I was puzzled by the idea that Sarah Palin thought saying she hoped Obama would declare war on Iran would be a good way to appeal to the large anti-war isolationist libertarian contingent that has been attracted to the tea party movement — a movement whose leaders cast it as drastically different from the mainstream GOP. But then, I was reminded that the folks leading the tea party organization are just plain old movement Republicans looking to con voters into thinking they’re not really Republicans (h/t DDay and Digby):

The announcement came with an official platform that could help define what the multi-faceted tea party movement stands for and expects from the candidates it supports. The group’s leaders plan to support candidates who stand for a set of “First Principles.”

Those principles are: fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, less government, states’ rights and national security. Prospective political candidates will be expected to support the Republican National Committee platform. If a particular candidate meets the proposed criteria he or she would be eligible for fundraising and grassroots support.

Wonder how many of the persons who got sucked into the movement don’t yet realize that it’s just another wing of the GOP?

This also explains why Palin, the mother of a Down’s Syndrome child who was so quick to take umbrage against Rahm Emanuel for his “f—ing retards” comments, has essentially — after a brief few hours where it looked like she might have been willing to do what no Republican has ever done and stand by a criticism of Rush Limbaugh — given El Rushbo permission to use that language as he will. If she really was a maverick of the sort that the Tea Party rank-and-file favor, she’d be willing to take on the de facto leader of the Republican Party.