Sharron Angle Left Far-Right Third Party For Electoral Expedience, Members Say

[one_voice]

The key to understanding Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle may be the fact that she has not always been a Republican.

For at least six years in the 1990s before she held statewide elective office, Angle was a member of the little-known Independent American Party, a right-wing party that combines elements of Ron Paul's doctrinaire libertarianism -- pro-gun, anti-tax, anti-bureaucracy, pro-states' rights -- with Christian social conservatism and fear of the "North American Union" and other forms of "global government." The small party attracted considerable controversy in 1994 when it took out a newspaper ad titled "Consequences of Sodomy: Ruin of a Nation," which suggested HIV could spread through the water.

Three members of the Independent American Party tell TPM that Angle, a Nye County, Nevada, school board member at the time, was an active member of the party in the 1990s. They say she only left the Independent American Party and became a Republican out of political expediency when she decided to seek a seat in the state assembly, to which she was elected in 1998.

"It was because she wanted to run for office. And it was difficult for members of our party to get elected at that time," Janine Hansen, executive director of the Independent American Party, tells TPM. "It was a strategic move on her part."

*snip*

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/sharron-angle-and-the-independent-american-party.php?ref=fpa



One has to wonder did people bother to research this woman before voting for her? :eyes:

[livetohike]

1. "...And it was difficult for members of our party to get elected at that time,"

Like it would be easy for them to get elected now? Oh, I'm sure all kinds of juicy news will come out about Angle in the coming weeks :-).

No, I don't think most people research anyone they vote for. I think the majority of voters depend on the glossy campaign ads they get in their mailbox for their info.

[one_voice]

2. Yup..

low information voters.

I also think that the "fringe" wants to find candidates that are as "right" and "fringy" as they are. What's surprising is that they're making headway with some.

Orly Taitz shouldn't haven't gotten over 100 thousand votes, yet she did. It makes my head hurt to think about the number of people that would vote for people like that. :crazy:

[Catshrink]

3. Just like Tawd Palin

[rrneck]

4. It tells us a lot

about the "Republican farm team system".

[Sebastian Doyle]

5. Sharon Angle doesn't have a prayer

You don't promote prohibition of alcohol in Nevada and expect to get elected. Vegas is having a hard enough time keeping the lights on in fucked economic times (since less people have money to waste there) Take away the alcohol, and there will be even less reason to make the trip. (not to mention the people who like to buy booze in Nevada and then take it home in the trunk of their car, because it's so much cheaper with no state taxes)

[KamaAina]

6. A libertarian* who supports gummint regulation of booze?

:wtf:

[one_voice]

7. Seems it's the most radical...

elements of libertarian views combined with radical christian right views. That's the impression I got after reading the article. A dangerous combination...imo.

[gratuitous]

8. Did she actually have to switch parties?

From that brief rundown of what the American Independent Party advocates, it looks like pretty much standard issue Republican talking points anymore. I guess the brand switch was needed, but like so many other things the product is the same, it's just the difference in packaging that catches the consumer's eye. The AIP warns against forms of global government: They're kooks! The GOP warns against forms of global government: Bold heroes of the American Experience!