Academic

HMM: Earlier I mentioned a Rush Limbaugh third-party threat. Now I see there?s one from Sarah Pali?

By Glenn Reynolds

HMM: Earlier I mentioned a Rush Limbaugh third-party threat. Now I see there’s one from Sarah Palin:

Some in the GOP, it?s their last shot, it?s their last chance. We will lose faith, and we will be disappointed and disenchanted from them if they start straying from the bedrock principles. ? If they start straying, then why not a 3rd party?

Hey, that sounds kinda familiar:

But those establishment GOP figures who think that they?ll cruise to victory and a return to the pocket-stuffing business-as-usual that marked the prior GOP majority need to think again. This election cycle is, in a very real sense, a last chance for the Republicans. If they blow it, we?re likely to see third-party challenges in 2012, not only at the Presidential level but in numerous Congressional races as well.

For the national GOP, it?s do-or-die time. So guys, you?d better perform — unless you want me to be writing another ?I told you so? column in 2013. And trust me, you don?t.

Well, it’s pretty obvious stuff, really . . . .

UPDATE: Related: Palin, Frum and the Tea Party.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader William Jamieson writes:

I’m rarely out driving during Rush’s show, but was today, and heard the same warning. I now read of Palin’s on your site.

I agreed with Rush, and upon my return to the office, scribbled on my desk calendar:

DFTU

This is my message to all Republican officeholders, from McConnell and Boehner on down:

“Don’t F*** This Up”.

You’ve been given another chance, another opportunity, and the stakes couldn’t be any higher: DFTU. You won’t get another chance like this in 2 generations, if ever again: DFTU. And so on.

Yes. And reader David McCourt warns against third parties:

Yeah, try 1992 and Ross Perot, which did nothing but — of course — guaranty that Bill Clinton would become president, with less than half the vote. If we want to entrench a leftist government, then let’s split the the rightward 55-60% of the electorate among two parties, and leave the school teachers and SEIU a clear path to victory. That’ll teach them — us.

A good warning, but one with less relevance if the Republicans manage to, er, F things up this time.

MORE: Cam Edwards emails:

All this talk of third parties has me wondering: why wouldn’t it be easier for Tea Partiers to take over the local party apparatus of the GOP (and to a lesser extent, the Dems as well) instead of creating a third party from scratch? If the same Tea Partiers that have been attending rallies, town hall meetings, candidate forums, etc. turned that same energy post-election to both taking over parties at the local level, as well as running candidates for things like city council, school board, county commission (the offices that won’t make you famous, but can make you effective)… I think it could be shocking how much the political landscape could change by 2012.

I agree, and that’s the approach I’ve been recommending.

MORE STILL: Reader James S. Taylor writes:

I was a delegate to the Utah state Republican convention, one of those who voted to retire Bob Bennett. I?m willing to give Orrin Hatch six months or so to get with the program. Most of my friends aren?t, but then I?ve only been in Utah for ten years, so I don?t know him as well as they. I quit the Ohio Republican party, where I was a county committeeman, when they controlled the governor?s office and both houses, because the good of the state was not among their priorities. I was in a very small minority then. By 2012 people like me won?t be a minority any more.

Probably not.

STILL MORE: A reader suggests I should mention The Precinct Project.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on October 19, 2010 (boomark / email).