The Palins' are apPalin'

Palin's Attack On Obama's Patriotism Legitimizes Questions About The Palins'
Association With Group Founded By America-Hating Secessionist
By Greg Sargent - October 4, 2008, 4:55PM

Sarah Palin attacked Obama's patriotism today over his association with
former Weatherman Bill Ayers -- a move that makes it perfectly legitimate to
raise questions about the Palins' associations with a group founded by an
Alaska secessionist who once professed his "hatred for the American
government" and cursed our "damn flag."

In Colorado today, Palin seized on the big front-page New York Times story
about Ayers and Obama, which concludes that the two men "do not appear to
have been close," to launch her most vicious attack yet on the Illinois
Senator -- a harbinger of what's to come.

"This is not a man who sees America as you and I do -- as the greatest force
for good in the world," Palin said. "This is someone who sees America as
imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own
country."

If Palin is going to say this, it is now perfectly legitimate to point out
that she repeatedly courted a secessionist group founded by someone who
openly professed hatred of the American government, cursed our flag, and
wanted to secede from the Union. Sarah's husband, Todd Palin, was a member
of this group, which continues to venerate that founder to this day, for
years.

As you already know, the group is the Alaska Independence Party, which sees
as its ultimate goal seceding from the union. Todd was a member, with a
brief exception, from 1995 until 2002, according to the Division of
Elections in Alaska.

And though Sarah Palin herself was apparently not a member of this group,
there's no doubt that she repeatedly courted this secessionist organization
over the years. In 1994, Palin attended the group's annual convention,
according to witnesses who spoke to ABC News' Jake Tapper. The McCain
campaign has confirmed she visited the group's 2000 convention, and she
addressed its convention this year, as an incumbent governor whose oath of
office includes upholding the Constitution of the United States.

The founder of the AIP was a man named Joe Vogler. Here's what he had to say
in a 1991 interview, only a few years before Palin attended its convention:
"The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the
American government."

He also said this: "And I won't be buried under their damn flag. I'll be
buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my
bones home."

Vogler has also said: "I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for
America or her damned institutions."

McCain apologists will argue that Sarah Palin was not a member of this
group. But Obama wasn't a member of any Ayers anti-American group, either.
And again, Palin repeatedly courted the AIP, and her husband was a member
for years.

The main takeaway from today's Times story is that Obama's ties to Ayers
are, if anything, less substantial than commonly alleged. So if the Ayers
association means Obama "palled around" with "terrorists," as Palin put it
today, surely Palin can be said to have "palled around" with a secessionist
party whose founder openly professed hatred of America.

If Palin is going to directly question Obama's patriotism over his
association Ayers, surely all these facts are now fair game and freshly
relevant.