Media 3rd Party Palin meme: There's no there there

Newsday's Spin Cycle blog finds it curious that Frank MacKay will be visiting Alaska at the same time that Gov. Sarah Palin will be officially resigning her office at the July 26 Governor's Annual Picnic.

MacKay, you see, is national chair of the Independence Party of America (IP) -- not to be confused with Alan Keyes' American Independent Party (AIP), which is a different political animal altogether. MacKay's party is, according to Politics 1, a leftover splinter from Ross Perot's broken Reform Party of the 1990s:

After two years of openly feuding with Ross Perot's allies in the Reform Party, Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and his supporters bolted from the party to launch the new Independence Party in 2000. While this splinter party shared the Reform Party's call for campaign finance and other political reforms, the IP shared Ventura disagreement with the more social conservative and trade protectionist views espoused by the Reform Party. The IP -- which describes itself as "Socially Inclusive and Fiscally Responsible" -- is pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-medical marijuana, pro-gun rights and fiscally moderate.

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As for a national party organization, the Independence Party essentially doesn't have one. It seemingly consists of separately organized state affiliates with no central national leadership or organization to coordinate activities. Thus, each state entity goes its own way -- and support (even in Minnesota) is clearly dwindling.

Spin Cycle quotes MacKay as saying that he will be in Arkansas Alaska at the time of the governor's resignation is "just a bizarre coincidence." Yet the blogger seems to be intrigued that Wasilla is on MacKay's itinerary. We tend to believe Mackay, who also says that his travel plans were made before Gov. Palin made her announcement.

But the best reason to take him at his word is the fact that MacKay is a close ally of Jesse Ventura, the ex-wrestling ex-governnor of Minnesota. Ventura is not a Palin supporter,  nor is he even an admirer. On CNN's Larry King Show earlier this week, Ventura call Gov. Palin "a quitter" and said that she could never make it as a Navy Seal. Seeing as how only men are eligible for that elite Navy unit, Ventura is only half right.

Also, while Sarah Palin is not the extreme right wing idealogue the hard left claims that she is, we doubt that her social conservatism is soft enough to abide the Independence Party's socially libertarian views. Plus, we don't believe that Mackay's party is sufficiently conservative on fiscal matters for Sarah Palin.

None of this logic matters one whit to the media, which will continue to push the third party Palin meme. But that might just be what the governor wants the mediacrats to do. It certainly will get the attention of the GOP establishment. And Sarah Palin has a few things she would like to tell them.

- JP