

I am Conservative and Republican. You work within the party.
Society is not monolithic.
San Diego has 5 Congressmen, 3 Conservative Republicans, 2 Liberal Democrats.
Areas of a Country are different, same as a State, same as the Country.

We work to get the most Conservative, but we also work as a Party to
defeat the Liberal Democrats.

You may work against the Republicans who have the best chance to push
the Conservative agenda but you also help the Democrats.

For those who sat at home or voted third party in the 2008 election, how is that
Hope & Change working out for you?

[fr_freak]

conservatives sent a ‘message’ in 2006 and 2008 and Pelosi and Obama are laughing their way to the bank

So you thought everything should be fixed with one single election? You thought that the plan was to get one or two or ten Republicans voted out, and then all the others would fall in line? I've got news for you - it will take generations of Tea-Party-like political activism to knock our bloated, gluttonous, greedy politicians back in line, and get our out-of-control government behemoth down to size. It makes no sense to point to one or two elections and say "The plan failed! Let's go back to the status quo of being sheep-like suckers who vote for whoever lulls us into the soundest sleep with their pretty words while plundering our country and enslaving us!" You either believe in a principle and stick to it, or stop pretending you believe in that principle.

And, if you haven't been paying attention, Obama and Pelosi aren't exactly laughing anymore. In fact, I'd say very few politicians are. Obama may have sleazed his way into office, and Pelosi may have managed to get her bionic face into the Speaker's chair for a while, thanks to blatantly anti-American liberal queers in San Francisco, but they both know that a reckoning is coming, and that reckoning is coming in the form of a Tea Party mentality which says no more big government liberals, regardless of party. Keep that up for a few more national elections, and then we'll starts seeing some real results. Falter now, and you can kiss our Constitution goodbye.

[ajay_kumar]

I will vote for any party who:

1. cut spending
2. cut taxes
3. support strong military

I will vote against any party who:

Nominates a candidate who is a fundamentalist & extreme
of any religion and pushing his/her views down my throat.

[MurrietaMadman]

there’s a lot of power there...

That’s a fact and it’s no longer a secret.

http://nationalprecinctalliance.org/