Todd Palin Fair Game?

Now that Palin is hammering Obama on his ties to Ayers TPM wonders if it's fair to attack Palin on her ties to her husband, who was for seven years a member of the Alaska Independence Party.

If Palin is going to say this, it is now perfectly legitimate to point out that she repeatedly courted a secessionist group founded by someone who openly professed hatred of the American government, cursed our flag, and wanted to secede from the Union. Sarah's husband, Todd Palin, was a member of this group, which continues to venerate that founder to this day, for years.

McCain apologists will argue that Sarah Palin was not a member of this group. But Obama wasn't a member of any Ayers anti-American group, either. And again, Palin repeatedly courted the AIP, and her husband was a member for years.

The main takeaway from today's Times story is that Obama's ties to Ayers are, if anything, less substantial than commonly alleged. So if the Ayers association means Obama "palled around" with "terrorists," as Palin put it today, surely Palin can be said to have "palled around" with a secessionist party whose founder openly professed hatred of America.

If Palin is going to directly question Obama's patriotism over his association Ayers, surely all these facts are now fair game and freshly relevant.

Maybe the Obama campaign is unsure of how exactly to frame the tie between Sarah and Todd. If Obama "palled around" with Ayers what does that means Palin did with Todd? We already know he knocked her up about thirteen times, so "fucked around" doesn't quite seem strong enough, even if it's accurate.

Sunday, October 5, 2008