Ah, good times, good times.
Turns out the Governor of Alaska knows so little about energy, she wildly exaggerated her own state’s energy production in that now-regrettable interview with Charlie Gibson. Palin claimed that Alaska "produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy." But the most recent figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show the figure is more like 3.4 percent.
Palin wasn’t even close. Not even in the ballpark.
The AP suggests that the McCain-Palin campaign got that figure from the Resource Development Council for Alaska’s website, in which it states
"Alaska's oil and gas industry has produced more than 16 billion barrels of oil and 6 billion cubic feet of natural gas, accounting for an average of 20 percent of the entire nation's domestic production."
But they failed to read the fine print. That figure
is an average for what the state was producing throughout the 1980s and 1990s — long before Palin became governor at the end of 2006 — and production has steadily declined in recent years.
Good grief. Do these people not check any of their facts?
Apparently not:
To repeat: This assertion from the McCain/Palin campaign is demonstrably false, based on U.S. government sources. It's been debunked several times. And yet they keep repeating it.
Why repeat lies? McCain spokesman Brian Rogers offered some insight in a quote to Politico: "We're running a campaign to win. And we're not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it."
Geez. Put team McCain-Palin in charge and who knows: we might even invade the wrong country.
