Cross-Posted at my blog (new address). The party of Lincoln nominated a secessionist for Vice President? Somewhere in Springfield, the Nation's best President is weeping.
John McCain, a person who had the gumption to imply that his opponent was unpatriotic with his "country first" slogan, is apparently a hypocrite. In John McCain's judgment, the person best suited to be President were something to happen to McCain, is a secessionist, book-banning, pro-pork right-wing nut from Alaska.
Sarah Palin was once, while a City Councilor in Wasilla, Alaska, a Member of the Alaskan Independence Party. This party is the province of right-wing nuts who think that the 50th State has the right to secede from the United States. In a great irony, the party's slogan is "Alaska First." The London Telegraph describes the extremism that Sarah Palin once subscribed to:
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".
Somewhere in Mississippi, one of the worst Americans of all time, a man who put his personal beliefs above that of his country, is smiling. The presence of a secessionist on a major party's ticket, must make the ghost of Jefferson Davis proud. Meanwhile, somewhere in Illinois, the spirit of this country's greatest President--the spirit of a person who sacrificed everything for the concept of this country's sacred union--is depressed. The ghost of Abraham Lincoln is probably trying to switch parties at the moment.
Not that it can get worse than being a pro-secessionist fool. But it's also clear that Sarah Palin has no understanding of the Constitution or the law. Shortly after Palin took on the awesome responsibilities of the Mayorship of Wasilla, Alaska, she went to the library. Palin wasn't checking out books for her own intellectual development; instead, Sarah Palin--a person who says she would uphold the Constitution of hte United States if she's elected to the Vice Presidency--was trying to ban books at the behest of her friends. Time Magazine reports:
Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving "full support" to the mayor
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Sarah Palin once said, "If it was good enough for the founding father's, it is good enough for me." She said this in reference to the Pledge of Allegiance--something that was written a full 116 years after the founding fathers Declared Independence in Philadelphia. However, if the First Amendment--something designed to protect ideas the majority finds abhorrent--was good enough for the Founding Fathers, it should be good enough for Governor Sarah Palin too.
Then again, we don't really know if Sarah Palin ever means what she says. In her introductory speech to the nation, she said that she told Alaska's Congressional Delegation, "Thanks, but no thanks to the bridge to no where." The Anchorage Daily News decided to report a novel thing on this subject: the facts. It turns out that Palin campaigned in support of the bridge in 2006, and even used state funds to build the access road to the "bridge to no where." The Daily News reports:
But Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.
The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them "nowhere." They're still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin's subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects -- and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines.
"I think that's when the campaign for national office began," said Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Weinstein noted, the state is continuing to build a road on Gravina Island to an empty beach where the bridge would have gone -- because federal money for the access road, unlike the bridge money, would have otherwise been returned to the federal government.
It's clear that what is best for the country, the community, or the State of Alaska takes a back seat to Sarah Palin's limitless ambition. Her record indicates a person who is devoid of principle. Her record shows a politician who sees the constitution as little more than a piece of paper that grants them great power. Her record shows a disrespect for the awesome powers of government. Her record shows a disrespect for the freedoms that many Americans hold dear. Her record indicates she's a George W. Bush clone. In Barack Obama's words, "Enough of this!" That John McCain thinks Sarah Palin is the person other than himself most qualified to serve as President raises serious questions about McCain's judgment, and his fitness for the Presidency.