Tea Party Predictions

[Thumpalumpacus]

The Tea Partiers will sweep up most of the Religious Right vote, but they've alienated the centrist business Republicans.  Alienating Wall Street is never good political strategy, particularly if one is a Republican.

[GAYtheist]

If Palin runs and somehow this country loses enough IQ points to let her win...I'm moving to Canada...

[Thumpalumpacus]

If Palin runs and somehow this country loses enough IQ points to let her win...I'm moving to Canada...

You need not worry.  The Republican power structure won't likely let her grab the nomination, because she's a walking landmine.

[Ultima22689]

I don't know...the Republican party is slowly being turned into the tea party from the inside out, by 2012 they may have been retarded enough where they will nominate her. If she does get elected, well look on the bright side, Republicans will never sit in the oval office again or at least not for a long, long time.

[Sophus]

Well, I may have to change my vote seeing as the Dems are actually campaigning well against the extremism now.

To those in Europe, is there the right-wing craziness on the rise there too?

[Tom62]

Well, I may have to change my vote seeing as the Dems are actually campaigning well against the extremism now.

To those in Europe, is there the right-wing craziness on the rise there too?

Geert Wilders is the result of 40 years of failed socialist immigration and -integration policies in the Netherlands. He points his finger to everything that is wrong with those policies and the socialists hate them for that. For that reason, they try to push him in the right-wing crazy corner. They did so in the past with the charismatic Pim Fortuyn and the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh (both were murdered). From a political point of view, he is a libertarian by heart.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I don't know...the Republican party is slowly being turned into the tea party from the inside out, by 2012 they may have been retarded enough where they will nominate her. If she does get elected, well look on the bright side, Republicans will never sit in the oval office again or at least not for a long, long time.

I think they're smarter than that.  Palin cannot pull more than 40, maybe 42% polling in a general election, and the campaign managers know it.  And they have the ears of the leadership, after all; in both parties, the tails is wagging the dog.  The unelectable is discarded, and the policy is modified to conform to the electable.

And if they try anyway, so much the better; the Dems are the lesser of two evils.

[Thumpalumpacus]

NPR had a piece on All Things Considered this afternoon.

The "party" will not hold together for long, I don't think, a few years at most.  The tensions between libertarians who reject the government's power to regulate things like drugs and abortion (indeed, their relegating such issues to low priority) will eventually drive the evangelicals pissy.  They'll leave in a huff.

[Sophus]

Well, I may have to change my vote seeing as the Dems are actually campaigning well against the extremism now.

To those in Europe, is there the right-wing craziness on the rise there too?

Geert Wilders is the result of 40 years of failed socialist immigration and -integration policies in the Netherlands. He points his finger to everything that is wrong with those policies and the socialists hate them for that. For that reason, they try to push him in the right-wing crazy corner. They did so in the past with the charismatic Pim Fortuyn and the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh (both were murdered). From a political point of view, he is a libertarian by heart.

Do they see the average American politician as a fair right nutter?

[Tom62]

Well, I may have to change my vote seeing as the Dems are actually campaigning well against the extremism now.

To those in Europe, is there the right-wing craziness on the rise there too?

Geert Wilders is the result of 40 years of failed socialist immigration and -integration policies in the Netherlands. He points his finger to everything that is wrong with those policies and the socialists hate them for that. For that reason, they try to push him in the right-wing crazy corner. They did so in the past with the charismatic Pim Fortuyn and the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh (both were murdered). From a political point of view, he is a libertarian by heart.

Do they see the average American politician as a fair right nutter?

I have to go back on my previous words, because I've just read Geert Wilder's crappy, Islamophobic, "political" program. Wilders might have been a libertarian in the past, but now he is nothing more than a right-wing populist. He plays in the same league as the Tea Party.

In general, people here in Europe know very little about American politicians. With luck, they could recall the names of five American politicians (Obama, Palin, Bush, Clinton and Schwarzenegger). Of these five, Obama, Clinton and Schwarzenegger still receive positive notes (although the initial euphoria is declining); the other two are placed in the "Looney Toons" category.

[Sophus]

Maybe it will be Trump running for President in 2012.

"I'm a Republican so if I did anything, I'd do it, I guess, as a Republican," Trump told FOX on Tuesday. "I'm totally being serious because I can't stand what's happening to the country. First time I am being serious about it. That doesn't say I'm going to do it."

[Thumpalumpacus]

[Sophus]

For those asking about Sarah Palin, I think she will try to run. She is seeking endorsements from those whom she endorses and is trying to get in power, and then gets angry when they don't return the favor.

Joe Miller's Tea Party honeymoon didn't last very long. The Alaska blog Mudflats reveals that in mid-September, the Sarah Palin-endorsed senatorial candidate got an irate, occasionally all-caps e-mail from Todd Palin about Miller's appearance on Fox the previous day. Apparently Miller had declined to genuflect before the throne of Sarah Palin's presidential aspirations, and her husband was beside himself: "Sarah put her ass on the line for Joe and yet he can't answer a simple question 'is Sarah Palin Qualified to be President.' I DON'T KNOW IF SHE IS. Joe, please explain how this endorsement stuff works, is it to be completely one sided. Sarah spent all morning working on a Facebook post for Joe, she won't use it, not now." So there! Miller forwarded the e-mail to his aides with this properly punctuated message: "Just found this in my inbox. This is what we're dealing with. Note the date and the complete misconstruction of what I said. Holy cow." Todd Palin, who apparently shares his wife's tendency to blame the media for every problem in his life, tells the Weekly Standard "there's no story here," except "the fact that the press put our personal emails online again, and again couldn't even be bothered to conceal our email addresses or take any steps to protect our privacy." Politico's Ben Smith disagrees. He says the e-mails illuminate "Palin's ambitions," "Todd Palin's role as enforcer," and "their capacity to alienate an ally." Andrew Sullivan says that's "everything you need to know about Palin."

However, if this Joe Miller guy doesn't want to be that closely associated with Sarah Palin you have to wonder how much influence she really has, even within the Republican party itself.

[Thumpalumpacus]

However, if this Joe Miller guy doesn't want to be that closely associated with Sarah Palin you have to wonder how much influence she really has, even within the Republican party itself.

I had thought her negatives inside the Republican party were high, but she was carrying a 76% approval as late as July, I've come to learn.

I'm fine with that.  She will alienate some Republicans, and will not attract enough to offset their loss, I think.  Huckabee is the far more dangerous Republican, with Romney not far behind.

[Sophus]

However, if this Joe Miller guy doesn't want to be that closely associated with Sarah Palin you have to wonder how much influence she really has, even within the Republican party itself.

I had thought her negatives inside the Republican party were high, but she was carrying a 76% approval as late as July, I've come to learn.

I'm fine with that.  She will alienate some Republicans, and will not attract enough to offset their loss, I think.  Huckabee is the far more dangerous Republican, with Romney not far behind.

Agreed, although if the trend stays it will probably be a Tea Partier running for office in 2012. For some reason they seem to get the better turn outs during primaries.