September 02, 2008
Independence for Alaska?
I guess we know where that star in the McCain logo came from:
Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, was once a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, its officials have said.News of Mrs Palin's former membership comes as the latest in a string of potentially embarrassing disclosures about her past.
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".
Lynette Clark, the chairman of the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP), confirmed to ABC News that Mrs Palin and her husband Todd had both been both members and attended at least one party convention.
"When she joined the party our platform was right under her nose," Mrs Clark said. "I can't understand why in God's name she has aligned herself with a candidate who opposes the development of our republic and Alaska's resource wealth," she added.
In a video recorded at this year's party convention, Dexter Clark, the party's vice chairman, can be seen telling delegates: "The situation is completely out of hand, the decay of the federal government is totally complete."
He tells them that in order to propagate AIP policy they "should infiltrate" mainstream parties. "Whichever party in that area [in which] you can get something done, get into that political party, even though it does have its problems," he says.
The latest disclosure is likely to add to concerns among some Republicans that Mrs Palin was not adequately vetted before being asked to become Mr McCain's vice-presidential candidate.
On Monday the campaign added another dramatic twist to the race for the presidency when it said that Bristol, Mrs Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, was pregnant and would marry the father.
Opponents of the Republican Governor have unearthed more potentially embarrassing details from her past.
Developments in the "Troopergate" scandal, in which Mrs Palin denies using her role as Governor of Alaska to take revenge on her state trooper brother-in-law by having him sacked after his divorce from her sister, appear to challenge her version of events. An investigation into the incident is set to report back five days before the election.
In an interview last month, when still unlikely that she would be offered her role by Mr McCain, Mrs Palin dismissed the job of vice-president, saying that she couldn't understand what it would involve day to day.
When asked in another interview for her thoughts on America's involvement in the Iraq war, Mr McCain's continued support for which is a key plank of the Republican campaign, Mrs Palin said: "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."
And Mrs Palin has also been criticised for her behaviour on a radio talk show in January. While being interviewed about her feud with Lyda Green, the Alaskan state senate leader, Mrs Palin laughed when her interviewer described cancer sufferer Senator Green as a "cancer".
Posted by Mike at 11:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
August 29, 2008
Ted Stevens Endorses Sarah Palin
It's also worth noting her former chief of staff is running Ted Steven's re-election campaign:
Assistant Attorney General Mike Barnhill said all the calls from then-chief of staff Tibbles, who is now running Sen. Ted Stevens' re-election campaign, regarding Wooten looked to be appropriate.
This ad is from 2006. Hat tip to The Atlantic:
Posted by Mike at 01:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
August 28, 2008
$50 an hour
$100,000 a year:
Does this mean he supports raising the minimum wage?
Posted by Mike at 01:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
August 23, 2008
It's 3AM and a phone is ringing in the White House
It's a text message from Barack Obama:
Obama Texts Biden Pick to SupportersAugust 23, 2008 3:25 AM
ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: Sen. Barack Obama has sent his vice presidential text message; were you awake to read it?
At 3:04am ET and just after midnight on the west coast, the Obama campaign sent the following message to anyone who signed up to find out who the presumptive Democratic nominee had picked:
"Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama-Biden rally live at 3pm ET on www.barackobama.com Spread the word!"
Posted by Mike at 08:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
August 08, 2008
Actual McCain Ad
John McCain's campaign manager is accusing Barack Obama of unfairly using the issue of race, a significant accusation in a campaign featuring the first African-American major party nominee."Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck," said Rick Davis, in a statement issued from the McCain campaign. "It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong."
Yesterday in Missouri, Obama predicted McCain and the GOP would use racially tinged attacks against him.
"What they're going to try to do is make you scared of me," Obama said. "You know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."
Posted by Mike at 04:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
