Since Sarah Palin was chosen to be John McCain's running mate there have been numerous connections between her and the extreme right, which she has tried to downplay. There have also been concerns about the influences on Palin, between the far right anti-Semitic author she quoted during her acceptance speech and the extreme views of her pastors. Ben Smith reports on a new connection. A picture taken at her desk from 1995, when she was a member of the Wasilla city council, shows an issue of The New American--the publication of The John Birch Society.
It is difficult to say for certain how meaningful this is. I receive publications from right wing extremist groups at my office, but they wind up in the wastebasket. I certainly would not feature one in a picture taken at my desk. I've also read a number of publications from both the far right and the far left. Before all viewpoints were easily available on line I've even had subscriptions to The National Review and Human Events, and continue to subscribe to libertarian publications such as Reason. However, these are hardly as extreme as the Birchers. There would be nothing wrong even with reading what the Birchers have to say if one was reading the views of a very wide range of people. Unfortunately in Sarah Palin's case we repeatedly find such connections only to the extreme right, and Palin has certainly not shown any evidence of also considering alternative points of view. .