Sarah Palin = Alaskan Secessionist?

[nskripchun]

Interesting... so is it considered putting "Country First" when you want to make your home state leave the Union and become its own country?

http://www.eyesonobama.com/blog/content/id_29093/title_Sarah-Palin-Was-An-Alaskan-Secessionist/

From an Obama news blog:

Folks, this is the trifecta. First, there’s Troopergate. Now they admit that their oldest daughter is pregnant (and 17). The Palin family has touted their values, such as abstinence before marriage, and has leveraged their 5 photogenic children for political gain. Just like with John Edwards, it’s not the act, but the hypocrisy. But folks, we’ve hit the mother lode.

ABC’s Jake Tapper is reporting that from 1994 to 1996 that Sarah Palin and her husband were members of the Alaskan Independence Party. Why would this be an issue? Well, one of the goals of the party is to reexamine the statehood of Alaska. Put another way, Sarah Palin was a secessionist. Here are some excerpts from the AIP Platform:

seek the complete repatriation of the public lands, held by the federal government, to the state and people of Alaska in conformance with Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17, of the federal constitution ... To prohibit all bureaucratic regulations and judicial rulings purporting to have the effect of law, except that which shall be approved by the elected legislature ...

While it’s not against the law, I can’t imagine our VP being so un-American as to have once wanted to remove her home state from our Union. As McCain said about Hurricane Gustav, this issue transcends politics. This is about patriotism. McCain’s motto is “Country First”. I’d like to know which country Sarah Palin is referring to.

If the Republicans can make an issue of Michelle Obama’s “really proud of America” comments, or for that matter the comments of Barack Obama’s former pastor, this is fair game. More importantly, this is far worse than the charges against the Obamas and puts those criticisms into context. Simply put, Sarah Palin is unfit to be the next VP.

John McCain’s campaign is in danger of becoming infected with this issue if they don’t move fast to remove her from the ticket. If she stays, not even John McCain’s sacrifices for his country, profound as they are, will be able to shield him from the coming onslaught. Given his biography, it is McCain who should be the most appalled by this. Sarah Palin’s membership in this separatist group spits in the face of those who risked their lives for every state and every person in our great nation. Sarah Palin’s inclusion in this group is an affront to John McCain.

SARAH PALIN MUST GO.

[Flipsoul]

Growing up in Alaska, I do not think that this is as big of a deal as people make of it.

There was a point in time, where many Alaskans felt that their representation in the US government was absolutely terrible. That basically, we were just walked all over in policies and etc. Now, what I do not recall, was what these policies were that were reinforcing the Alaskan Independence Party, but I do believe that it dealt largely with Natural Resources.

I see it as an action to making the Alaskan voice heard. I've never thought of it as a completely secessionist guild. But there were a lot of jokes being thrown around about Alaskan becomming part of Canada.

My big question is, with the Alaskan Independence Party being labeled as a secessionist organization, does this mean that Palin will not have access to any classified information as if she were to at one point play the role of Commander & Chief? That would just be awful. [As a civil servant myself, one of the questions for our background check on security clearance is: Have you even been a member of a secessionist organization? And as far as I know, if you can say yes, you wouldn't be granted even an Interim Security Clearance, or conduct your full background evaluation]