"Palinese" Interpreter Needed!
By anniepa
@anniepa (27955)
United States
March 26, 2010 2:33pm CST
I really need someone to help me clarify what the heck she meant by the statement she gave below in answer to a question by Sean Hannity:
Hannity: If it's a strong conservative that gets the Republican nomination and then a tea
party member runs as a third party candidate, do you have any worry about that?
PALIN: A third party candidate can really shore-up a Republican candidate. ... A
third party candidate, I think, Sean, can actually help in this process.
-- Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, 3/22/10
You may recall that several weeks ago Sarah had said we have a two party system and the tea partiers better pick a party. Now she thinks a third party candidate will "help" and will "shore up a Republican candidate"? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if there are three candidates running in any given election, a Democrat, a Republican and a third party candidate chosen by the tea party group, doesn't it make sense that given the latter two would be conservative candidates they would cancel each other out and take vote from one another, thereby likely handing the victory to the Democrats? The only scenario I can see where the GOP candidate could be helped or simply not hurt would be if both the GOP and the Democratic candidate were moderate as opposed to either far left or far right.
Any thoughts? Maybe I REALLY don't speak Sarah's language and I'm totally midinterpreting what she said...
Annie
1 person likes this
6 responses
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
27 Mar 10
NO having a tea party candidate in the race won't help the republicans. The tea party candidate will pull votes for the republican...not the democrat. So it will hurt the republicans.
Now..here is how having a tea party candidate helps conservatives (but not the republican party)...in order to stop the bleeding of votes to the tea party candidate..the republican running will HAVE to shift his or her platform more (but not completely) toward the tea party platform. You will see Republican candidates running in a race with a tea party candidate in it have more items in their platform that the tea party people would agree with.
That forces the Republican party to conform their views to be more in line with the tea party movement in order to NOT loose the election.
It is a way for the tea party people to actually preasure and change the "views" and platform" of the republican party. Smart huh?
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
29 Mar 10
I agree that the tea party movement may push the Republican party further to the right than they already are - if that's possible - but I don't think that helps them in a general election anywhere other than in a crimson red state. No matter how much some may claim the country is "center right", it's NOT "far right". Many independents are moderate centrists.
Annie
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
31 Mar 10
I agree that fiscal responsibility should be what all politicians strive for but I think there are quite varying views on what that actually means. Some people have different priorities than others. All spending isn't bad or wasteful, there are services that are necessary. "Common sense" is something that is sorely lacking and I must be honest and admit it irritates me that Sarah Palin has taken to hijacking that term because I don't think she'd know common sense if it hit her in the face!
Annie
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
30 Mar 10
The big push for them is fiscal responsibility. That is what they want to push the Republican party into actually believing and DOING. The rest is just icing on the cake.
I personally think fiscally responsibility should be an "ALL POLITICANS" thing..not just "one side". But that is just me.
But lord knows they won't be fiscally responsible on their own....only they are MADE to be.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
27 Mar 10
Annie, I don't think you're misinterpreting what Palin said at all. As usual, she doesn't have a clue and is trying to pander to both the Republicans and the tea party supporters at the same time. 
@laglen (19759)
• United States
26 Mar 10
Maybe she meant, as I am not a mouthpiece for Palin this is just a guess, that possibly she thought that a tea party candidate might force the hand of the republican candidate. But I would like to point out the oxy moron in Hannity's question - just for sh*ts and giggles, strong conservative that gets the Republican nomination
Wouldnt that be refreshing??
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
27 Mar 10
Wow, I guess this proves how subjective the terms liberal and conservative really are! I know, for years I've heard people on the right saying McCain was a liberal but I sure didn't see him that way. To be honest, the only "liberal" Republican I can think of was Arlen Specter, who changed to Democrat last year. There are a few who I'd consider somewhat moderate such as Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Of course, I don't think President Obama is all that liberal either.
Annie
@iriscot (1289)
• United States
26 Mar 10
Annie, you really didn't expect to understand what a statement made by Palin meant, did you... Sometimes she leads me to believe she is from another planet!
@jerzgirl (9234)
• United States
26 Mar 10
I really doubt anyone speaks "Palinese", including Sarah herself. But, the only time I can think of her scenario working is in the primary where the moderate GOP have a candidate and the Tea Partiers have a candidate, but the moderate gets the nomination. Then the Tea Partiers would be more likely to back the moderate over the Dem. Other than that, third parties usually do extract votes from one of the other parties - for example, when Bill Clinton won after Perot ran. Perot drew away the GOP votes.
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
27 Mar 10
You're right, it could have a positive effect on the Republicans in primaries, particularly in blue states I think. However, I THINK - and I could be wrong since I don't speak Palinese - she's referring to the general election, where there would be a Democratic nominee, a Republican nominee and a third party candidate. In that scenario I'd think, even in a red state or district, it could very well benefit the Democrat by splitting the conservative vote.
Annie
@mysticmaggie (2498)
• United States
26 Mar 10
It's according to how many Democrats are joining the teaparties. More and more are and if there was a teaparty candidate, he/she might be the only person who could bring dems/reps/inds all together.
But, I'm not holding my breath.
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