We live in an era of American history when we should not discount even the highly unlikely as being impossible.
Rough translation: 
Anything's possible.
Posted on 04/15/2011 6:59:03 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
It most certainly will! Right now we must depend on the "good old boys" of the GOP to nominate from their own ranks. Something like a Tea Party would nominate from its own ranks. We cannot get out of the rut because the GOP core nominates the Presidential candicates while Congresscritters tend to follow the directives of that same core.
Most of the "Tea Party candidates" followed the mandates from The People.
A real third party will be tough. The media and the country-clubbers, Rat and Pubbies, will spare no effort to run us around in circles.
GingisK: “Right now we must depend on the “good old boys” of the GOP to nominate from their own ranks.”
Strange. I thought we voted in primaries for the nominees. I guess I must be wrong...
But, Trump is raising issues no one has the courage to mention which is forcing the media to give him some recognition.
That said: I doubt he will be a candidate. If you didn't have a chance to hear the Mark Levin show today you can find it in < href= http://www.marklevinshow.com/sectional.asp?id=32930> his archives. He played a series of Trump soundbites saying: how much he respected and admired Nancy Pelosi, he thought Geo Bush should be impeached, he thought Obama may be one of our greatest Presidents ...and more. That was then, this is now. But, the media will tear him apart with those comments. he has also contributed heavily to DNC candidates such as Chuck Schumer and the crazy man WEEENer.
How many Americans would have predicted a great civil war in just a decade?
Are we in that much of a different situation to day?
The Republican party originally started as a party within the Whig party, much as the tea party is a party within the Republican party.
It is telling that many of the Republicans which at least used to give lp services to conservatives, now openly deride the tea party.
I think it is extremely likely that the tea party will grow in strength and numbers even as Obama wins a second term. I also think that the result will be the start of a new party which will ultimately lead to the demise of the Republican party. And, I think it is highly likely that the new Tea party president of 2016 will soon find himself in a civil war.
Quite a few, actually. Henry Clay was old, and his tuberculosis had taken a turn for the worse. People within the party knew that when the Great Compromiser died, the glue that bound the party together would be gone.
They were casting about for new leadership. Taylor had died, and Fillmore was a political hack and was not up to the job. In Congress there were some possible leaders, but they couldn't come to a common position on slavery, which ended up causing the party to splinter.
I as thinking of early 1850 before the compromise and the death of Taylor. My point is the current tea party movement in the Republican party is not all that different than the Republican movement within the Whig party. Things can change quickly.
Let me lay out a scenario for you.
Step 1: Trump exposes Obama’s secrets, and the President is not in a position to declare martial law when the financial system collapses. In the chaos, the Democrats push Obama out for simple self-preservation. Perhaps Biden succeeds him. Perhaps it will be decided that the Electoral College vote of December 2008 was fraudulent, and Boehner succeeds him. Perhaps President Kennedy’s executive order from 1961 concerning a nuclear decapitation of the federal government is dusted off, and the Electoral College chosen in 2008 is reconstituted to elect a new President based on a nomination from the Democratic National Committee, which means Hillary succeeds him. Who can guess what political and financial chaos will bring? When the dust settles, Trump becomes the towering figure in American politics.
Step 2: The Tea Party finally recognizes that the Republican Party has no interest in changing the system, only to direct money from the federal faucet to its cherished clients on K Street. Trump leads them out of the Republican Party and into a new party. The Tea Party launches a program to field candidates at all levels -- federal, state, county and local -- and Trump’s money makes it possible for them to be competitive. This makes Trump a Perot-like figure, but one with a track record.
Step 3: The Democrats splinter, with Hillary speaking for the party establishment, and someone like Howard Dean speaking for the Hard Left. The Republican nomination is bought and paid for by Jeb Bush in a late entry. The race for 2012 becomes the image of 1860 with Trump as Lincoln.
From there it gets interesting, assuming you consider a live hand grenade interesting.
Who supplies the candidates for the primaries? McCain and company didn't come from any choice I made. Did you put that lineup on the slate?
I agree. Third party is suicide. We need Tea Party candidates for the vast majority of GOP primaries. The good ole boy, go along to get along GOP is useless.
How hard am I going to have to work to lose this argument? ;-D
The GOP doesn't back the "People's Choice" candidates. They only back those from their own ranks. None of the established GOP faces have done much for folks like Sarah Palin. On the other hand, some have been quite negative regarding her, even when it was clear that she was highly favored by quite a number of GOP voters. I did not vote for McCain, I voted for Sarah. Oh sure, most anyone can declare for the Presidency if they can finance the campaign. But only the insiders get good report cards and backing from the core.
The core needs to be trying to understand what the Tea Party rukus is all about, and get candidates under their wing that can deliver. Instead, the established core merely turns a blind eye, and continues business as usual. Come election time, they will back the "Good Old Boy" candidate and demand that we vote for the RINO just to prevent Obama from winning again.
If they run one of those RINO guys, I'll vote third party or just stay home. It makes no sense to vote for Democrat Lite.
There’s no doubt you’re right. Some Republicans DO fight against conservatives and see the Tea Party as more of a threat than Democrats. On the other hand, voters still have the final say. So what if the GOP elites don’t like Sarah Palin and other conservatives. That doesn’t prevent us from donating, working, and voting for conservatives, does it? No. Millions of us can still make a difference, but I believe we’ll have a better chance if we unify to reform the GOP rather than go the third party route. Plus, my point still stands. If we conservatives cannot muster even enough political power to win over the GOP, then we certainly won’t stand a chance with a 3rd, 4th, or 5th political party.
You really are right here, too. Politics of late is really frustrating.
In large part because the results of federal elections "matter." If the federal government was of an appropriate (small) size, then the results wouldn't matter. The government is flat out too big. It's also corrupt to the core, protecting itself from erosion.
I liked Publius' three scenarios above, because they show the range of possibility and unpredictability that is inherent in complex human endeavor. Something is going to give.
We live in an era of American history when we should not discount even the highly unlikely as being impossible.
Rough translation: Anything's possible.
This thread’s for you.
A politics utterly sold out to the media and money interests is what has us in the mess we're in.
Only a restoration of truly principled government of, by, the for the people can save this republic.
But, in any case, we're at least three years ahead of the curve. Probably further, because it's obvious that most, even FReepers, are still firmly in the grasp of the old, failed, corrupted paradigm.
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