Members of 'Fringe' Alaskan Independence Party Say Palin Was a Member in 90s

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

The campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., likes to herald the independence of its new running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which, since the 1970s, has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States.

And while McCain's motto -- as seen in a new TV ad -- is "Country First," the AIP's motto is the exact opposite -- "Alaska First -- Alaska Always."

Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, tells ABC News that Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, even attending the 1994 statewide convention in Wasilla. Clark was AIP secretary at the time.

"We are a state's rights party," says Clark, a self-employed goldminer. The AIP has "a plank that challenges the legality of the Alaskan statehood vote as illegal and in violation of United Nations charter and international law."



Read more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/members...

[Trajan]

1. Wow .... They REALLY stepped in it, didn't they ?

What an amazing mistake ....

And finally: The media responds .....

[truthisfreedom]

2. self-delete

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. It just gets better and better.

[roamer65]

4. She'll be removed very shortly.

This is gonna be good.

This story is sporting legs all over the place.

Google "palin secessionist"...hit after hit, after hit, after hit...

[skooooo]

10. Is there any way to gloss over this????

I mean, what will the Republicans say about it?? You know they'll try to get away with it at first.

[Wabbajack_]

15. This is an active third party in Alaska

a former repulbican was elected governor on it's ticket.

[Ghost Dog]

16. So it appears (from this distance -

I'm European, Brit longtime resident in Spain).

You will need to fight off that "fringe" categorization, that implies it doesn't matter.

They won a Governorship. How much support in Alaska does that party and this way of thinking really have?

[brooklynite]

5. Our FRiends look at this as a badge of honor...

I looked over the rest of the platform for the AIP and kind of wished they had a chapter in Ohio

Sounds like another check in the plus column for Sarah!

Can I vote a straight Alaskan Independence Party ticket in Illinois? It won’t make a difference, anyway.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2072676/posts

[skooooo]

11. ..and this one...

"Secession? OMG, Governor Palin is really one of us. The right of secession for the individual states was taken away at the point of the bayonet. "

[bluedeminredstate]

6. Wow. This could be huge.

IF...IF the MSM pursues this story and contrasts it with McCain's "Country First" platform this could spell disaster for Palin, especially when you add in all the other stories starting to get traction. The fact that this came from ABC news is encouraging. It looks like ABC has done more vetting with this one story than McCain's campaign did all spring and summer.
I wonder if all the other prospective VP choices were vetted this poorly. I know if Obama's choice for VP came with this much surprise baggage the MSM would absolutely crucify him and the repugs would trumpet his abysmal judgement on every cable talk show, news program, radio show and rightwing blog in existence.

[THale2]

7. Ditto

McCain is getting a major pass

[MilesColtrane]

8. Secessionists? Why that's downright unpatriotic.

[jberryhill]

9. THIS one is the nail in the coffin

rec this one up.

Hardened right wing zombies can weather a lot - but secessionists? Are you fucking kidding me?

And in that "what does the VP do" interview, the extended version, she makes it clear that she'd be interested in the VP slot if there was some benefit for Alaska.

This woman does not even support the United States of America for crying out loud.

This one is, by far, a clear disqualification.

[Mark E. Smith]

12. McCain vetted Palin?

So then he must have known that she was a secessionist.

[struggle4progress]

13. Palin's form of patriotism, like Bush's, seems to involve a desire to destroy the United States

[Dem2theMax]

14. Have any of you listened to the entire video where Palin

asks "Well, what does the Vice President do?" She goes on to say that, if I'm remembering correctly, the VP job would have to benefit ALASKA.
Yep, that's the woman we want for VP. She's just interested in ONE state, not all 50.

[Botany]

17. John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin was in Alaskan independence party

Source: Telegraph.UK.com

Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, was once a member of the Alaskan
Independence Party, its officials have said.

By Jon Swaine
Last Updated: 12:07PM BST 02 Sep 2008

The party has lobbied since the 1970s for the right to hold a referendum on whether Alaska should secede
from the United States. Its motto, "Alaska First", contrasts sharply with the John McCain campaign slogan: "Country First."

It seeks "the complete repatriation of the public lands, held by the federal government, to the state and people
of Alaska" and aims to be "self-sufficient" by using profits from Alaskan oil and gas resources. It claims that the
vote held in 1958 which led to Alaska becoming the 49th state of the US was corrupt and did not offer a proper choice.

While it is thought that Mrs Palin officially left the party to become a Republican in 1996, she recorded an address for
its convention earlier this year in which she said: "I share your party's vision of upholding the constitution of our great
state" and told members to "keep up the good work".

snip

In a video recorded at this year's party convention, Dexter Clark, the party's vice chairman, can be seen telling delegates:
"The situation is completely out of hand, the decay of the federal government is totally complete."

He tells them that in order to propagate AIP policy they "should infiltrate" mainstream parties. "Whichever party in that
area you can get something done, get into that political party, even though it does have its problems," he says.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection20...

---

Nice Pick John

[roseBudd]

18. drip drip

[Stuart G]

19. A party that wanted separation of Alaska from the U.S... Radaical ..Like wanting to pull out????

Yes... How do you suppose she will play this one?..

well...someone should have pulled out..rofl:

....drip, drip

[GinaMaria]

20. so glad the InSane camp

fully vetted her This is the craziest campaign the Cons have run in my memory anyway. There's an old psych nursing expression... if the feet stink, look at the head. If his peeps are erratic, it is coming from the top, McCrazy himself. These are not people who should run a Kindergarten pageant, let alone the government. Truly frightening. Shit on a stick would have been a better VP pick. Really looking forward to the VP debates.

[onehandle]

21. "I share your party's vision of seceding from the United States."

So she's a Confederate? The GOP VP nominee is a threat to our union?

Sounds about right.

[GinaMaria]

22. Just add that to the steaming heap of @#&*

that is her record. Ever feel like we are watching the Mad Hatter's tea (make that political) party?

[Botany]

23. Sarah "Beauregard" Palin

Honest to God tell me this not a "Northern Exposure" episode



Gen. Beauregard's first assignment from the Confederate Government was command of the forces in
Charleston, South Carolina, where on April 12, 1861 he opened fire on the Union held Fort Sumter,
regarded as the start of the American Civil War.

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/General_P_G_...

[deminks]

24. She recorded a tape for them this year?

This is not something she did in her youth?

[arcos]

25. Nope, and it has been on YouTube since March... link here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4iCDBIAde8

[izzybeans]

40. NO f'n way.

[usregimechange]

26. When will she drop out?

[HopeHoops]

30. "Sorry, Harriet, er, um, Sarah I mean..."

"You're going to have to take one for the party. Thanks for helping me pander to the right and those women folk, but you didn't tell me you were a closet lesbian who smokes pot and saves whales on weekends. I'll pretend I'm sorry when you submit your resignation. I have to go now, Joe's on the other line."

[Waiting For Everyman]

27. 5th Rec. The Telegrah, huh? Cool. (n/t)

[Ghost Dog]

32. Looks like The Telegraph is reporting straight from Kos:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/1/4231/18477/878/5... - in case you haven't seen it yet.

[ima_sinnic]

28. oh dear, so many scandals, so little time

between this and Troopergate and Stevens' 527 and that Jethro Clampett future(?) son in law and her bearskin couch cover and fur stole with animal heads, I just can't keep up! So dignified and classy! Really someone I want representing us to the rest of the word NOT.

[Doctor_J]

29. And she was a Buchananite. How much more mainstream can you get?

[SpiralHawk]

31. "Profits first. Smirk." - Republicon occult motto

[The Stranger]

33. I sense that the powers that be (in particular the media) have shifted, and the

tectonic plates of power are shifting as well.

[iamjoy]

35. It's Not Our Media

It's British media. Ours still seems to be in love with McSame.

BTW - didn't Telegraph do a negative piece on her yesterday? What was it again? I know we discussed it here but there have been so many bad things about Palin coming out lately, that I can't remember what I learned about where.

[The Stranger]

38. But even our media -- did you see Campbell Brown eviscerate a McCain campaign imbecile on CNN?

I couldn't believe my fucking eyes and ears. She was actually being a journalist -- insisting on an answer and persisting about it.

The McCain Campaign imbecile was roadkill. And all of the sudden I really, really like Campbell Brown again.

[mwb970]

42. I think we'll see a lot more of that.

The media were snookered by bush and forced to eat crow over Iraq. They won't get fooled again! I think the media bloom is well off the McCain rose. Without his "base", he's toast.

[adamuu]

34. VP Pick Palin wants to govern remaining 49 states? n/t

[Douglas Carpenter]

36. RECOMMEND!! RECOMMEND!!! RECOMMEND!!! NOW THIS IS A STORY TO PUSH TO THE TOP NOW!!!!

[Mark E. Smith]

37. Sarah Palin: First secessionist candidate for an executive federal office ...

... since the civil war?

[rndmprsn]

39. K&R BIG TIME!

[KansDem]

41. So, are we to expect a civil war between the Northwest and the remaining 49?

If InSane and his cheerleader win the White House?

[redqueen]

43. OK... so when is the Dominionist stuff coming out?

[wickerwoman]

44. OK, I'm never going to stop laughing.

I've been grinning randomly all day. This seals it.

Can't wait to read the headlines tomorrow! What's left? Child porn? Cock fighting? Oxycodone addiction? Monster truck rallies tearing up the lawn of the governor's mansion?

Bring it sister!

[Indydem]

45. Not Sure Why This Hurts Her...

You are looking at this through a non-fundie prism.

1994, the specific year that is mentioned that they belonged to this "seccession" group was during the Clinton years.
Fundies all across the country were joinging Militias and other "seccession" (read anti-federal governemnt) groups to protest that evil socialist/red communist Bill Clinton.

You might think this is going to hurt her, but I think its only going to help her, Imagine this line at the convention:

"It has recently been bantered about in the press that I was a member of a radical seccesion group in the early nineties. I am proud to admit that I as part of a group that stood up for a strong Alaska against a burgeoning federal government run by Bill Clinton that threatened to trample on the rights of Alaskans and citizens everywhere. Indeed, we had a plank in our organizational charter that if necessary, we would explore seccession from the federal government if Bill and Hilary Clinton succeeded in ramming gay marriage and socialized medicine down our throats. Luckily, the republican revolution stopped them in their tracks of converting our nation in to a communist nation state, and I felt it was no longer necessary to be involved with that group"

It has EVERY SINGLE BUZZWORD and attacks the Clintons to boot. Fundies go wild, ra ra shish boom ba.

Its all about shifting your perspective folks, and seeing it from the crazies side.

[Solly Mack]

46. don't forget what Palin said about being VP...the office has to benefit Alaska

[ima_sinnic]

47. kick