Sarah Palin will headline first-ever Tea Party Convention

Sarah Palin’s appearance is a coup for a movement now getting grudging respect from mainstream commentators. But will the feisty Tea Party movement coalesce with the GOP’s old guard?

IMHO Sarah Palin is clearly a force to be reckoned with. The fact that she turned down the opportunity to be the Keynote Speaker at CPAC should not be considered that she is starting or wants to lead a third party movement. She has morals and laid them out for why she chose the alternative engagement. Sarah Palin is too much of a patriot to let anything get in the way of Republican wins. She can draw huge crowds, probably more at this time than Obama. She will help anybody that share her basic core beliefs on how to get America running again, and defeat democrats. That would include not running for President in 2012. Random thoughts while observing the passing parade, J.C.

Sarah Palin signs copies of her book ‘Going Rogue’ outside a hotel in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, last month. In February, she’ll be the major speaker at the first Tea Party Convention.

Shawn Gust/The Coeur d’Alene Press/AP

By Patrik Jonsson Staff writer / January 6, 2010

Atlanta

Almost 1-1/2 years since she shook up American politics with her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is set to headline another landmark political event: the first-ever Tea Party Convention next month in Nashville, Tenn.

On its face, the gig would seem a step down for Ms. Palin, one of conservative America’s most popular and polarizing figures (not to mention major thorn in the side of the Obama White House).

But with an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll ranking a generic “Tea Party” as more popular than either Democrats or Republicans, and Palin herself rivaling the charming Mr. Obama in poll popularity, many experts see the Tea Party event as a potential milestone for a mounting, even transformational, force in US politics.

“[W]ith two wars, a continuing terror threat, huge federal deficits, and a major healthcare overhaul in the works, there is no shortage of disaffection out there … and that could prove to be political dynamite,” writes the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz. Against that backdrop, writes Mr. Kurtz, “The tea types can either blossom into a Perotista-style third-party movement or be subsumed to some degree by the GOP.”

Can the Tea Party movement unify itself?

Indeed, the Nashville event is not about chartering a new political party to represent conservative ideals like low taxes and states’ rights, but more about unifying to take on “Obama, Pelosi and Reid this year,” writes Judson Phillips, head of Tea Party Nation, one of many Tea Party groups and the lead sponsor of a convention that will feature conservative firebrands such as Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) of Minnesota. Complete Story: