Palin The Extremist
by tristero
"The problem with you John Birchers' is that you are too damn liberal!"
~ Joseph Vogler, Founder Alaskan Independence Party
As we all know, Palin flirted with the secessionist Alaska Independence Party and even sent them a video of support. While Palin apparently wasn't, Palin's husband was a member of this extremist group for from 1995 to 2002 (except for a few months). Digby discussed the party and their founder here and I added a little bit more here. (btw, imagine the uproar if Michelle Obama had been in Farrakhan's group for seven years.)
The AIP have direct ties to Christian Dominionists. What does that mean? Read Chip Berlet's report. Berlet, in case you don't know, is one of the leading experts in this country on extremist organizations. Here's his introduction: Given Sarah Palin's rather doctrinaire approach to conservative libertarian Christian evangelicalism, her political flirtation with the secessionist Alaska Independence Party (AIP) is hardly surprising, but the AIP's ties to the U.S. Constitution Party raise some creepy issues. It is not fair to suggest that Palin agrees with all of the political positions of the AIP or Constitution Party. It is fair to ask with what policies she does or does not agree. It is already clear that on the issue of the "Sanctity of Life," Palin and the theocratic Consititution Party are on the same Dominionist page.
The AIP has placed the candidate of the U.S. Constitution Party on the Presidential ballot in Alaska in the 2008 race. Let's be clear, the U.S. Constitution Party would impose a form of theocratic neofascism in the United States. And I am not a person who tosses the term fascism around lightly.
In short, Palin has ties to people so far to the "Religious" right they make Jerry Falwell look like a liberal.
Special Note for Republicans and others with cognitive impairments: Obama has consistently denounced Ayers who perpetrated his crimes in the 60's. What Berlet quotes is from the current Constitution Party platform, a group allied with the Alaska Independence Party. Furthermore, there is no indication that Sarah Palin has any intention of denouncing the extremist party which was a political home for her husband for seven years and which she once flirted with and praised.
Updated with opening quote from Vogler.