I was appalled (and annoyed) this weekend by the newest wave of hypocrisy to come spewing perkily forth from the ever-smiling, ever-smirking, perfectly lipsticked mouth of Governor Palin. I'm actually starting to enjoy (for comedic reasons only) her interviews that are nothing more than disconnected prepositional phrases laced with stock GOP pablum. But accusing a sitting U.S. Senator of "palling around with terrorists" is crossing the line.
Finally informing us what she reads, Palin said that yesterday, while leafing through her daily copy of the New York Times, she came across a story on Senator Obama and William Ayers, the 1960s militant and member of the Weather Underground, the radical and violent anti-war group. And faster than you can say "Darn right!"she saw her opportunity - and her duty. Clearly, she must inform an unknowing nation that Obama is guilty by association with Ayers.
You, Governor, should know better. As I and many journalists have noted, you have strong ties to the Alaska Independence Party. While it was finally revealed that you technically were not a card-carrying member of the AIP, it was discovered that the First Dude, between his life of high adventure in helping you rule your northern fiefdom, his competitive snowmobiling and fishing, was a member of the organization for many years.
Yes, it is a free country. You get to associate or marry whomever you want, no matter how distasteful. Yes, Senator Obama served on a board with William Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground and now a college professor and activist in Chicago. However, Senator Obama has clearly distanced himself on numerous occasions from Professor Ayers' actions in the 1960's. This is a non-issue. Perhaps that is why you have decided to focus on it -- better a non-issue than having to learn and think about real problems that affect everyday people, like health care, the economy and education. Those, I suppose, are just too gosh darned hard.
All snarky comments aside, I do have a concern, Governor. A big one. You have never distanced yourself from a radical secessionist movement aimed at the breaking up of the Federal Union. You, Governor, have never stated a single time that the AIP is not only wrong-headed, but outright dangerous. Instead, you have videotaped welcoming comments for their annual conventions. Instead, you have a "close association" with a known former member of a radical, right-wing, well-armed and well-funded political party whose founder damned the United States as virulently as Reverend Wright did. While Reverend Wright enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame, and was rightly slammed for his vitriol by patriotic writers on both Left and Right, the AIP happily continued along its way, spewing anti-Americanism more in line with something Fidel Castro would say on a May Day celebration in Havana.
And you stood there Governor, like a caribou caught in the headlights. And you still stand there, but now with the audacity to stand at the top of your glass castle throwing rocks at other people. There is a big, big difference between a limited association with someone who had committed a crime 40 years before, and being married to a man who supports the destruction of the United States.
Who has the closest terrorist association, Governor? Who? If you believe Senator Obama to be the buddy of terrorists, don't make an unsubstantiated claim. Call the FBI and demand an investigation. If you are just grandstanding for a crowd of racist isolationists who fear the idea of a successful black man who worked his way up from nothing to become a success--a modern day Horatio Alger story if there is one--you should be deeply ashamed of yourself. Look to your own house before you start throwing rocks Governor. For who among us can cast the first stone? Seem like you can Sarah, seems like you are the only exception to the Scripture since about 32 AD.
I am a loyal American. When Election Day happens, and if the GOP wins, I want to know that the person who is literally a heart beat away from the Presidency is a person I can trust to do the right thing. Someone who will place national well-being above some perverted concept of secessionism, who will not associate with people who are worse, far worse, than a liberal college professor who was immensely foolish -- and wrong -- in the 1960s.
Yes Governor, I question your patriotism and your loyalty to this Republic. And I have a hell of a lot more evidence to question your loyalty to the Republic than you do to question Senator Obama's.
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1 comment:
Funny how you completely ignore Sarah Palin's ties to the Libertarian Party of Alaska which are much stronger and more recent than her ties to the AIP.
A little bias against Libertarians perhaps?
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