Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Was Palin a Member of a Third Party?


As Governor Palin addressed the 2008 Alaskan Independence Party Convention. There are reports that she attended the 1994 convention as an AIP member.
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UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE. The NY Times has issued a correction. It now appears that husband Todd Palin was a member of the AIP, but the reports that Sarah Palin was a member are unsubstantiated.
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John McCain is counting on Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin to draw voters to his ticket. A ticket that is built on an independent-minded, reformist image. That image may be closer to reality than some Republican operatives are comfortable with when it comes to Palin. ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper cites many Alaskan observers who say that Todd and Sarah Palin got their political start as members of the Alaskan Independent Party in 1994. Palin switched to the Republican ticket by her 1996 run for Mayor of Wasilla.

The Alaskan Independent Party is called a "fringe" party by Tapper, but in the context of the times that is hardly fair. Walter Hinckel, a former Republican Governor, was elected Governor of Alaska on the AIP ticket in 1990, only four years from the Palin's involvement. Since that time the party has not been able to replicate that success, but at the time it must have seemed like a viable alternative to the corrupt Alaskan Republican establishment that Palin later took on from within the party.

The AIP was also described as "secessionist", a description that Tapper later points out is not really accurate. There is no doubt they are a states-rights party, and that they want the Federal Government to turn over its vast Alaskan holdings to the state. Their platform most closely lines up with the Constitution Party. In fact, since 2004 the Alaskan Independent Party has been the state affiliate of the national Constitution Party.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mark,
This info is just one more reason I am hopeful that there might just be a future for her. Besides her ideology, what most endears her to me is that she doesn't seem to be another career politian with too much ambition. It appears she got into politics for the right reasons & still hasn't lost touch with her roots. Oh! And the elite establishment distrusts her because she's not in the club & doesn't owe them anything. If she can get in there & get some experiance under her belt & make an impression on the public..... we may just have us a Madame President in the making........

8:15 AM, September 02, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

God truly works in mysterious ways. This woman could sneak into the presidency via the back door if McCain is unable to complete his term (fingers crossed). If so, she could go a long way to change the overall direction of the country.

I was depressed when McCain won the nomination. Now at least there is a glimmer of hope on the horizen (not that I'm voting for McCain but I think he'll win anyway).

10:51 AM, September 02, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We should pray for Sarah Palin and family. The establishment will attempt to corrupt, and if that fails attempt to destroy.

I am not going to vote for McCain either, especially not in the hopes he will die- however I still maintain that he is constitutionally ineligible for office. Still, she may be closer to me (though still distant) than any P or VP since Reagan.

6:22 PM, September 02, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sarah and Secession

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/022623.html

10:22 PM, September 02, 2008  

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