So-Called Energy Expert Sarah Palin Doesn’t Know How Much Energy Her State Produces
So-Called Energy Expert Sarah Palin Doesn’t Know How Much Energy Her State Produces
On Wednesday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) defended Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s “experience” in “the field of national security” by asserting that “she knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America.” McCain’s claim to Palin’s expertise was undercut the next day, however, when Palin severely overstated Alaska’s energy production in an interview with ABC News’s Charlie Gibson.
Challenged by Gibson on her “national security credentials,” Palin cited her experience as the governor of a “state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy” as a credential that she “brings to the table“:
PALIN: Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that’s with the energy independence that I’ve been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy, that I worked on as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, overseeing the oil and gas development in our state to produce more for the United States.
Watch it:
But, as the non-partisan FactCheck.org points out, Palin’s claim about Alaska producing 20 percent of America’s domestic energy supply is “not true. Not even close.” In fact, “Alaska’s share of domestic energy production was 3.5 percent.”
Palin would have been closer to reality, but still incorrect if she made the claim specifically about oil production rather than energy supply:
Palin would have been correct to say that Alaska produces just over 14 percent of all the oil produced in the U.S., leaving out imports and leaving out other forms of power. According to the federal government’s Energy Information Administration, Alaskan wells produced 263.6 million barrels of oil in 2007, or 14.3 percent of the total U.S. production of 1.8 billion barrels.
But Alaskan production accounts for only 4.8 percent of all the crude oil and petroleum products supplied to the U.S. in 2007, counting both domestic production and imports from other nations. According to EIA, the total supply was just over 5.5 billion barrels in 2007.
Furthermore, Palin said “energy,” not “oil,” so she was actually much further off the mark. According to EIA, Alaska actually produced 2,417.1 trillion BTUs [British Thermal Units] of energy in 2005, the last year for which full state numbers are available. That’s equal to just 3.5 percent of the country’s domestic energy production.
Palin’s incorrect facts appear to be rubbing off on McCain. As FactCheck.org notes, McCain made the same claim in a separate interview with Gibson on Sept. 3. “She’s been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America’s energy supply,” McCain told Gibson.
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“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. …for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph Goebbels
“A lie told often enough becomes truth”
Vladimir Lenin
Ah, the company we keep. Welcome to the world of John and Sarah…
September 13th, 2008 at 6:26 pmBut, as the non-partisan FactCheck.org points out, Palin’s claim about Alaska producing 20 percent of America’s domestic energy supply is “not true. Not even close.” In fact, “Alaska’s share of domestic energy production was 3.5 percent.”
Man, what’s Palin been inhalin’ – other than sulfur dioxide?
September 13th, 2008 at 6:27 pm“She’s been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America’s energy supply,” McCain told Gibson.
If McNumbNuts had said “she’s responsible for 20 percent of my campaign’s BS supply”, he would have been closer to the truth.
September 13th, 2008 at 6:27 pmShe’s been too busy being a hockey mom, for crying out loud. How could you sexist lipstick-less pigs complain about her not knowing anything about ‘engergy’? What do you expect, a Republican candidate understanding anything but how to BS the public?
September 13th, 2008 at 6:32 pmYeah, you really don’t want to piss off “non partisan FacCheck” cause now they’re watching you…
September 13th, 2008 at 6:33 pmtom Says:
If McNumbNuts had said “she’s responsible for 20 percent of my campaign’s BS supply”, he would have been closer to the truth.
Perhaps she was factoring in all the moose-methane, and dried scat the Eskimos use for cooking.
They’re part of the energy-consuming US, as well.
September 13th, 2008 at 6:37 pmHey, I flicked on a light switch this morning.
I’m an “energy expert!”
September 13th, 2008 at 6:38 pmHey, I flicked on a light switch this morning. I’m an “energy expert!”
Congratulations, Zooey. Next stop — a Medal of Freedom for you straight from GDumbya!
September 13th, 2008 at 6:40 pmMaybe you can move to Alaska and qualify for a big fat “energy research” earmark.
September 13th, 2008 at 6:41 pmBut Palin is far and away the leader in the production of Bullsh*t…
September 13th, 2008 at 6:45 pmWow. The Medal of Freedom….freedom from what? Functioning brain matter? :D
Alaska would be nice, but it seems that’s where all the Idaho racists have moved. It’s nicer here without them…
September 13th, 2008 at 6:45 pm“In war, truth is the first casualty.”
Aeschylus
And—apparently—in modern politics, at least as practiced by self-identified Republicans, their party, and the McCain-Palin campaign.
September 13th, 2008 at 6:45 pmFor a cold state, they produce an awful lot of hot air.
Maybe that’s what she and McCain referring to.
September 13th, 2008 at 6:49 pmOne word of advice McSame: If, by some miracle you and McWolfkiller are elected, and if on January 21 she comes into the Oval Office wearing a blue dress, by all means make sure your cardiologist is in the area before you unzip.
September 13th, 2008 at 6:52 pmFrom my yard I can see clouds during the day and stars at night.
I guess that makes me an aerospace engineer and a meteorologist…
(*Colbert-grab-hand*) “NASA, where’s my office?”
September 13th, 2008 at 6:56 pmtom Says:
“… straight from GDumbya!”
___________
Heh… Good Ole GDumbya… funny, how completely he’s dropped out of sight, and so fast, too. Mebbe we should bring him up a little more often. We don’t want the GOOP to ditch him too quickly now, do we?
Not that they’d want to or anything…
September 13th, 2008 at 6:56 pmWhat is sad is that their lies are working.
September 13th, 2008 at 6:58 pmDo you have any idea how much energy you use? Please inventory and reduce your consumption. It is easy and if we all do it, it adds up to real action…
September 13th, 2008 at 7:00 pmStrip of Iraq ‘on the verge of exploding :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091203584.html
Sarah will soon get a chance to dazzle the electorate with her foreign-policy expertise.
Or not.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:08 pmI can’t even believe the close fight this election is.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:09 pmCheck out my link, John.
How’s Sarah going to explain the nuances of our little quagmire, if she doesn’t understand them herself?
September 13th, 2008 at 7:10 pmdbadass, good point – everything we do adds up. My wife and I have reduced our consumption and are actually producers of electricity. We always end the year producing more electricity from our solar panels than we use. We also only have a 1.4kW system. Solar oven, solar hot water and using a clothes line have also reduced our other energy needs. And walking, biking and taking public transit also help. Hopefully this kind of thing will become mainstream.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:11 pmLie, lie, lie — it’s all they’ve got.
And the morons will fall for it. Sigh.
Let’s work on getting our vote out, people. We’re gonna need every one we can drag to the polls….
September 13th, 2008 at 7:12 pm“…there are no pathological lies, only pathological liars. And whether or not this is primary or secondary to another condition, it suggests a disorder that is either compulsive in nature or something akin to an impulse control disorder.
Although if it is true that some or all pathological liars are in fact unaware of their lies, something more fundamentally organic seems likely. Without evidence of compulsivity, excessive impulsivity, or brain dysfunction, habitual lying, no matter how grand, is not a symptom, syndrome, or diagnosis, but just plain lying.”
http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/content/full/33/3/350
from the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
And, that’s what is truly terrifying about this pair: the underlying, individual issues which compel them to repeatedly lie.
“What makes a behavior psychiatrically abnormal is not its degree or its purpose, but the extent to which the individual has power over it. For pathological lying to exist, therefore, the individual must lie despite himself, just as someone with an anxiety disorder cannot help feeling anxious.”
While not a psychiatrist who has examined either one of these crazies, it’s reasonable to presume from the available public evidence that neither one is likely a pathological liar, but rather, that each tells lies intentionally rather than as a result of being unable to control an impulse.
Let’s not give these two a free pass by labeling them ‘pathological’ liars when they appear, in fact, to being doing so intentionally, and not as a result of a psychiatric disorder.
They are simply LIARS. Serial liars, if you wish, but not pathological liars. Maybe a full psychiatric examination of each of them is in order, wether or not they win the election.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:14 pmMy 18-year-old son just said: “I want a vice-presidential candidate who is equally unqualified as me, so we can relate to each other.”
He’s gonna have to dumb-down significantly for that to happen.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:16 pmThe lies and ignorance are every utterance – its just staggering – who are these people?
September 13th, 2008 at 7:29 pm.
So what? Most people dont know how much energy Alaska produces. Ergo Sarah Palin is ready to be president
September 13th, 2008 at 7:29 pmIt would indeed appear as though the Republicans truly believe
They don’ need no stinkin facts!
September 13th, 2008 at 7:30 pmNice try JK, but the election is still a month and a half out, and the debates to come. Bring it on…
September 13th, 2008 at 7:31 pmThe Republic of Stupidity Says:
Heh… Good Ole GDumbya… funny, how completely he’s dropped out of sight, and so fast, too. Mebbe we should bring him up a little more often. We don’t want the GOOP to ditch him too quickly now, do we?
Not that they’d want to or anything…
The local paper does a sidebar every day called something like “newsmakers”, which is filled with little squibs about 2nd and 3rd rank news stories. Today’s sidebar was George W Bush! I don’t even remember what he did to get in the news, but I’m sure it was muy importante.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:33 pmJohn Kerry!:
Excellent!! You got here just in time. I just did some pastured chicken legs and rice with fried cabbage and fresh field corn as sides. I even made an sage butter for the corn. Wanna hang out and chat or are you too busy again?
….One of these days I am gonna have to call you a “big pussy”. I apologize in advance it is just one of those “as foretold by prophecy type things….
September 13th, 2008 at 7:45 pmhttp://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/524692.html
September 13th, 2008 at 7:55 pmJust more lies….this is all these dweebs know… they eat, drinks, sleep, breath and think lies….
And what makes it worse is that the public that these morons allegedly speak to actually believe the spew that comes from this Rovian machine…
The plan to dumb down america by the smear machine seems to have worked…
September 13th, 2008 at 8:30 pmPalin is an ignorant no-nothing. She has no idea even what a VP does (her own admission). It is absolutely astounding that Repubs are willing to put the safety & security of the U.S. in the hands of a woman who knows nothing, does nothing, & has totally NO idea about U.S. economics, national security, or anything else outside of her– what is it?? — 8,000 population that she governs. She is a total ignorant, misfit, power-monger, power-harasser. And a miserable sexist whiner. Did any of you listen to her interview?? (an interview that was vetted, questions given in advance, etc. bullsh*t interview– and even then, she sounded like an airhead idiot. Questions in advance & she blows it??) Palin is a stupid, out of touch, loser of a candidate. We have every right to ask her questions. She thinks she can be president!!!!! But she is clueless!! Please, voters, recognize Palin for the ignorant, uninformed, anti-U.S. person she is. Do you really want a stupid, clueless, ignoant person in chasrge again?? If so, you deserve every attack you get. You have no intelligence whatsoever.
September 13th, 2008 at 8:51 pmdbadass Says: “Do you have any idea how much energy you use? Please inventory and reduce your consumption.”
BD,
I know exactly how much energy I use each month, and I practice your conservation quite religiously. Unfortunately, the crooked bastards running our local electric cooperative are Republicans. My electric bill increased by 43.8% but the Cooperative didn’t raise their rates, so the scream and holler. They just “passed on” the increased costs of the electricity they bought from a “middle man” because of the increase in fuel costs. The problem I have is that the electricity they bought from the “middle man” comes from the generators at Davis Dam, owned by the same person that owns the Cooperative (ME, et al), run by government water from the Colorado River and it takes about 0.0000003 seconds to get the stuff from the dam to my house. Crooks and Liars, the whole bunch, out to steal you blind, so why bother until November. (By the way the Board of Directors just voted themselves a pay raise to cover the increased costs of their electricity.)
September 13th, 2008 at 9:08 pmdasm Says: “It is absolutely astounding that Repubs are willing to put the safety & security of the U.S. in the hands of a woman who knows nothing, does nothing, & has totally NO idea about U.S. economics, national security, or anything else…”
dasm, Why should this surprise you, after all we have been living (?) with this shit for almost 8 years except that to call Chicken George WTF a woman would insult every woman is this Country, if not the world.
September 13th, 2008 at 9:15 pmYou guys hear any gnats buzzing around here? Oh, never mind. Its only JOHN KERRY.
September 13th, 2008 at 9:39 pmOn second thought, wheres that can of Raid?
Expert texpert
choking smokers
don’t you think the joker laughs at you.
See how they run like pigs from a gun,
see how they snide.
I’m cryin.
JL
Unbelievable. She’s not even an e, might have to borrow an x just to make any sense.
September 13th, 2008 at 9:52 pmHe’s touting her as an expert to such an extreme that it boarders on lying. It’s at least misleading. McCain has lost all credibility and shows a lack of ability to pick competent people. He is just like bush. He doesn’t know what an expert is and I can’t trust anyhing he says.
September 13th, 2008 at 9:59 pmOn Wednesday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) defended Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s “experience does she have in the field of national security” by asserting that “she knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America.”
September 13th, 2008 at 10:17 pmDon’t extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof?
I would like to ask “expert” Scarah if she thinks the
earth is only 6000 years old where does she think oil
comes from? A gift from God?
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Mark Twain
September 13th, 2008 at 11:02 pmAlaska has as many residences as Munchin Land. she doesn’t know squat about Alaska. I bet she thinks DC is the capitol of Washington.
We had 8 years of inbred idiots, idiot policies, idiot tactics…idiots being idiots.
mcchimpy last joke on the repugs.
Only a racist would vote against their best interest or would vote for the looneypop kids.
Obama\Biden 08
September 13th, 2008 at 11:20 pmI like how repugs say she governs the largest state. Now really, who’s that stupid?
September 13th, 2008 at 11:25 pmWhen Gov. Sarah Palin was mayor of her hometown of Wasilla, the town forced sexual assault victims to foot the bill for their own rape kits, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Palin was in office for four years of the practice until it drew the ire of state lawmakers, who passed a bill to end it in 2000.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:42 pmsatirev Says:
btruthful: I don’t really think so. They’re still in the convention bounce and it’s crested. It always takes a few days for the lies to have their effect on the polls. If the media would do their job of “vetting truth” which should be their responsibility to the people, the race wouldn’t even be close.
I agree with you, it’s already is happening, she is just what they have a nerve to call Sen. Obama on; repugs are dead crazy wrong of course. her transparent shell just mended 18 million cracks hill thought she had created. plain has no substance and is a deliberated liar like her mates (todd and mcchimpy.)
mcchimpy wanted the stupidest person on earth and he found her in AK. I know mcchimpy is laughing his pale ass off when he sees all the yodels clapping like the old south.
Obama\Biden 08
September 13th, 2008 at 11:44 pmA landslide
Looks like McPalin are going to appear in joint appearances. She can’t hold her own in questioning – he can’t generate the attendance that she does – so they will appear together.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:46 pmThe Bobbsey twins. Neither one can stand alone.
When Palin was mayor and had rape victims pay for their own rape kits (could be $500) do you think it might be because rape kits include a pill to prevent conception?
September 13th, 2008 at 11:52 pmMarie Says: “She can’t hold her own in questioning – he can’t generate the attendance that she does…”
Marie, you have just answered a question that has been bothering me simce day one: Why? Now that you have offered the answer it is quite obvious to me why the ticket is now “McPimp and McBoobs.” THe only problem the Repukes have is that old wanna be “John” cun’t talk and drool at the same time.
September 14th, 2008 at 12:16 amNumber 53: Please pardon the typo: “simce” should be “since.” Any others, with the exception of “THe” instead of “The” aren’t typos.
September 14th, 2008 at 12:23 amPalin has gotten in over her head. It is a disgrace that McCain who continues to chant “Country Firts”, put Party first with the selection of Sarah Palin who is not qualified to be Vice President and more importantly President if something were to unfortunately happen to John McCain.
September 14th, 2008 at 2:28 amFirst let me say that I’m impressed by the level of discourse, and the quality of the jokes, on this site. lol
But I’m bummed, because the shocking and disgraceful campaign being led by the Republicans is a serious indictment of the American conservative electorate. America simply has not matured enough intellectually or ethically to reject, with a majority, the lying, cheating and manipulation of their partisan representatives.
What a drag this election is to watch. It should be so lopsided, based as it should be on merit, but the cult of personality and zombie partisanship are making it close.
Help, I’m trapped in badly drawn comic book!
September 14th, 2008 at 5:42 amPork Barrel Palin is proving to be a national embarrassment to women…she sure is no Hillary Clinton.
September 14th, 2008 at 6:43 amBut, Palin knows who’s on her enemies list!
September 14th, 2008 at 8:58 amIt’s clown politics, and I’m sick of it.
September 14th, 2008 at 9:43 amNone of this would work without a complicit press. If there were one–just one–morning talk show that sat there and mocked the Republicans and the MSM CW, it would be all over.
the most ludicrous part is that the party just turns on a dime and contradicts itself with a straight face. Experience counts! No it doesn’t! And everybody knows that if it had been Lieberman, it would have been experience, experience, experience from those exact same mouths.
Uf John McCain is elected President, the United States with default on its debt. If John McCain is elected we will lose our First World status. We’re already much of the way there.
What gives me hope is that, despite the media, it’s the issues that will determine whether they have a job, have a house, or be forced to declare bankruptcy because they went to the hospital.
There are signs of cracks in the media–I have no idea whether they’ll grow or be plastered over.
But on the one side we have people who have said here are the problems and this is what we’re going to do about it and this is how we’re going to pay for it, and the other side we have not just lipstick but greasepaint and clown shoes talking about sex education and lipstick on a pig and Jeremiah Wright, and a media looking at the clowns and saying how dignified they look.
I’m am sick of clown politics, and sick of clown broadcasting.
I don’t know, I for one am getting less and less scared of Palin at this point. I think most of the sidelined voters will make up their minds during the debates.
Frankly, I don’t know a single person who is unsure that is voting based on TV ads or interviews on news shows they never ever watch otherwise. Maybe it’s just my younger age group, I have no idea.
September 14th, 2008 at 11:30 amBeing ignorant would at least be an excuse , but get real, they know what they are saying are FACTS TO NOWHERE and when repeatedly asked did she ” keep the money ” her lapdog apologists lied by omission by not admitting the bridge money was kept and spent on other palin projects .
September 14th, 2008 at 3:53 pmHow easily she’s able to spin this fantasy about her track record, that I don’t think even the neocons could have trained her that quick , to falsify or exaggerate what she has done in Alaska . It seems to come as easy , as blowing the brains out of a wolf , from an Airplane .
The Republics don’t care about facts. How many of the “liberal” media sources pointed this out — Wash Post, NY Times? The corporate media just repeats what it hears from the RNC.
The Dems should hit her hard with this. Use Rove’s strategy of attacking them where they think they are strong. We need a Swift Energy for Truth squadron to find out what she really knows about energy, which I am sure is minuscule.
September 14th, 2008 at 6:36 pmI don’t care that much that she made this gaffe. I do care about this claim that she is an energy expert. Is there any substantiation of this claim anywhere? I’ve certainly seen no evidence of it. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
September 14th, 2008 at 6:54 pmThe whole McCain/Palin campaign is a lie…with this “energy expert” claim being the latest lie.
For instance, the McCain/Palin campaign freaked out when they saw the Drawing Power of Barack Obama at huge rallies, attracting tens of thousands to hear him speak, with Obama’s speech in Germany being the biggest example.
So, the McCain/Palin campaign responded with claims that Obama is a “celebrity” and is “uppity,” while at the same time exaggerating the “Drawing Power” of their own presidential candidate, inflating the number of attendees at McCain events, even lying about where they got their “tally.”
Everything, and I mean everything, about the McCain/Palin run for the White House is a LIE…just like the Bush/Cheney run in 2000.
September 14th, 2008 at 7:16 pmSarah Palin is as much of an “energy expert” as a speed-freak running a meth lab is an “energy expert.”
Oh, BTW, I read an article on-line the other day that reported that a couple of dozen meth lab busts have occurred in the Wasilla AK area recently, making Wasilla, I presume, the Meth Lab Capital of Alaska…meaning apparently that there’s a whole bunch of “energy experts” in that neck of the Alaskan woods.
September 14th, 2008 at 8:14 pmI don’t care that much that she made this gaffe. I do care about this claim that she is an energy expert.
The “gaffe” begets the ignorance of the claim that she is “expert”.
September 15th, 2008 at 9:36 amlink did not show up.
September 18th, 2008 at 11:07 pmAnyone’s words can be twisted. In that sense many folks writing in this blog can be called liars. Shall we have a detailed review of anyone’s yearly accomplishments submitted to their workplace for review publicly? How about challenged by someone who wants your position? Any takers? Casting stones is the easy thing to do.
The source that the campaign sites for the data is posted below. In the context of what she was talking about (oil & gas) it lines up with one data point below. The data also does not specify how much energy will be output from Alaska once the new natural gas pipeline is run to the mainland US.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:08 am