Readerreader with his slobbering take on all things Palin. Go to it pal, and don't disappoint, we're counting on you for our daily laughter.

And don't forget...

all of these traits of temperament-the ignorance, arrogance and mendacity- were brilliantly on display in her big very first address to the nation.

Run Sarah Run! Please RUN!

I am not sure what you mean "uninformed", but if you are suggesting that there is in any way, shape or form the slightest possibility that she was not completely and fully aware of the secessionist nature of the AIP, you're mistaken.

It would be impossible for a politician in Alaska--particularly who had grown up there--in Wasilla, no less--to have anything less than a complete grasp of who, what, and why the AIP is. I think what you were looking for there was "dishonest". She was flat out lying. The only reason she can get away with even suggesting such a thing is because nobody down here has any clue about Alaska; if she had made that statement in front of an Alaskan audience about the AIP not having secession in their platform and that lots of Alaskans check it by mistake, she'd have been laughed off the stage.

You guys down here may think they are an obscure, little known party and find it plausible that she didn't know, but take it from an expatriated Alaskan: nobody--and I mean absolutely nobody becomes an AIP member by "accident". On a scale of plausibility it is the equivalent of claiming "accidental membership" in the Klan, the Nation of Islam, or NAMBLA: the marvel isn't so much that anyone would try such a ridiculously disingenuous argument, it's that anybody would conceivably believe it.

Unfortunately that didn't keep Bush from being the Supreme Court's choice. The invasion of Iraq following the Viet Nam fiasco, doesn't fill me with optimism about Americans' historical memory. And as you point out, an uncurious press isn't likely to suddenedly spring from the head of Zeus. We are fortunate that Michael Jackson didn't succumb to Swine Flu, or we'd be hearing about it till the end of summer.

Do you think an arrogant idiot with authoritarian impulses but a charismatic manner can't get elected to national office? Three words. George. W. Bush. Bush was "the guy you'd like to have a beer with." Palin is the gal that good Christians (and some others) lust after in their hearts without feeling guilty. Look, she managed to addle Camille Paglia, who is dumber than a box of rocks but manages to persuade a distressing number of people that she's some kind of Big Intellectual. If the economy and the inherited quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan take their toll of Obama's popularity numbers between now and 2012, she might just have a shot, maybe not at winning over a majority, but of pulling off a steal a la Bush v. Gore in 2000.

.."But that wasn't enough for Palin. She dragged out the Big Lies -- secession isn't what the AIP's about, and anyway, Todd wasn't really a member."

At the time Plain was running for VP various people in Alasaka reported on her husband's membership in the AIP. At the time I checked out the AIP online. The AIP is a secessionists group also connected to the white Aryan movement. AIP tried to tone down their rhetoric and hooked up with the Christian right for the sole purpose of getting into the mainstream political arena.

They are about secession and even worse.

that should have been a "curious press."

she'd want Gitmo for those who crossed her.

What's the big deal that he refused to out-and-out lie? The guy is obviously not an idiot. Todd Palin's membership in the AIP was a matter of common knowledge and public record in Alaska. There was no chance it wouldn't come up sooner or later in the nation at large, and if the Republicands lied about it, Schmidt knew they would be caught. His advice was about sound, common-sense political tactics, not principles.

Sarak Palin was deluding herself if she thought simply denying her political past was an option.

This was yet another example of incredibly poor vetting on the part of the McCain campaign in selecting a running-mate.

Hmm. Might be worth recording a few key passages off the AIP website to quote to her when she runs in 2012. Do it now before she asks them to tone it down.

You folks are all on a fox hunt without a fox. Look, the Palins are STC. Small Town Crooks. Weasels. Con men. Two-bit hustlers. Bottom feeders.

No politics involved. Bottom line. Money. Power. They'll do anything . . . anything. The Bush family without the cushion money. To get onto that gravy-train

No complex answers here. Sarah would do anything . . . she's ambitious. And dangerous. ANYTHING to grab the brass ring. Todd? Likewise. These people would join the KKK if it ensured an extra three votes. They'd drag their hare-brained kids into the fray, just to milk the vote out of a braindead FAUX-news addled nitwit. Then they lie. They lie. They deny. They clutch their bosoms and look into the camera and lie. And they do this while clutching the FLAG and supportin' the troops and lovin' America and hatin' terrorists and fags and non-christians. And they seem s-o-o-o-o- offended that anyone, anyone would doubt their love for the homeland. They shed Glenn-Beck crocodile tears if someone shines a flashlight into their spunky/funky rotten little world.

In a word. Desist.

Americans are a crude, self-ignorant and proud people. Why waste your time on these AMWAY monkeys??

Really, Alaskan's do know what they're doing with that checkbox:

OK…Just for the record, the box on the voter registration doesn’t say “Independent” or “Alaska Independent” or “Independent Alaskan”. It says “Alaskan Indpendence Party” and no Alaskan who was born and raised here, and has lived here all their life is going to confuse the Alaskan Independence Party with Non-Partisan. There is no plausible ”Oops! Checked off the secessionist box by mistake!” scenario.

http://www.themudflats.net/2009/07/01/the-accidental-secessionist-an-alaskan-fable/

And then I think Mudflats was ahead of Salon on this story too.

But who cares ? It was clear who she is from the start, the burning question was everyone buying what she was selling ?