As election day gets closer, the rhetoric on both sides of the political spectrum becomes more and more inflamed. A new high water mark in over-the-top ranting was reached today when syndicated radio host Bill Press, whose show appears on both Sirius and XM Radio, called first husband of Alaska Todd Palin a terrorist, based on his involvement with the Alaskan Independence Party. Press commented on the air:
What's the difference between a secessionist and a terrorist? Isn't a secessionist just another form of a terrorist? Ask Abraham Lincoln...Let's find out what the "First Dude" was going to do in order to secede from the union. I tell you it wasn't going to be peaceful.
Todd Palin seems to have become the new designated angle of attack on the McCain campaign. With Sarah Palin's remarkable recovery in the Vice Presidential debate, more and more attacks directed at her have been backfiring. She has a teflon quality which comes from her attitude, her gender and her background which makes her difficult to tear down effectively. So the strategy of the hour is to go after her husband, who has done very little to attract attention, except having been involved off and on as a registered but non-participating member of the Alaskan Independence Party.
The AIP is the third largest party in Alaska and was founded by Joe Vogler, a controversial figure who died under suspicious circumstances in 1993, as he was preparing to speak about Alaskan independence in front of the United Nations. Vogler was known for making radical statements, but since his death, the focus of the party has been more on issues of general benefit to Alaskans and less on creating international controversy. There is some evidence to suggest that Vogler may have personally endorsed terrorism to achieve his ends, but the methods of the AIP since his death have been nonviolent.
Todd Palin's involvement with the AIP consists of nothing more than appearing on the rolls of the registrar of elections as a party member in two elections, in 1996 and 2000. There has never been any suggestion that he was any kind of activist, or that he played a larger role in the party than any common voter plays in the party of a candidate he votes for. Classing Palin as a terrorist is equivalent to calling any fundamentalist Christian a terrorist because they belong to the same religious movement as Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph.
The excessiveness of the rhetoric coming from leftist pundits like Press seems to be justified by the argument that muckrakers have relied on for years, that it's the first accusation which sticks, no matter how weak the evidence is to support it or how thoroughly it is disproven by later research.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Rev. Donald Spitz
Eric Rudolph is not a terrorist, but an anti-terrorist fighter. Those who have killed babykilling abortionists have done so to protect the innocent. People use force everyday to protect the innocent and no one has a problem with it, except when it comes to protecting unborn human beings, then they go ballistic. It's very simple, the unborn deserve the same protection as the born. Born people are protected with force quite often. Force that you would be glad if it was to protect your children against a murderer. Force that you yourself might use to protect your own children from being murdered. The unborn deserve the same protection.
SAY THIS PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I am a sinner and am headed to eternal hell because of my sins. I believe you died on the cross to take away my sins and to take me to heaven. Jesus, I ask you now to come into my heart and take away my sins and give me eternal life.
2 - Glenn Contrarian
Dave -
I think we both know the AIP accusations against Palin are really no different than the Ayers accusations against Obama. This is politics, and you must admit that the Ayers accusations came long before the AIP accusations did. In any case, Obama didn't throw the first stone.
One can imagine what the Republicans' response would be if Obama's spouse had until 2002 belonged to a political party whose founder cursed the flag and the nation and called for secession from America - they'd be calling for her head on a plate. I think you must agree that we'd be seeing vast rallies of angry Republicans calling for deportation (or worse) of such 'traitors to America'...and there would be more than a few getting their rifles ready to personally ensure that Obama would never live to take the Oath of Office.
Compared to what the Republicans would do if the situation were reversed, I think the Democrats' (and the media's) attacks on Palin have been rather mild.
If anything, Palin's lack of readiness to be VP is not the important factor. What is the real issue is McCain's choice of someone like Governor Palin without properly vetting her and her family. McCain's choice was rushed, reckless, and ill-advised.
And when it comes to whether Obama's connection to Ayers is really that big a deal, I recommend you read this article in the Chicago Sun-Times about him. Of particular interest is the list of terrorists America has welcomed, most of whom have far more blood on their hands than does Ayers.
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
If Alaska seceded, nobody would notice for months.
4 - Lee Richards
Jesus,
I'm a sinner, and a human being to whom has been granted freedom of thinking.
I think there are some people out there who are 200% nuts, because they think their will is God's, and that God wants them to kill other people who disagree with them.
They should be headed to eternal Hell--if it existed--for hypocrisy in claiming to represent Jesus while opposing his teachings, for their false doctrines, and for making idols of themselves and their opinions, which they worship above all else.
Protect us from their rationalizations, and their pure evil intentions in the name of religion.
***
Dave conveniently ignores Palin's involvement with the AIP in her campaigns for mayor and governor, and her violation of ethics laws as governor.
5 - Al Barger
SARAH PALIN RULEZ!!!
FACT: Sarah Palin won her governor's seat by shooting her opponent the incumbent with a bow and arrow, and serving him up to constituents cooked up with a delicious moose stew recipe. Later, she staked his head on a post in the Aleutian Islands as a message to the Russians.
6 - Les Slater
I find it quite disturbing who the Palin speechwriter CHOSE to have quoted by Gov. Palin in her acceptance speech.
Westbrook Pegler!
I hear that she continues to use that quote in her campaign stumps.
This is no accident, it is quite conscious.
7 - Mark Schannon
Weak one, Dave. Sorry, but there are holes the size of Ohio in your story.
Palin's Teflon? She's finally being reigned in, one hopes, when even McCain realized he was unleashing the dogs of fanaticism. My bride this morning asked the question, "if Obama is assassinated by one of the lunatics that McPalin has driven to distraction, how is that different from yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater. Shouldn't McPalin then be arrested?" Food for thought.
And despite her claims to have been vindicated by the Alaskan report, she did commit an impeachable offense, although it's unlikely the elephant led legislature in Alaska will impeach her. Ethics my left nut, she's just a small-time, small-town pol with instincts only for the jugular. (I know because I once was one of those, but it didn't make me qualified then to be elevated to the national stage.)
As for the AIP, she was supporting them this year in that infamous video. If succession isn't terrorism, then what is? Joining with conservative Republicans in an educational non-profit sponsored by the Annenbergs where a somewhat-reformed terrorist also sits.
Gadfy Daniels Dave, you can do better than this!
Curmudgeon-At-Large
In Jameson Veritas
8 - El Bicho
"With Sarah Palin's remarkable recovery in the Vice Presidential debate,"
She didn't recover; she stopped sliding.
9 - Baritone
When Dave starts spinning his sweet nothings toward Tundra Barbie, it's difficult to behold. I must agree with EB above. Palin's debate performance was hardly a game changer. That she didn't wet her pants or run off the stage sobbing doesn't distinguish her. The best that can be said of her performance is that she is apparently a good learner when it comes to rote memorization.
I don't think much can be made of the AIP affair. But it does come down to tit for tat. The McCainiacs, and Dave keep harping on Obama's Chicago contacts - Ayers, Resco and others. If there is anything untoward about his associations, nothing substantive has surfaced despite the RNC's crap ads suggesting otherwise.
While Obama has been edging ahead pretty much across the board, his polling advantage is not so large that McCain can be counted out. Given the possibility of the so called "Bubba or Bradley Effect" the Obama's numbers are not strong enough to consider it moot.
I won't make the mistake of underestimating McCain. He has made any number of seemingly miraculous comebacks. The Obama campaign must NOT become complacent. Nevertheless, it is becoming clearer with each passing day that McCain will likely have to pull a rabbit out of his hat to turn things around. The Ayers/Resco associations do not look anything like a rabbit.
TLS
10 - Lisa Solod Warren
Dave, this is Satire, right? You just forgot to label it as such.
I mean, really, after all the incredible mud Palin has slung at Obama the past two weeks you really have the gall to write something like this?
What planet do you live on?
11 - Dave Nalle
Lisa, I live on Planet Politics.
You folks just do not understand the Palin candidacy at all at all.
She's Spiro Agnew in a dress to McCain's kindler, gentler Nixon.
It's a classic strategy. Nominate someone for VP who can and will say anything about the opponents so that the presidential candidate can tut tut and look good in comparison.
Dave
12 - Lisa Solod Warren
What the hell was the point of YOUR piece?
13 - Clavos
[Obama's] polling advantage is not so large that McCain can be counted out.
You're right about that. Apparently, McCain is edging up again.
14 - Lee Richards
#11:
Nixon and Agnew?
Naw, they remind me more of Fred Mertz and Lucy Ricardo.
15 - RJ Elliott
Good article, Dave.
Obama has associated himself with some of the most unsavory people imaginable (Wright, Ayers, Rezko, Odinga, Farrakhan, etc.). But whenever anyone points this fact out, they are denounced by The Left (and the MSM) as "smear merchants" and "hate mongers" and "racists" and "liars."
16 - RJ Elliott
I recommend that everyone read this column, entitled Do Facts Matter?
Because, in this election cycle, it seems as though facts really don't matter, at least as far as the MSM is concerned...
17 - Joanne Huspek
This entire election is making me sick, and on so many fronts, I can barely keep them straight.
As for the case for secession, I was hoping for Canada to take us over, but I think they have problems of their own.
18 - Deano
Can I make a suggestion?
Why don't you all just take a break from this sh*t for two days? Go breath some fresh air, stay off the computer and go rake some leaves or something...
I keep expecting to start hearing a vast, distant popping sound as veins start to rupture across America in response to the absolute cavalcade of idiocy people are spewing, this article among them.
Go take a breath. It is an election, not the end of the world. McCain is not the devil, neither is Obama. Both are surprisingly good and sensible candidates, either of whom, I suspect, would do perfectly adequate jobs as President.
Go get some air....
19 - Jordan Richardson
Well said, Deano.
20 - Lunpy
Sadly deano there is every reason to believe that this election may well be the end of the world as we know it.
21 - Jordan Richardson
Yep, America as we know it will be no more. Obama will get into office and turn the United States into a Islamic Socialist State, forcing every woman into hiding, freeing all the prisoners, offering free abortions with Happy Meals, and forcing everyone to inflate their tires to ridiculous degrees.
Real Americans will be forced into hiding, clinging to their guns and religion while giving up 90% of their income to junkies and hookers who will then be employed to teach their kindergarteners sexual education. Obama will then sit down and have tea with terrorists, offering up individual states as Islamic hideaways while giving clearance for the destruction of Israel. Christians will be slaughtered in the streets, as will free market capitalists who believe in prosperity.
Sounds like a hell of a dilemma...I better tell my American friends to vote for the other guy.
22 - zingzing
rj: "Obama has associated himself with some of the most unsavory people imaginable (Wright, Ayers, Rezko, Odinga, Farrakhan, etc.). But whenever anyone points this fact out, they are denounced by The Left (and the MSM) as "smear merchants" and "hate mongers" and "racists" and "liars.""
hey rj! ok--improvise! you're a kettle! here's a pot! go!
23 - DaveNalle
What RJ and others don't quite grasp is that some of these people - Ayers in particular - are not viewed as 'unsavory' by the left, but are instead heroes from the 60s who many in the modern left like Obama look up to as their progenitors in the marxist revolution business.
Dave
24 - Jordan Richardson
And they're all lying in wait for this exact moment in history, especially that Ayers. He's just waiting to get back to his bombing days after all this time and he and Obama can finally turn the country into the communist (small 'c' says Ayers) paradise they've been longing for since palling around all those years together when Ayers was in the WU and Obama was eight.
Those were some times and now it's all going to come to fruition with the end of the world as we know it.
(Are any of you "righties" aware of how ludicrous this all sounds?)
25 - Clavos
OK Jordan, how's this?
He's left of center; I'm right of center.
I won't vote for him for that reason.
No apocalypse, no Armageddon, no racism.
I just don't like his politics.
So, he doesn't get my vote.
Is that OK with you?