On the Other Foot

The McRepublicans sure don't like when the smear is against THEM instead of them smearing against the Democrats:

ST. PAUL, Minn. - John McCain's campaign said Tuesday that rival Barack Obama's campaign was spreading "smears" about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's past political affiliations. Yet, some of Palin's previous political activities are a matter of dispute.

At issue are claims by members of the Alaskan Independence Party that Palin was once associated with it. The party, some of whose members have advocated secession from the United States, wants to place all federal lands in Alaska under state control.

The McCain campaign released voter registration documents Tuesday dating to 1990 in which Palin lists herself as a Republican. Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982, and has never been a member of the Alaskan Independence Party.

Palin addressed the Independence Party's state convention by video earlier this year, welcoming the party to Fairbanks. She gave no indication of a current or past connection to the party.

"Your party plays an important role in our state's politics," she said in the video, which is posted on the party's Web site. "I've always said that competition is so good, and that applies to political parties as well."

Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, told ABC News that Palin and her husband, Todd, belonged to the party in 1994. Mark Chryson, chairman of the Independence Party from 1995 to 2002, told the network that Palin attended the party's convention in 1994. He said he was not certain if she was a party member, and party records do not date back that far.

Obama advisers and surrogates have also linked Palin to conservative former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. An Associated Press story from Alaska, dated July 17, 1999, states that Palin, then the mayor of the small town of Wasilla, was wearing a Buchanan button during a Buchanan visit to Alaska.

The Miami Herald this week quoted an e-mail from Obama Florida spokesman Mark Bubriski that stated: "Palin was a supporter of Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or as many Jews call him: a Nazi sympathizer."

The McCain campaign says Palin supported Steve Forbes' campaign in 1999.

"Supporters of Barack Obama are engaged in an unfortunate and nasty smear campaign," said Rogers, the McCain spokesman.

While Obama advisers and surrogates have drawn attention to Palin's political associations, the campaign has strictly avoided any comment on issues related to Palin's family, specifically anything focused on her 17-year-old daughter's out-of wedlock pregnancy.

"I think people's families are off limits and people's children are especially off limits," Obama said Monday.

Again, I don't know whether any of these allegations are true, but even if they are, the Obama campaign itself is NOT doing the smear. When the Republicans smear, though, it IS their campaigns that do the smearing.

How's it feel, McRepublicans?