Terrorists, Secessionists, Sarah Palin and Guilt by Association

I was appalled (and annoyed) this weekend by the newest wave of hypocrisy to come spewing perkily forth from the ever-smiling, ever-smirking, perfectly lipsticked mouth of Governor Palin. I'm actually starting to enjoy (for comedic reasons only) her interviews that are nothing more than disconnected prepositional phrases laced with stock GOP pablum. But accusing a sitting U.S. Senator of "palling around with terrorists" is crossing the line.

Finally informing us what she reads, Palin said that yesterday, while leafing through her daily copy of the New York Times, she came across a story on Senator Obama and William Ayers, the 1960s militant and member of the Weather Underground, the radical and violent anti-war group. And faster than you can say "Darn right!"she saw her opportunity - and her duty. Clearly, she must inform an unknowing nation that Obama is guilty by association with Ayers.

You, Governor, should know better. As I and many journalists have noted, you have strong ties to the Alaska Independence Party. While it was finally revealed that you technically were not a card-carrying member of the AIP, it was discovered that the First Dude, between his life of high adventure in helping you rule your northern fiefdom, his competitive snowmobiling and fishing, was a member of the organization for many years.

Yes, it is a free country. You get to associate or marry whomever you want, no matter how distasteful. Yes, Senator Obama served on a board with William Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground and now a college professor and activist in Chicago. However, Senator Obama has clearly distanced himself on numerous occasions from Professor Ayers' actions in the 1960's. This is a non-issue. Perhaps that is why you have decided to focus on it -- better a non-issue than having to learn and think about real problems that affect everyday people, like health care, the economy and education. Those, I suppose, are just too gosh darned hard.

All snarky comments aside, I do have a concern, Governor. A big one. You have never distanced yourself from a radical secessionist movement aimed at the breaking up of the Federal Union. You, Governor, have never stated a single time that the AIP is not only wrong-headed, but outright dangerous. Instead, you have videotaped welcoming comments for their annual conventions. Instead, you have a "close association" with a known former member of a radical, right-wing, well-armed and well-funded political party whose founder damned the United States as virulently as Reverend Wright did. While Reverend Wright enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame, and was rightly slammed for his vitriol by patriotic writers on both Left and Right, the AIP happily continued along its way, spewing anti-Americanism more in line with something Fidel Castro would say on a May Day celebration in Havana.

And you stood there Governor, like a caribou caught in the headlights. And you still stand there, but now with the audacity to stand at the top of your glass castle throwing rocks at other people. There is a big, big difference between a limited association with someone who had committed a crime 40 years before, and being married to a man who supports the destruction of the United States.

Who has the closest terrorist association, Governor? Who? If you believe Senator Obama to be the buddy of terrorists, don't make an unsubstantiated claim. Call the FBI and demand an investigation. If you are just grandstanding for a crowd of racist isolationists who fear the idea of a successful black man who worked his way up from nothing to become a success--a modern day Horatio Alger story if there is one--you should be deeply ashamed of yourself. Look to your own house before you start throwing rocks Governor. For who among us can cast the first stone? Seem like you can Sarah, seems like you are the only exception to the Scripture since about 32 AD.

I am a loyal American. When Election Day happens, and if the GOP wins, I want to know that the person who is literally a heart beat away from the Presidency is a person I can trust to do the right thing. Someone who will place national well-being above some perverted concept of secessionism, who will not associate with people who are worse, far worse, than a liberal college professor who was immensely foolish -- and wrong -- in the 1960s.

Yes Governor, I question your patriotism and your loyalty to this Republic. And I have a hell of a lot more evidence to question your loyalty to the Republic than you do to question Senator Obama's.

Comments

[IcyAlaskan]

This is Sarah Palin's "Welcome to the 2008 AIP Convention" video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrSYnq5eynA

She shouldn't be throwing stones at glass houses.

From the comments I've been reading, it looks like Sarah is beginning to speak at these rallys as though SHE is the presidential candidate.

She did say that she would only consider running as McCain's VP if it would be a fruitful position for Alaska.

Personally, I do not want my candidates to favor one state over another.

[johnwinner]

Probably the most obnoxious lie in Palin's remarks is that she got her information from a New York Times article that found the Ayres story wholly UNsubstantiated - which means she didn't even read it. But then she reads oh, every newspapr that's ever "been in front of" her, so I guess there never have been any. Is shew literate? Doubt it.

[WritusMaximus]

Material for Obama/Biden counter punch/tv ad.

[mymic1]

HuffPost's Pick

"If you are just grandstanding for a crowd of racist isolationists who fear the idea of a successful black man who worked his way up from nothing to become a success--a modern day Horatio Alger story if there is one--you should be deeply ashamed of yourself."...

she and a few million so called americans. whether we like it or not, reverend wright served this nation in two different uniforms of the armed forces of this nation. that means he fought for and has the right to say what he pleases about it.

"first dude" and his dipsttick bride advocated the split of the union. the MSM has had solid eveidence about these ties and never gave it the same attention as the reverend wright episode.

I challenge anyone to tell me that there isn't racism involved with this picture???

[Palmz]

Bingo!

[patiencediscipline]

Nice try. Remember spouses are off-limits.

No one really thinks our next President's (Obama's) association with Ayres is
"unsubstantiated". C'mon.

Let's be fair, Ayres re-asserted his old ways on 11 Sep 2001.

If we want Obama for President, then let's accept him for who he is and call it good.

[pickleweedpete]

Obama's got a "pastor problem"? Well, so does Palin. And both have past "connections" to political extremists...! Yes, c'mon. Neither Obama or Palin is a terrorist and I really think we ought to move on to more important matters.

[Wiserone]

Once again, let's not be so "quick" to just discount Todd Palin. Remember, how 'y all were soooooo...­.concerned if Hillary would have gotten the nomination as to what would Bill be doing? I'm a hell of a lot MORE concerned with having "Traitor Todd" roaming halls of the White House.

[eMJayy]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks4-2008sep04,0,5675222.column

Everyone needs to read this.

Palin is the riskiest candidate in history

- Insignificant educational background at a time when we need someone who knows enough to deal with complex problems;
-extremely limited experience;
-extreme limitations in her knowledge and understanding of government and the world; -
-very strong ties to AIP secessionist group (literally 'married' into the group),
-extremely strong ties to a Kenyan witch hunting pastor who routinely victimizes innocent women out of fear and suspicion;
-a tendency to unethical behavior in public office;
-openly lying on the platform despite claiming to be a christian.

And this is just some of the stuff we know after one month of limited public vetting.

What will people say when her witch hunting pastor Muthee begins making regular visits to Palin's VP office? That's change we don't need or want. There's a small town in Alaska that's missing one idiot.

[Wiserone]

Or, how about "Traitor Todd" roaming the halls of the White House? The guest list of the Palin's would sure be interesting at any official White House dinner, now wouldn't it?

[iv64]

So she read the NY Times. Must be the 1st time, she clearly missed what the article was about.

[BarackMarley]

Here's an interview with AKIP Chairman Lynette Clark on Palin's Involvement
http://newsone.blackplanet.com/elections/akip-interview-on-palin/

[thecomedyguy]

CNN Fact checking report:

In the 1960s, Ayers was a founding member of the radical Weather Underground group that carried out a string of bombings of federal buildings, including the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol, in protest against the Vietnam War. The now-defunct group was labeled a "domestic terrorist group" by the FBI, and Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn — also a Weather Underground member — spent 10 years as fugitives in the 1970s. Federal charges against them were dropped due to FBI misconduct in gathering evidence against them, and they resurfaced in 1980. Both Ayers and Dohrn ultimately became university professors in Chicago, with Ayers, 63, now an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Obama's Chicago home is in the same neighborhood where Ayers and Dohrn live. Beginning in 1995, Ayers and Obama worked with the non-profit Chicago Annenberg Challenge on a huge school improvement project. The Annenberg Challenge was for cities to compete for $50 million grants to improve public education. Ayers fought to bring the grant to Chicago, and Obama was recruited onto the board. Also from 1999 through 2001 both were board members on the Woods Fund, a charitable foundation that gave money to various causes, including the Trinity United Church that Obama attended and Northwestern University Law Schools' Children and Family Justice Center, where Dohrn worked.

CNN's review of project records found nothing suggesting anything inappropriate in the volunteer projects in which the two men were involved.

[DuPageDem]

Sarah Lipstick put in time as an abortion clinic blocker. Some of her fellow blockers took it a notch and shot up or bombed clinics. They are terrorists, plain and simple. So, if Obama is responsible for the actions of the Weather Underground which took place when he was a child, than why isn't Palin responsible for the actions of anti-abortion terrorists?

If memory serves, the Weathermen were responsible for a bank robbery and a bombing, and disappeared about 40 years ago. The clinic shooters & bombers have racked up a much higher death toll, much more recently, and their ilk are still out there. Which group is a greater danger to more Americans?

[wadenelson1]

You're confusing the SLA (Patty Hearst) with the Weathermen. The Weathermen robbed no banks.

No one was killed by bombs placed by the Weathermen. A couple of the Weathermen themselves died constructing one.

[JulieSA]

"On October 20, 1981 the Weather Underground combined forces with the Black Liberation Army to rob a Brink's armored truck. Two policemen and a Brink's guard were killed. The Black Liberation Army members Jeral Wayne Williams (aka Mutulu Shakur), Donald Weems (aka Kuwasi Balagoon), Samuel Smith and Nathaniel Burns (aka Sekou Odinga), Cecilio "Chui" Ferguson, Samuel Brown (aka Solomon Bouines) with five members of the Weather Underground (David Gilbert, Samuel Brown, Judith Alice Clark, Kathy Boudin, and Marilyn Buck) stole $1.6 million from a Brink's armored car at the Nanuet Mall, in Nanuet, New York. All the perpertrators were eventually captured and tried. Kathy Boudin's child with David Gilbert, Chesa, was raised to adulthood by Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, while she was in prison."

Boudin was pardoned by Pres. Clinton when he had the going-out-­of-busines­s pardon sale.

[VentingVietVet]

And her big speech today is in Clearwater, Florida -- "company town" of the Church of Scientology. I'm thinking Sarah is speaking to her base. I can only conclude that Scientologists love Sarah and Sarah loves Scientology. Palintology = Scientology.

[jcorrington]

Good article, Robert, well said. She will probly get her witch doctor after you now!

[judesedit]

Robert Mackey, please go on cable television and bring this great point out so the country gets it. Palin and McCain are "country last"

[rucognizant]

OH CRAP!
Watching HER campaign inFLa ( wearing virginal white).
She just "choked up"Because of the crowd's ADULATION OF HER!
Now she can claim to have feelings just like Joe Biden!
Somebody tackle her and send her to the bench!

[StPeteDoc]

Come on, now? Did anyone really expect anything different from Sarah Palin and the Republican Party? When you're running out of time, when you're lacking on fresh thinking and ideas, when you can't substantively address the issues or propose pragmatic solutions to them, and when you're trailing in the polls, you have to resort to the politics of the absurd in order to jump-start the campaign. Let's hope that the American voters are smarter than this and can see through this smoke-screen that was designed simply to mask the shortcomings and failings of the policy platform proposed by McCain. Obviously, Governor Palin forgot that old adage - if you live in a glass house, it's probably not too wise to throw stones. My unsolicited advice to her - make sure that your own house is in order before casting aspersions on how someone else runs theirs.

[tao53nyc]

More from the AIP website:

"The platform of the AIP is, as one would expect, centered on Alaskan issues. Although it is widely thought to be a secessionist movement, the Party makes great effort to emphasize that its primary goal is merely a vote on secession, something that Party advocates say Alaskans were denied during the founding of the state. A plebiscite was, in fact, held in Alaska at the state's inception in 1958, but AIP members argue that voting was corrupt and that residents were not given the proper choice between statehood, commonwealth status, or complete separation -- something they say has been granted to other U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico.

Ideologically, the AIP is considered to be a hybrid of conservative Republicanism, populism and libertarianism."

I have no problems at all with any of this! They're just claiming that "democracy" was not properly served in the formation of Alaska statehood, and they want to correct this. If they are "radical secessionists" then so am I. Just what are you afraid of?

[HypocrisyAlarm]

I'm afraid of radicals like you. That's whom I'm afraid of.

[tao53nyc]

"Radicals like me"??? You haven't a clue what you're talking about. I've never bombed either an abortion clinic OR an army recruiting center. As a libertarian, I believe in the "Non-aggression principle", i.e., no initiation of violence or fraud in seeking one's political or social goals. If the AIP advocated violence, I'd be the first to denounce them. They do not. Despite the pronouncement above about Vogler, he's long dead, and I've seen no evidence that his followers are willing to follow in his footsteps. As they only average about 5% at the polls, and are limited to one state in what influence they have, I'd say it's a tempest in a teapot. Government is not a religion. True patriots love their country - but realize that governments come and go. Sam Adams understood that.

I voted for Ron Paul in the primaries, and will write him in in November. That's about as "radical" as I get, pal. You need to get over your blind fear of those you can't/won't understand. Protection of Constituti­onally-gua­ranteed free expression also means protecting expression we may find unsettling or even repulsive. If that's good enough for Noam Chomsky, it should be good enough for you.

[martinspringfield]

Alaska wasn't a real state in the sense of "nation" - the way that the 13 colonies, Hawaii, Texas, and Northern California were. LIke much of the "self-made" American West, it was paid for wholesale by American taxpayers (Seward's Folly, 1867, remember?), as was almost all of its development. To this day it's a relative welfare state subsidized by the other states, and Sarah Palin was looking for more government handouts every day; in fact, that was pretty much her job description as governor of Alaska.

To suggest secession then is to suggest theft from American taxpayers. We've seen way too much of that already. You can't be a libertarian about property you don't actually own.

[DuPageDem]

There's nothing wrong with Alaskan rebels advocating for their views. That's not the point. The point is, the Republican candidate for VP is one of them. Voters need to know that. Given the corporate media's decision to run the Rev. Wright clips ad nauseum, why hasn't Palin's associaiton with these kooks gotten the same treatment?

Oh, and if you believe Drill Baby Drill, why would you advocate for Alaska secession? Wouldn't that just put oil into the hands of another enemy of America? Or is your plan for the US to invade and occupy after they break away?

[hauksdottir]

"Just what are you afraid of?"

Vogler, the founder of the AKIP, was murdered while buying plastic explosives on the black market. This is during the same period of time that Kaczynski was mailing his packages. Members of the party sympathized with McVeigh. Vogler was violent and extremist and determined to wrest Alaska away from the United States. Ordinary people don't have any reason to buy or use plastic explosives, and certainly not illegally! Were the members of the AKIP willing to blow up federal buildings, or simply target individuals???

Palin's glittery oversized flag pin is a distraction... wearing it does not make her a patriotic American. We ought to be wary of hypocrites. Her husband certainly isn't patriotic, perhaps with better reason (he is part native, she just wants the oil wealth). She claims Alaska First and Alaska Always! She wants to move the capital... look at where she is putting all those roads, all that construction. What are her plans? I wonder how she'll be crowned... Mother of her Country? Palin addressed the party THIS YEAR, so this isn't ancient history.

With the blessing of her witch hunter and all that anointing and babbling, I shudder to think of what sort of theocracy they'll establish up there.

The worst part is that if Alaska gets to break free, expect the good ol' boys in Alabama and Georgia to agitate for independence, too. All those rednecks rallying each other.