secessionist republicans

What is it with Republican governors offering aid and comfort to the idea of secession? First we have Alaska governor and former VP nominee Sarah Palin; not only has she given warm welcoming remarks (by video and in person) to the notorious Alaska Independence Party, her husband and would-be First Dude Todd Palin was a member of the AIP until it became politically expediant to quit.

And now in the country's second-largest (by territory) state, Governor Rick Perry when given the chance refuses to say that expressing support for secession is wrong.

Actually, I'll agree with Perry there - despite eight years of Bush-Cheney, we still have a somewhat-abridged right to free speech. But it was pretty feeble. And just imagine how Fox News and the wingnut media and blogosphere would react if the same situation had happened with two states with DEMOCRATIC governors. They would be screaming at the cameras, organizing Brook-Brothers-style tea party riots in the streets, howling for the blood of the traitor governors. If Bush-Cheney were still President, they would make some nasty growled warning about not aiding and abetting enemies of the country I mean Homeland.

There's a Democratic Party platform: The Democrats - we support the Union. Quite a change from 1860-61!

Oh and Tom DeLay joins in with talk about "standing up for the sovereignty of Texas" and how Texas can secede by daring the US to divide Texas into 5 states and create 8 new Senators. To Chris Matthews' credit, he compares this to 1861 and really takes DeLay to account. AND notes that nobody talked radical talk like this under Bush - only now under a Democratic President. Good job.