Sarah Palin and the GOP-Tea Party Merger

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Appearing on FOX News' "On the Record," January 28, Sarah Palin was asked by host Greta Van Susteren whether she thinks the Tea Party movement will lead to a third party or a merger with the GOP:

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, in terms of the tea party movement, is it likely to create the issue that happened in '92 with Ross Perot and President Bush, or will it merge with the Republican Party? And how do you see that happening?

PALIN: They need to merge. Definitely, they need to merge. I think those who are wanting the divisions and the divisiveness and the controversy -- those are the ones who don't believe in the message. And they're the ones, I think, stirring it up. We need to ignore that and we need to forge ahead with a cohesive message. It's a common sense message. It, again, is, Government, limit yourself so that the private sector, our families, free individuals can grow and thrive and prosper and enjoy America's freedom!

That merger is in progress right now, although it resembles not so much a merger as it does a hostile takeover.

Around the nation, Tea Partiers are getting involved in the Republican Party, starting at its most basic level -- in the precincts:

They are doing it here by the hundreds by filing as candidates in the May 4 primary election for the office of precinct executive, the lowest rung of the political party structure.

"It's the place where you can have the most impact,'' said Mike Wilson, the founder of the Cincinnati Tea Party. "It's one thing to talk to the party leaders about change. It's another thing to actually be the party leadership and make the change from within."

It is a strategy that has worked elsewhere - Tea Party activists essentially took over the Nevada Republican Party earlier this month; and, in Florida, they were successful in forcing out a state party chairman who was seen as too centrist.

This strategy by the Tea Partiers would make GOP county organizations more conservative, and they would be more likely to field candidates who are more fiscally conservative, at least, than what we have seen from the GOP in the post-Reagan era.

The battle between moderates and conservatives for the soul of the Republican Party will not be fought by the pundits or at the top of the party pyramid. It's being waged in the trenches at the local levels, where what Vichy GOPers David Frum and Colin Powell have to say is of little or no significance.

The Tea Partiers are good learners. Large demonstrations on the Captol Mall make for great political theater, but the Democrats and their captive media only seek to turn such expressions of the national temperament to their advantage, by characterizing those who petition their government for a redress of grievances -- as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution -- as "angry mobs," "raaaacists," and "hateful extremists."

So now the grassroots is mainstreaming itself right into the rank and file of the Grand Old Party, seeking to make it not only Grand again, but responsive to the will of We The People. The Tea Partiers have gone back to school:

"Our people are just learning how the parties work," said Gena Bell, who heads the Eastern Hills Tea Party in the Madeira-Kenwood area. "Until we started organizing this, I had never heard of a precinct executive. Not a clue."

Bell, like other Tea Party leaders, say they are encouraging members to run in both party primaries, but said most will end up choosing the Republican primary.

The National Tea Party Convention, an upcoming event which has been much maligned by not only the Left and its media attack dogs, has also taken more than its fair share of abuse from some bloggers on the right.

The event, which will take place in Nashville February 4th through the 6th, is intended not for the average Tea Party goer, but rather for those activists who are serious about organizing Tea Parties and learning how to make the organizations they help build more effective. The convention will include panel discussion topics such as "Precinct Organizing Best Practices" as well as breakout sessions on "How to Organize a TEA Party Group" and " "How to Unite State Tea Party Groups."

Sarah Palin realizes all this. And while a couple of other scheduled speakers who are member of the Democrat-controlled Congress have been intimidated into withdrawing from the Tennessee event, the Republican Party's 2008 vice presidential candidate has no intention of not being there to deliver her keynote address Saturday, Feb. 6 at 8:00 PM:

"Oh, you betcha I'm going to be there. I'm going to speak there because there are people traveling from many miles away to hear what that tea party movement is all about and what that message is that should be received by our politicians in Washington. I'm honored to get to be there."

"I won't personally gain from being there. The speaker's fee will go right back into the cause. I'll be able to donate it to people and to events, those things that I believe in that will help perpetuate the message, the message being, Government, you have constitutional limits. You better start abiding by them."

Gov. Palin understands that the best way to drag the GOP back to its Reagan roots is through the Tea Parties. It's the shortest path between where the Republican Party has strayed to and where it needs to be. This, of course scares the you-know-what out of the GOP establishment, but then, so does Sarah Palin.

You go, Guv!

- JP