Where's Waldo Sarah?

One of the supposed 'smears' against Sarah Palin was that she was directly involved in the Alaskan Independence Party -- a group advocating secession from the United States of America and thereby committing a treasonous act. People pointed to a video of her addressing the 2008 AIP convention and her reply was that although first-dude Todd was a member for a while, she pre-recorded the address and was never a participant. Well, I am sitting here eating some spaghetti and reading Washington Outsiders written by CitizenSteve from Bellingham and I see this:

Palin's Glass House
So Sarah Palin is defending her comments, implying that Barack Obama is sympathetic to terrorists. (Palin defends terrorist comment against Obama)

Well, gee golly whiz, Okay Sarah. If you want to go down the guilt by association road, then giddyup.

Let's talk about the Sarah Palin secessionist/terrorist/Iranian connection.

There were rapid, rabid denials from Bush/Cheney McCain campaign operatives when Sarah Palin was identified as a former member of the Alaska Independence Party (AIP). But as much as they'd like to cover-up the truth, the connection is there. Sarah's first-dude Todd was a register member of the Alaska Independence Party and as Governor, Sarah gave an extremely sympathetic little speech to open the AIP convention.



Salon.com has the inside scope on AIP's view of Sarah Palin:

"I've admired Sarah from the first time I met her at the 2006 (AIP) convention," which Palin also addressed, says Clark (Lynette Clark, chairwoman of the Alaskan Independence Party). "She impressed me so much. She's Alaskan to the bone; she's a damn good gal.

"As I was listening to her, I thought she sounds like what we've been saying for years. I thought to myself, 'My God, she sounds just like Joe Vogler.'"

Vogler was the craggy, fire-breathing secessionist who founded the Alaskan independence movement in the early 1970s. Among the colorful Vogler quotes now in circulation are "I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions." Then there's "The fires of hell are glaciers compared to my hate for the American government." And "The problem with you John Birchers is that you are too damn liberal!"

Vogler ran unsuccessfully for governor three times between 1974 and 1986, on a platform promoting an "Independent Nation of Alaska." By the 1990s, Vogler had built party membership to about 20,000, and the party scored its first major electoral victory when former Republican Governor and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Wally Hickel joined the AIP and won the gubernatorial race.

By then, Vogler was close to achieving one of his major goals: speaking before the United Nations (despite his antipathy toward the international body) on Alaska independence. According to the AIP, Iran had offered to sponsor Vogler's appearance -- which surely would have been an unsettling moment for the United States in the U.N. assembly.

Hmmm... Only issue is that when I visit the AIP's own website, I see the following on the first page:

UPDATE September 3, 2008 Noon ADT It has been brought to our attention that there is a COUNTERFEIT SITE now up on the net. This site is a FRAUD and has infringed our copyright. We are presently seeking legal recourse.

Contrary to initial reports, Vice-President candidate Governor Sarah Palin was never a member of our party. We stand corrected. We issued a press release today. It is posted here to those members of the media who did not recieve it.

Todd Palin was registered as a member but never participated in any party activities aside from attending a convention in Wasilla at one time.

We had several hundred people attend that convention and nothing of noteworthy status took place outside of nominating the most conservative candidate up to that date to ever run for Governor of Alaska. That candidate was the sitting Lt. Governor, Jack Coghill. This man was one of the authors and signers of the Constitution of the State of Alaska.

For ALL Media contact. Please contact Lynette Clark, Alaskan Independence Party Chair

History being re-written as we speak? As Jen said, there is more than enough mud to go around...