Palin: plotting a GOP coup?

28 February 2010 |permalink | email article

It’s time for the tea parties to “take over” the Republican Party, Sarah Palin told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday. The resigned Alaska governor said it ‘”would be easier to do so than reform one of the parties than it is to form a new machine” and establish a third party.”

The unofficial leader of the grass-roots movement said tea partiers should convince the GOP “what built this great country. Get back to the foundation of America. “

The paid Fox analyst defined the Tea Party movement as “pretty simple. It’s smaller, smarter government, not growing government to control more of our lives.” Frank Rich responds in today’s New York Times: “What we are talking about here is the Party of No Government at All.”

Meanwhile, there’s a refreshing move afoot by conservatives to reign in some of the movement’s extremist elements as the key midterm congressional elections gain attention.

As reported by Politico the effort to harness some of the energy of extremist party activists is being viewed by some conservatives as a modern version of the marginalization of the far-right, anti-communist John Birch Society during the reorganization of the conservative movement spearheaded by William F. Buckley Jr. during the 1960s and 1970s. It’s notable, however, that the John Birch Society was a sponsor of last week’s CPAC convention in Washington.

One spearhead of the effort is Michael Gerson, a former Bush speech writer who wrote about it in his Washington Post column. “Sometimes it takes courage to stand before a large crowd and proclaim that two plus two equals four.” The urgency of Gerson and other conservatives is to deprive Democrats and their allies a potentially potent weapon for use against the GOP in November.

Another goal is the attempt “to clean up our own house,” as Erick Erickson, founder of the influential conservative blog Red State, puts it “because traditional press outlets have decided to spotlight these fringe elements.” He has advised new tea party organizers on how to avoid affiliations with extremists.

They might start by addressing the inflammatory and disordered such as former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo’s racially tinged speech at the tea party’s Tennessee convention this month. Reigning in the mindless Palin is the real challenge.


 

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