Sarah Palin and the Tea Party

Over at Instapundit I saw lots of speculation about Sarah Palin having resigned to possibly found a third party to confront the Democrats and Republicans in the 2010 and 2012 elections. The idea is that Sarah Palin may form a formalized Tea Party.

It should be remembered that the Republican Party was once a third party itself. When it started in 1854 the main issue was slavery but the party was also interested in the well-being of small business and the middle class. The issues that this new Republican Party were attractive to many voters from both of the existing political parties and by 1860 this new third party had elected Abraham Lincoln as President.

The Tea Party would have a single main issue - over-taxation and an out of control government bureaucracy with waste the rule and not the exception. This issue is appealing to members of both parties (not just Republicans). The abuse Palin would receive at the hands of the MSM wouldn't even be worse than the press that Abraham Lincoln received from the Democratic leaning press of his day.

Could the new Tea Party do in half the time what it took the Republicans 6 years to accomplish a century and a half ago? Why not? Back in 1854 I bet not many thought the new Republican Party would have success defeating the mighty Whig Party who had just elected 3 out of the previous 4 Presidents of the United States. But they did. Why not Sarah Palin and a Tea Party?