Who Are John McCain and Sarah Palin?

The fear mongers and race baiters are rearing their ugly heads again. Repeatedly, speakers at McCain-Palin rallies -- one in a sheriff's uniform -- rile up their base by referring to the Democratic presidential candidate as Barack Hussein Obama. At the same time John McCain and Sarah Palin crassly accuse Obama of "palling around with terrorists" even though they are perfectly aware that this incendiary charge is blatantly false. By now, everyone with a pulse knows that Senator Obama has only had the most superficial contacts with Bill Ayers, a founder of the radical Weathermen of the late 1960s and early 1970s, who had become a respected Chicago educator long before the two first crossed paths. McCain and Palin also know, but somehow never bother to mention, that Obama has called Ayers "somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8."

A quick observation about names. As I first wrote more than six months ago, the idiots among us who consider someone's given name to be an indication of anything, let alone political ideology, should bear in mind that there are no more American, patriotic, motherhood and apple pie names than George (Washington), (Abraham) Lincoln and (Norman) Rockwell. Put them together, however, and you get George Lincoln Rockwell, the notorious long-time leader of the American Nazi party.

More to the point, if McCain and Palin insist on making past relationships a part of this campaign, they should be forced to answer some questions about their own murky associations with questionable political parties, groups and individuals.

Lynnette Clark, chairwoman of the extreme right wing, secessionist Alaska Independence Party, first met Governor Sarah Palin at the AIP's 2006 convention. Clark recently told David Talbot of Salon.com that Palin "impressed me so much... 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.'"

Joe Vogler, the founder of the Alaska Independence Party, had pronounced political views. His nuggets of wisdom, featured prominently on the AIP's website, include "I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions," and "The problem with you John Birchers is that you are too damn liberal!"

Earlier this year, Palin told the most recent AIP convention to "keep up the good work." That's nice. The Republican vice presidential candidate encourages a party whose principal goal is a statewide vote on whether Alaska should secede from the United States, and whose founder had "no use for America or her damned institutions," and who considered the John Birch Society to be "too damn liberal." Apparently, this does not bother the usually patriotic John McCain. Go figure.

But wait, there's more. Salon.com has just published an article by Max Blumenthal and David Neiwert, "Meet Sarah Palin's radical right-wing pals," that lays out in detail Palin's involvement with leading members of the AIP, and how they helped launch her political career. And we all know Sarah Palin's husband Todd was a member of the AIP for seven years, from 1995 until 2002. Doesn't that mean that she has been more than "palling around" with an erstwhile member of an anti-American political group?

Or what about John McCain's involvement with the reactionary U.S. Council for World Freedom? The head of the Republican ticket joined its advisory board in 1982, after the Anti-Defamation League had denounced the organization's parent organization, the World Anti-Communist League, as "a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racists and anti-Semites." According to Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post, the Council for World Freedom was "linked to ultra-rightwing death squads in Central America." McCain was prominently listed on the organization's letterhead for several years. The McCain campaign claims that he resigned from the CWP's advisory board in 1984, but McCain attended the group's Freedom Fighter of the Year award ceremony on October 3, 1985. What unsavory characters were at that event, and did McCain "pal around" with them? This is every bit as relevant (or irrelevant) as pinpointing when Barack Obama first learned that Bill Ayers had been a radical.

And by the way, why have McCain and Palin never criticized Walter Annenberg, the Republican billionaire and Richard Nixon's Ambassador to Great Britain for funding the Chicago educational program with which Ayers was involved? Could it possibly be because Annenberg's widow is a McCain supporter? Barack Obama, after all, only became chairman of the board that oversaw the distribution of Annenberg Chicago Challenge after the Republican Annenberg had legitimized the Ayers-connected projected to the tune of more than $49 million.

I hope that John McCain and Sarah Palin will see the light, have an epiphany as it were, and spend the remaining weeks of the presidential campaign discussing the tanking economy. My friend Gary Rosenblatt, the publisher and editor of New York's Jewish Week, is right when he decries what he calls the prevailing "attack politics mentality." But the Republicans have always relied on Democrats remaining on the high road in the face of gutter tactics. If the GOP swift boaters continue to disparage Barack Obama's character, then McCain's past relationships with supporters of paramilitary death squads and Palin's secessionist proclivities become fair game.

Menachem Rosensaft is a lawyer in New York City.

Comments

[Shiral]

Excellent Article, Menachem! If they're going to air other people's dirty laundry, they should take a look at their own clothes lines, first. Todd and Sarah Palin were adults at the time of their very recent association with the AIP. She wants more power as VP than Dick Cheney. We the people have a right to know what she believes. And most of us here in the lower 48 find the John Birch society a bit too far right for OUR comfort.

Sarah Palin and John McCain have become mad, bad and dangerous to know. After this election, I hope she returns to Alaska with her tail between her legs, to be welcomed by a lot of Alaskans wondering how they can get her gubernatorial election recalled.

[BarackMarley]

Good Call on the AKIP. Here's an interview with Lynette Clark, Their Chairman
http://newsone.blackplanet.com/elections/akip-interview-on-palin/

[Ohene]

Rosensaft, thank you for this article. The past is relevant? Yes. Which of the candidate left his handicapped wife, when she needed him most, to marry a moneyed woman? And the present matters too. What does this campaign reveal about the character of McCain? He picked a semi-literate as his VP to please the mob. Now his rallies have turned into HATE FEASTS. Frank Schaeffer, the son Francis Schaeffer who for years was the theological teacher of American fundamentalism, today wrote McCain these words:
"John McCain, you're walking a perilous line. If you do not stand up for all that is good in America and declare that Senator Obama is a patriot, fit for office, and denounce your hate-filled supporters when they scream out "Terrorist" or "Kill him," history will hold you responsible for all that follows.
John McCain and Sarah Palin, you are playing with fire, and you know it. You are unleashing the monster of American hatred and prejudice, to the peril of all of us. You are doing this in wartime. You are doing this as our economy collapses. You are doing this in a country with a history of assassinat­ions."

[solsenz]

If he has nothing but negative ads now with all that is going on, that should speak volumns to voters! If he has nothing for solutions now, what will be left when he gets into office? Just alot of useless negativity and nothing to help everyday americans. Fear & negative attacks are all ABSTRACT, but the Economy, the Environment, Jobs, and Inflation are CONCRETE things that you can either affect positively or negatively. We need action, not more hot air or worthless wars that have obviously assisted in bankrupting this nation! The American people are not stupid like McCain/Palin assume.

[ericmiami]

So many good Republicans are being tainted by McCain and Palin. We need to ignore that and look forward to finding ways to work together under President Obama.

[troika]

I am with you on this. I am sure that there is a lot of rage in the republican party especially among the conservatives for the nomination of Palin. She certainly is not qualified nor has the experience. She is the governor of a small state (by population) where the only commodities are oil and gas. There are so many women in the republican party with more qualifications, experience and competency who could have been nominated. This woman spews hatred, arrogance and incompetence in her speeches. At this juncture we do not need a McCain/Palin ticket who will only further divide this country. McCain has started his character assassination and there are the millions who will blindly nod their heads to whatever he utters and keep saying YES. They do desperate things at desperate times and we don't need any more incompetency than we have already had for the last (almost) eight years.need We need a president who can lead us through these tough times. On Nov. 4th please vote for Obama/Biden ticket.

[RolandThau]

Mr. Rosensaft.
Bravo!!! Your stirring and compelling essay should be distributed and read to every Florida bubba and to our coreligionists along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn and every similar enclave everywhere in America.

Your former boss, the late and lamented United States District Judge Whitman Knapp, would be proud of you.

[STEW2949]

Like so many liberal minded people I am amazed at the election politics that tarnish our democracy and good standing in the world. What price honor? What price integrity? We know the answers to these.....­..win at any cost, even if we incite the mob and reap a whirlwind that would threaten our very way of life! I would like to see government revitalize our campaign system. Shorter race......­restrictio­ns on advertisin­g.......sc­heduled public TV debates that keep the candidates honest and to the point. By the way Menachem, which is a wonderful name, just as is Barack, I would like to understand how any experienced and qualified politician could view Sarah Palin as having the potential and ability to be a Governor, let alone President! It defies imagination. Thank you for your post.

[hado]

Menachem, are you a neophyte? Perhaps I am. Arab mob screaming “Itbakh al Yahoud” (Slaughter the Jews) on Yom Kippur in the Israeli - Arab town of Acre, as they smashed and looted Jewish shops; US Cobra gunships are pledged to Lebanon against the Syrian invasion threat; Russian nuclear missile cruiser at Syrian ports and dozens of nuclear bombers exercise firing live cruise missiles near Alaska; Iran achieved a four-front missile command breakthrough on nuclear missile warheads; Suicide bombers are on a global rise and you are surprised why people are concerned about Obama's ability to handle all of the above?! Please Menachem, let me respectfully remind you of Arthur Neville Chamberlain and the consequences of his appeasement policies. So if you know, please tell us who is the real Barack Hussein Obama? Pasadena,CA