See below for the updates. It has now been reported that the AIP made a deal with Iran in 1993, and Iran agreed to sponsor the AIP as a sovereign nation. Further info below. Unbelievable.
I wrote a post in which I mentioned the secessionist fringe group, the Alaskan Independence Party, when I first began researching Palin's background in August. At the time, it was widely believed that Sarah Palin was a card-carrying member of the AIP, in part because the AIP itself claimed that she was a member.
When I learned that she was not a member, at least purportedly, and that her husband, Todd Palin, was a member, I decided to let it go rather than get in to the murky area of guilt by association. I also published a retraction of sorts, and changed the wording in the original post.
However, now Sarah Palin and John McCain have chosen to slander Barack Obama, and apparently they have forgotten that both Palin and John McCain have far larger skeletons in their rather bulging closets. I personally think it's time that we explore some of those skeletons.
“The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government. And I won't be buried under their damn flag. I'll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home.”
That remark is a well known, and recorded quote from Joe Vogler, the founder of the Alaskan Independence Party. He also said:
“I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions.”
“My government is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand.”
The sole stated goal of the AIP is to secede from the union. To become another country. To separate from The United States of America.
This is the very same party of which Todd Palin was a member for seven years, or until 2002. That is likely about the time when Sarah Palin made a decision to run for governor of Alaska. Did Todd Palin leave the AIP in deference to his wife's political aspirations? I would be surprised if that were not the reason, especially given the timing. He was registered to vote as a member of the AIP, and he attended meetings, conventions and rallies.
In point of fact, Sarah Palin created video greetings/shout-outs for the AIP, as recently as last year. The videos are available on You Tube.
Update: According to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Sarah Palin played a greater role than I had been able to determine when I wrote this post:
“Palin's husband Todd remained an AIP party member from 1995 to 2002. Sarah can be described in McCarthy-era palaver as a "fellow traveler." While retaining her Republican registration, she attended the AIP's 1994 convention where the party called for a draft constitution to secede from the United States and create an independent nation of Alaska. The McCain Campaign has reluctantly acknowledged that she also attended AIP's 2000 Convention. She apparently found the experience so inspiring that she agreed to give a keynote address at the AIP's 2006 convention and she recorded a video greeting for this year's 2008 convention. In other words, this is not something that happened when she was eight!”
Update: I found further information posted on salon.com. Quote below:
Vogler wasn’t just a blowhard either. He put his secessionist ideas into action, working to build AIP membership to 20,000 — an impressive figure by Alaska standards — and to elect party member Walter Hickel as governor in 1990.
Vogler’s greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance before the United Nations to denounce United States “tyranny” before the entire world and to demand Alaska’s freedom. The Alaska secessionist had persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue.
That’s right … Iran. The Islamic dictatorship. The taker of American hostages. The rogue nation that McCain and Palin have excoriated Obama for suggesting we diplomatically engage. That Iran.
AIP leaders allege that Vogler, who was murdered that year by a fellow secessionist, was taken out by powerful forces in the U.S. before he could reach his U.N. platform. “The United States government would have been deeply embarrassed,” by Vogler’s U.N. speech, darkly suggests Clark. “And we can’t have that, can we?”
What does this say about the Palins? Are they traitors? Certainly, membership in the AIP could be termed unpatriotic. Todd Palin was a member for seven years. Actually, it is likely that membership in the AIP could be considered more than unpatriotic, and that the Palins are at the least guilty of consorting with traitors.
Far more relevant to the case of Todd and Sarah Palin than it was when she dishonestly claimed that Barack Obama had consorted with a terrorist.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has also written an article on this topic. You can read it here.
Videos related to Sarah Palin's relationship with the AIP below.
RELATED POSTS: ¶ = mos popular posts
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¶ Sarah Palin and a Special Place in Hell
¶ Sarah Palin Engendering Racial Hatred, Encouraging the Insanity on the Campaign Trail
¶ Sarah Palin Channeling Dick Cheney
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¶ Alaskan, Anne Kilkenny, Talks About McCain's Token Woman and it Isn't Pretty
| Another Lie from Sarah Palin: Alaska State Jet Was NOT Sold on eBay
¶ McCain and Palin: the Horrible Irony
¶ McCain Spokesman Can't Explain Why Sarah Palin is Qualified to be the President
| On the Issues Series; Sarah Palin's Grasp Thereof, Record, and Position
| Sarah Palin and John McCain Continue to Lie About the "bridge to nowhere" in New TV Ad
¶ Sarah Palin: McCain's Token Woman
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¶ Sarah Palin flip-flopped on the "bridge to nowhere"
¶ Sarah Palin Had a Very Bad Day Yesterday: a Recap
¶ Sarah Palin Looks Like Dick Cheney in a Dress to Me.......
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¶ Sarah Palin's Speech: My Reaction/Random Thoughts and
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¶ Sexism Has Not Got a Damn Thing to do With IT
| The Sarah Palin Interview with Charles Gibson: Excerpts-Reactions from Across the Net
¶ The Sarah Palin Interview With Charles Gibson: My Random Thoughts While Watching
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Here's an interview with the Chairman of the AKIP on Palin's Involvement. She had some very interesting things to say about Palin, the USA and death threats.
http://newsone.blackplanet.com/elections/akip-interview-on-palin/
Posted by: BarackMarley | 09 October 2008 at 04:42 PM
Barack.....thanks for the link. Good article! The posts I did on the AIP are at the following link: http://indiedesign.typepad.com/inspire_emotion/alaskaindependenceparty/
Posted by: Inspire | 15 October 2008 at 06:30 PM