The Republican party exists to meet the needs of a rich ruling class. However, there are not enough rich people to win elections so they have to dupe the masses into thinking the Republican party is there for them. Thus, they manipulate the facts, they've created their own TV network, and they manipulate social issues just to get votes. (Make no mistake about it, there will never be a Republican amendment to ban gay marriage nor abortion. Because once those things pass, the Republican party will lose the fervor from the millions of voters who vote on those single issues.)
Well, Sarah Palin is in charge of keeping that duping process going. But although the Republican party wants these people to vote Republican, THEY DO NOT want these people to actually have power. Because if these people actually had power, the needs of the rich would get damaged.
The USA saw an explosion of growth and prosperity that was bigger than any other time in world history from the years 1933 to about 1980. Those years coincided with liberals for the most part running America. Liberals pass programs that help the little guy. When you help the little guy, each succeeding generation benefits. More home ownership, more college degrees. Etc etc. During that time we had the highest tax rates on the rich, and the highest levels of corporate regulation, we built an interstate highway system from scratch, landed on the moon, cured poverty in the elderly etc etc. (And for those who point out there were Republican presidents back then, the top tax rate during the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations was 70-90%, and it was Nixon that used price controls to control inflation- you can't get more socialist than that.)
But Americans seem to like it when the rich get off relatively scot free and the burden of taxation keeps being left on the doorstep of the middle class. Because that's how they seem to vote.
So getting the tea baggers into the Republican fold makes good sense, at least for the Republican party. Not for the teabaggers tho, and not for the future of Ameica.
History bears me out, but now the spin will come to again manipulate the masses. When will we ever learn.