Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles
I tend to disagree.
Since there is not much difference between the Dems and the GOP on the national stage, she is simply offering conservatives, or those who have become tired of politics as usual, an alternative.
But who knows, you may be right...she may destroy the Republican Party. And, IMHO, should she do that, then it needed to be destroyed in the first place.
2008 was the Democrats year. I suspect 2010 may be different.
But I've been wrong before.
Chas
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By saying that there is not much difference between the parties on the national stage, are you suggesting that the unanimity of the Republicans in opposition to the proposed healthcare bill is simply politics rather than policy?
To me, saying that Palin is just offering conservatives an alternative, really means that she wants to insure deadlock. Her block wants to put people in office who would not dream of compromising with the democrats in order to move forward in governance.
When I speak of "her" block or movement, I am using her as the symbol of the tea party/birthers and religious conservatives in the party, insofar as she is now the face of the movement. I see that movement as marginalizing the party, so whether you look at is as marginalizing or destroying the party, it's just a matter of degree.
I operate from the premise, with which you might agree, that the politics in the country had been on a general rightward swing for nearly thirty years. I include the Clinton years, because his success came from adopting a number of conservative positions as well as from his charisma. Certainly the eight years of Bush was a dramatic swing to the right with decreased respect for civil rights, spying on citizens, labelling opponents as traitors, cutting taxes and over-spending on militarism, stacking the courts with conservative activists, and adopting the language of religious conservatives.
I think the pendulum has swung as far to the right as possible. The majority of citizens were sick of seeing the special treatment that corporate America was receiving in Washington, they resented being spyed upon, and they had long grown weary of the excessive military spending. The people elected a President that was not nearly as liberal as the GOP tries to make him out to be, but who was a clean break from the Bush politics.
Now that pendulum is on the way to the center, the Palin wing is insisting on strict conformity with their conservative view. To enforce that conformity they are planning to defeat any republicans who might be inching toward the center.
I would have expected some loss of seats in 2010 as is ususal in off-year elections, but the actions from the Palin wing could serve to overcome the off-year lull for the party in power. The "silent majority" identified by Spiro Agnew was never as far to the right as the Palinites, and is unlikely to accept the strict party line that wing demands. If her strategy is successful within the GOP, it will also serve as a successful strategy for the democrats.
That's just the way I see it, but I am quite capable of being wrong. I just don't expect to be.
Regards,
D-Ray