Alaska Governor and Senator John McCain’s choice for Vice President Sarah Palin, and her family have been subjected to relentless, vicious lies and smears, unprecedented scrutiny. In an all out sprint to the bottom of the ethics barrel many in the liberal media and some left wing blogs like DailyKos and Andrew Sullivan have made it their mission to vilify and slander Mrs. Palen and her family in ways never before seen in American politics.

The Lies and the Facts:

1) Palin “Joined a Secessionist Political Party”

The Charge: Unsubstantiated Internet reports insisted Palin was once a member of the Alaska Independence Party, which critics call a secessionist political movement and supporters say is dedicated to seeking greater state control over federal lands across Alaska.

The Facts: Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982. There is no record of her ever being a member of the AIP, or any party but the GOP. Palin’s husband has been a member of the AIP in the past, but since 2002 has been a registered independent.

(See: Party Official Says Palin Was Not a Member)

2) Palin Supported a “Nazi Sympathizer”

The Charge: “Palin was a supporter of Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or, as many Jews call him: a Nazi sympathizer,” Obama Florida spokesman Mark Bubriski was quoted as saying in a Miami Herald article.

The Facts: While mayor of Wasilla, Palin wore a Buchanan button during the sometimes presidential candidate’s 1999 visit. But Palin actually supported Steve Forbes in 2000, and served as a co-chair on his Alaska campaign.

In the weeks after the 1999 report of her wearing the Buchanan button, Palin said: “When presidential candidates visit our community, I am always happy to meet them. I’ll even put on their button when handed one as a polite gesture of respect. … The article may have left your readers with the perception that I am endorsing this candidate, as opposed to welcoming his visit to Wasilla.”

(See: Obama campaign advisor quote is from an e-mail sent to the Miami Herald)

3) Palin “Wants Creationism Taught in School”

The Charge: Palin opposes the teaching of evolution, and would mandate the teaching of creationism in the state’s public schools.

The Facts: Palin said during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign that she would not push the state Board of Education to add creation-based alternatives to the state’s required curriculum, or look for creationism advocates when she appointed board members. She has kept this pledge, according to the Associated Press.

Palin has spoken in favor of classroom discussions of creationism, in some cases. “I don’t think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class. It doesn’t have to be part of the curriculum,” Palin told the Anchorage Daily News in a 2006 interview.

(See: ‘Creation science’ enters the race; Palin is only candidate to suggest it should be discussed in schools. By Tom Kizzia, Anchorage Daily News, 27 October 2006)

4) Palin “Was Nearly Recalled” While Mayor

The Charge: Palin was so controversial as mayor of Wasilla that she was almost recalled by a popular voter movement.

The Facts: The Wasilla City Council considered but never took up a recall motion after she fired a longtime police chief, who subsequently brought a lawsuit. A citizen’s group dropped their recall bid, and a judge ruled Palin had the authority to fire the chief.

(See: Foes Back Off Push to Recall Mayor)

5) Palin “Opposes Sex Education”

The Charge: Palin opponents say she supported the end of all sex education in public schools. In light of her daughter’s presumably unplanned teen pregnancy, this has been a particularly well discussed Internet topic.

The Facts: “The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support,” Palin wrote in a 2006 questionnaire distributed among gubernatorial candidates. Palin favors abstinence-based sex education programs.

(See: McCain fought money on teen pregnancy programs, By Sharon Theimer, Associated Press, Sept. 2, 2008)

6) “This Picture Proves Palin is …”

The Charge: A slew of fake, Photoshopped or misdated photographs on the Internet purport to show Palin in any number of embarrassing or compromising poses. One photo claimed to show Palin standing poolside, wearing an American flag-themed bikini, toting a rifle with telescopic sight.

The Facts: The various photos are being discredited and shown to be fake on a number of Web sites. The original of the so-called bikini shot, probably the best-known of the pictures, was shown to have been taken of another woman, with Palin’s head Photoshopped above the body.

(See: Call to Arms)

7) Palin is the grandmother, and not the mother, of Trig Palin

The Charge: The most vicious rumor of all perpetuated by the DailyKos, this theory holds that Palin did not give birth to her son Trig in April, and was actually covering up for her daughter, Bristol.

The Facts: There are a number of photographs showing an apparently pregnant Sarah Palin, as well as a number of published eyewitness accounts of her pregnancy. These include First Lady Laura Bush, who says she spoke with a pregnant Palin at a governor’s conference in February. An assignment manager for KTVA news in Anchorage, Cherie Shirey, has also been quoted saying: “We worked with Governor Palin many times in 2008. Our reporters worked her on location and in the studio and I worked with her myself. She was definitely pregnant. You could see it in her belly and her face. The whole idea that Sarah Palin wasn’t pregnant with Trig is completely, absolutely absurd.”

The McCain campaign, in an apparent effort to counteract the rumors, announced last weekend that Bristol Palin is five months pregnant, which indicated she would have become pregnant before Trig was born, and is still pregnant, meaning she isn’t the mother of Trig.

8 ) Palin cheated on her husband Todd

The Charge: Rumors have bee spread alleging Sarah had an affair with her husband’s divorced business partner.

The Facts: Todd’s partner, Scott Richter, filed to have his divorce file sealed, causing the National Enquirer to allege he was trying to hide an affair with Sarah. The judge denied the request to seal the records, so the Smoking Gun went through the records, and found Palin’s name only mentioned in the motion to seal the records. Richter said in his motion he wanted the records sealed, because reporters were using phone numbers, and other information in those records, to violate his privacy, so he felt sealing the records would stop future reporters from contacting him, and others listed in the records. There is absolutely no evidence that Richter and Sarah had an affair. John McCain threatened to sue the National Enquirer over the story, and now with the new evidence, it appears the National Enquirer will need a good lawyer if McCain moves ahead with the lawsuit.

9) Palin tried to ban books from the library

The Lie: Palin leaned on the local librarian when she was mayor of Wasilla, urging her to ban certain texts.

The Fact: Gov. The bogus Sarah Palin Banned Book List is almost an exact copy-and-paste reproduction of a generic list of “Books Banned at One Time or Another in the United States” that has been floating around the Internet for years.

Palin supposedly tried to ban…that hadn’t even been published yet. Example: The Harry Potter books, the first of which wasn’t published until 1998.

10) Palin did not sell the Alaska Governors Private Jet on ebay:

The Lie: Palen did not sell the Governors private jet on ebay as she has claimed.

The Fact: Governor Palin never said she sold the jet on ebay, she has said she put the jet on ebay for auction.

As promised during her bid for governor in 2006, Palin did try to sell the plane on eBay but that doing so was not as easy as it might have sounded. According to the Anchorage Daily News: After putting it up to auction, there was one serious bid, in December 2006, and it fell through then the jet was sold to a businessman from Valdez named Larry Reynolds, who paid $2.1 million for the jet, shy of the original $2.7 million purchase price.

More to come, because the left is never right.

More Debunking and the Truth about Governor Sarah Palen can be found here.

FactCheck.org exposes the lies and smears of Governor Sarah Palin.

when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent’s plan?

- Alaska Governor Mrs. Sarah Palin -
Acceptance speech as the Republican Candidate for Vice President - 2008

Tags: Sarah Palin, ebay, jet, governors jet, lies, smears