Now Representing The Republican Party, An Independent American

If you haven't already, early-risers, this is worth the read, & reinforces our belief that many of the T.P. people now gaining traction in the Goofy Old Party are directly from the lunatic fringe.

For at least six years in the 1990s before she held state-level elective office, Angle was a member of the little-known Independent American Party [...] 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.

Sorry, lunatic & paranoid fringe.

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."

Hansen's brother, the late Daniel Hansen, founded the Independent American Party in 1967 "after realizing that the Republican Party was growing too corrupt and socialistic," according to the party website.

Our emphasis. Do you suppose this forward-thinking foamer came to that conclusion following passage of the Civil Rights Act & Medicare?

A 1992 Los Angeles Times article (via Nexis) describes Hansen at a political rally wearing a Stetson hat and bearing a sign that read, "If Guns Are Outlawed, How Can We Shoot the Liberals?" His rhetoric would not be out of place at a 2010 tea party.

"Don't give up your guns, folks," he told a crowd. "That's all we've got to protect us against the advance of socialism. America is in a survival phase."

Perot rally? Loons? We can assume that G.H.W. Bush & Bill Clinton were probably seen as equal evils. Hansen's & his heirs' appearances oddly match certain electoral events, as better noted elsewhere, & which we will not bother to cite.

But do not fear. Not all have sacrificed Liberty for Stoogery:

Christopher Hansen, brother of party founder Daniel Hansen and himself a former chair of the party, tells TPM that "I think Sharron in her heart is a very good person." But he remains upset that "she decided to go over and join with the fascist Republicans."

"The national Republicans are going to come in here and teach her how to be a good Republican stooge," he predicts. "She'll just be another dyed-in-the-wool stooge Republican."

Also.

If Angle wins, we're going to be seeking some Second Amendment remediation.