# If Sarah Palin decided to run as an independent, how much damage could she do to the GOP? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 10, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898 "2009-08-10T01:19:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/21 "2009-08-10T19:28:18Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > There are too many of them to marginalize. Look at the results of that birther poll! > > If there are enough of them to make a difference in an election, there are enough of them for the GOP (or, hell the Dems) to tonguebathe. But the number of people in the party is not fixed. Marginalizing the nutters might bring back moderates who are now independents, due to having some candidates who would work with the Democrats instead of just saying no win some primaries. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/22 "2009-08-10T19:32:13Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > There are too many of them to marginalize. Look at the results of that birther poll! A problem to be sure ( and those numbers surprised me actually ). Thing is, if the crazies are too strong for the party to get rid of them and keep losing the party elections, that’s one of the few ways I think the predictions of the demise of the Republican Party could come true. Not so much the Party being destroyed as it committing collective political suicide. In that case, it would be the _ **Party** _ that becomes marginalized; I’d expect something like the more-electable conservatives forming a third party ( or taking one over ), and the rich folk who bankroll the party moving support from the old Republicans to whatever the new party would call itself. The old Republican Party would become a fringe-loony third party, and the new party would replace it as the main opposition. But that’s a long term scenario; it requires that the loony-dominated Republicans lose repeatedly, for the less loony people to fail to take back the Party long enough and badly enough that they give up, and decide a new party is the only option. And that’ll take a long time. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/23 "2009-08-10T19:36:36Z")
If the country has a hefty chunk of loonies (any by god, if there’s anything this country is good at, it’s loony-production), though, they have to go _somewhere_. Are the loonies going to stay in the wilderness? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/24 "2009-08-10T19:37:09Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Who can run on a ticket with Sarah? Joe the Plumber? Michelle Bachmann? Michelle Malkin? Ann Coulter? Sen. Grassley? Please, please, please let this happen! Palin/Bachmann '12. (Dingbat / Wingnut) Dream ticket. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/25 "2009-08-10T19:38:40Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > If the country has a hefty chunk of loonies (any by god, if there’s anything this country is good at, it’s loony-production), though, they have to go _somewhere_. Are the loonies going to stay in the wilderness? Quite possibly; it’s something of a tradition. Go live in a fortified compound with lots of guns waiting for Obama to Steal Their Guns And Kill Grandma. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/26 "2009-08-10T19:53:31Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Quite possibly; it’s something of a tradition. Go live in a fortified compound with lots of guns waiting for Obama to Steal Their Guns And Kill Grandma. I would agree with you if I thought the loonies were 10% of the Republican party. But, Der Trihs, we’re talking 50% of the party as it stands. That’s a lot of compounds. That’s a lot of dead grammies. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/27 "2009-08-10T20:00:47Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Palin/Bachmann '12. > > (Dingbat / Wingnut) > > Dream ticket. 😃 Palin and Ron Paul? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/28 "2009-08-10T20:09:33Z")
Sarah Palin and [Alan Keyes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Keyes) – he supplies racial balance to the team, and he’s had a lot of experience running against Obama (for the Senate in 2004 and for President in 2008). ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/29 "2009-08-10T20:13:37Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Sarah Palin and [Alan Keyes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Keyes) – he supplies racial balance to the team, and he’s had a lot of experience running against Obama (for the Senate in 2004 and for President in 2008). Both Keyes and Palin have a great deal of experience losing to Obama. Great idea. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/30 "2009-08-10T20:26:22Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I would agree with you if I thought the loonies were 10% of the Republican party. > > But, Der Trihs, we’re talking 50% of the party as it stands. > > That’s a lot of compounds. > > That’s a lot of dead grammies. The party as it stands is very small and a lot of those people are simply misinformed and only believe that bs because the party is still actively encouraging and promoting that behavior. Most of them are not at the Orly level of insanity. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/31 "2009-08-10T20:33:31Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > I think she’d cause some long term damage to the Democrats as well. “Will Sarah Palin running in 2012 backfire on the Democrats?” Good heavens, I miss those threads. ---
**Author:** ![Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f1d935/32.png) [@Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dilton_Doiley_Philosopher_King)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/32 "2009-08-10T20:58:01Z")
Nader ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/33 "2009-08-10T21:19:27Z")
> [@Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](#): > > Nader Nadir. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/34 "2009-08-10T21:26:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Oh, please; oh, please; ohpleaseopleaseoplease! > > Comedic gold, I tells ya! This. Plus about a thousand. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/35 "2009-08-10T21:43:22Z")
Palin / Bachmann '12. “_No other Presidential Election has ever offered this much Crazy on the same ticket!_” “It’s so crazy, it might just work!” Too bad the “in a world of” announcer guy is dead. I’m imagining the wonderful commercial explaining how badly frightened and unable to cope our enemies would be with these two in charge. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/36 "2009-08-10T22:16:15Z")
I think about Ross Perot back in 1992. A well-funded campaign that was taken seriously by both the media and the politicos. Perot even got on the ballot in all 50 states. He got 19% of the popular vote, drawn roughly equally from Democrats and Republicans, but didn’t win a single state. Perot ran again in 1996 but wasn’t a factor. Even assuming Palin got all the funding she wanted and got on the ballot in all 50 states, her support mainly comes from one section of the Republican Party. I’d guess no electoral votes, 10% of the popular vote (max) and enough of a factor to move Missouri, Kentucky and Arizona into the Democratic column. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898/37 "2009-08-10T22:44:58Z")
You mean Montana and Georgia, right, not Kentucky? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-sarah-palin-decided-to-run-as-an-independent-how-much-damage-could-she-do-to-the-gop/505898.md?page=1)