Secessionist Palin Story: McCain Camp Pushes Back

Last night, ABC's Jake Tapper reported that officials of a fringe Alaska party once counted Sarah Palin as a member:

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."

John McCain's campaign reports of her membership in AIP "smears," blaming them on Barack Obama's campaign and Daily Kos. They also sent around Palin's voter registration document, showing her to have been a registered Republican since 1982.

However, TPMmuckraker reports that Palin's husband's affiliation with the group can't be disputed:

This afternoon, the director of Division of Elections in Alaska, Gail Fenumiai, told TPMmuckraker that Todd Palin registered in October 1995 to the Alaska Independence Party, a radical group that advocates for Alaskan secession from the United States.

Besides a short period of a few months in 2000 when he changed his registration to undeclared, Todd Palin remained a registered member of AIP until July 2002 when he registered again as an undeclared voter.

And today, ABC reports that Sarah Palin did attend the 1994 Alaska Independence Party convention:

As part of their pushback against the charges of Lynette and Dexter Clark of the AIP, the McCain campaign says that Palin did not even attend the AIP convention in Wasilla in 1994.

But another former AIP official -- Mark Chryson, chairman of the AIP from 1995 to 2002 -- tells ABC News that "Palin was at the convention in 1994. She was there."

And AIP's Lynette Clark still insists that the governor was a member. "This is like a cat covering up crap in its litter box," she said.

Comments

[Texas4Obama]

We'll be seeing the republican's running around trying to cover up all sorts of things!

[tel8034]

Maybe McCain is RIGHT, and it was actually a LOOK-A-LIKE Palin and her husband who were AIP members and who attended the AIP conventions.

Or maybe Alaskans are ALL blind or partially blind so they couldn't see who was really at the conventionS.

AIP's Lynette Clark was spot on when she said "THIS IS LIKE A CAT COVERING UP CRAP IN IT'S LITTER BOX".

[Chillinout]

This really needs to be framed as a patriotism issue. How can she be patriotic of the US when she wants to secede? She is a patriot alright. To Alaska only.

[blueshield]

Check the Federal earmarks she landed last year: nearly $500,000,000. And that's $100,000,000 more than any other state in the country, despite Alaska having a population less than the city of Chicago.

This year she's cutting back - only requesting $197,000,000 in earmarks. Why the cutback? Karen Rehfield, her budget chief said: "The state must be sensitive to a national perception that Alaska has a lot of money and shouldn't always be asking for so much from the federal treasury."

This money is our tax dollars, paid to Alaska, requested and accepted by Palin, as earmarks, which Mc.Cain claims she opposes.

[Manchurian]

And this is the state with so much oil money that they give each resident a fat check every year. Just because it was in the "Simpsons" movie doesn't mean it isn't true...

[zedthewizard]

can't you be a member of this group, yet register for voting separetly?

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

You are the smartest kid in class today.

[NYC07]

I don't know, we could check with other unpatriotic groups like... hum ... Communists, The FLAN , Any people still alive who were members of the American Nazi Party , and get their opinion if they felt their members voted along party lines .

[Texas4Obama]

Part of what the AIP pushes is INFILTRATING MAJOR PARTIES in order to gain control.
There is a video on DailyKos with the president of AIP saying that.
Palin supports the goals of AIP !

[dsmyre]

This is so bizarre. It reads like the plot of some late-night movie.
I would change the channel but it's real.

[Ironfox]

Sure, if you're a covert traitor.

[WhoIsJohnGalt42]

we are way way way down the rabbit hole here. language means nothing. the media just regurgitates spin when it isn't just sitting back and letting politicians soapbox the spin directly. the TRUTH is she recorded video greetings for the AIP as governor. She attended AIP gatherings in her early political career. Her husband was a registered member until 2002. these are all documented facts. what do they mean? that is for individuals to decide but no informed decision can be made if the truth is obfuscated with half-truths and spin and outright lies. of course this is why the McCain camp spends so much time trying to do it. they don't anyone to know the truth they want people to know the 'truth' as they define it. why else did they pick a "tabula rasa" as a VP. they thought they could completely control defining who she was. "maverick" "reformer" "anti-corruption" but they underestimated technology and so the truth has been discovered but if the MSM continues to allow half-truths to go unquestioned without confronting them none of the facts will matter. go to CNN and support Campbell Brown for standing up to McCain Rep when he tried to spin the ANG = CIC bullsh#t. McCain pulled out of Larry King to "punish" them. Go tell them it was nice to see them actually do their jobs for once and to keep it up and not cave.

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form4.html?127

[AnnieinOR]

And the fact that she's married to a radical is nothing? Are these people insane? They say Obama is linked to a guy from the 60's and this woman is MARRIED to the MOB... (metaphorically)

[revhillbilly]

if you want to read something entertaining, true or not who knows.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2000-02-17/news/haunted-by-spirits

[Biracial1]

I thought you were guilty by association?

[eridees]

My thoughts exactly!

[revhillbilly]

Didn't you know, that only applies to democrats and third party members silly.

[Xenopus]

So she was registered as a Republican­.....so what? She can still be also a member of the AIP since it isn't a recognized governmental party. That is like saying I am registered as a Democrat so I can't be a member of University Staff for America (USA). One doesn't prevent the other one. Anyway, how do we know those registration cards as a Republican are authentic -- it seems they had them to show awfully quick.

[openhand]

Hello, she sent them a welcome note on video as governor..­. wake up america...­. funny though, I think it's pretty coll she did it though, scores with me.

[lvogt]

Talk about hating America! Enough to want to take her old state out which is what the founder of the Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln, fought the civil war to prevent.

Sure it's 'Country FIrst" but that country would be Alaska.

[SherryIndianapolis]

"And AIP's Lynette Clark still insists that the governor was a member. "This is like a cat covering up crap in its litter box," she said."

Now ain't that the line.....t­oo funny and too accurate!!

[TheRealMacDaddy]

Well here is the Vice Chair of the AIP saying Sarah Palin was a AIP member until she became Mayor of Wasilla. Also this is the abriged version so you don't have to watch 8 minutes of stuff. But the 8 minute video has alot of back ground on the beliefs of these secessionists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE8A3lsydzQ&feature=related

Pass this around before McCain has it scrubbed off the net!

[SurrealPumpkin]

It's scrubbed.

[armadillious2002]

Oh well that's different. Her husband was a member and though she attended the meetings with him and spoke at their convention she was not involved with them in any way. LMAO

[juevosrancheros]

"I said 'thanks but no thanks' to crap in my litter box." - S.Palin

[NatteringNabobs]

This is more news in a week than I've ever seen...my head is spinning. Well just like the spin from old' Johnny "Country First" McCain!

LMMFAO