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September 02, 2008

Independence for Alaska?

I guess we know where that star in the McCain logo came from:

From the Daily Telegraph:

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

News of Mrs Palin's former membership comes as the latest in a string of potentially embarrassing disclosures about her past.

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".

Lynette Clark, the chairman of the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP), confirmed to ABC News that Mrs Palin and her husband Todd had both been both members and attended at least one party convention.

"When she joined the party our platform was right under her nose," Mrs Clark said. "I can't understand why in God's name she has aligned herself with a candidate who opposes the development of our republic and Alaska's resource wealth," she added.

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 [in which] you can get something done, get into that political party, even though it does have its problems," he says.

The latest disclosure is likely to add to concerns among some Republicans that Mrs Palin was not adequately vetted before being asked to become Mr McCain's vice-presidential candidate.

On Monday the campaign added another dramatic twist to the race for the presidency when it said that Bristol, Mrs Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, was pregnant and would marry the father.

Opponents of the Republican Governor have unearthed more potentially embarrassing details from her past.

Developments in the "Troopergate" scandal, in which Mrs Palin denies using her role as Governor of Alaska to take revenge on her state trooper brother-in-law by having him sacked after his divorce from her sister, appear to challenge her version of events. An investigation into the incident is set to report back five days before the election.

In an interview last month, when still unlikely that she would be offered her role by Mr McCain, Mrs Palin dismissed the job of vice-president, saying that she couldn't understand what it would involve day to day.

When asked in another interview for her thoughts on America's involvement in the Iraq war, Mr McCain's continued support for which is a key plank of the Republican campaign, Mrs Palin said: "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

And Mrs Palin has also been criticised for her behaviour on a radio talk show in January. While being interviewed about her feud with Lyda Green, the Alaskan state senate leader, Mrs Palin laughed when her interviewer described cancer sufferer Senator Green as a "cancer".

UPDATE. While she supported the party and attended their conventions, it appears only her husband actually joined:

The McCain campaign denies that Palin ever joined the AIP. But while it is in dispute whether she attended its 1994 convention, she did visit the 2000 one and addressed AIP conventions in 2006 and 2008. Her husband, Todd, was a registered AIP member from 1995 to 2002, and the AIP leadership certainly considers her one of their own.

Video footage shows AIP Vice Chairman Dexter Clark describing Palin at the 2007 North American Secessionist Convention as an "AIP member before she got the job as a mayor of a small town -- that was a nonpartisan job. But you get along to go along. She eventually joined the Republican Party, where she had all kinds of problems with their ethics, and well, I won't go into that." (No need to. The Alaska Legislature's ethics investigators are on the case.) Apparently with Palin in mind, Clark then went on to urge AIP members to "infiltrate" the major parties.

So what does Palin currently think of the AIP? Hard to know -- she's been keeping mum -- but this year she told AIP members: "I'm delighted to welcome you to the 2008 Alaska Independence Party Convention. ... Keep up the good work!"

Does it make you uneasy to have a possible secessionist sympathizer aiming for the White House? Do you worry that Palin shares AIP founder Vogler's burning "hatred for the American government"?

Relax! If so, it will enable her, as vice president, to more effectively bond with foreign leaders she'll meet, many of whom also nurture a hatred for the American government. In diplomatic demarches, finding common ground is always helpful.

McCain has always promised that his ticket would show "independence." We just didn't realize it was going to be this kind.

Posted by Mike at September 2, 2008 11:55 AM

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