Palin the energy expert

Palin has said over and over again that she is an expert on energy [just like the Dick Cheney] and that's why she should be elected president ... oops, I mean vice-president...Well, at least 'til god does in ol' John and puts her into the White House...

Salon.com has a terrific article about Sarah's energy expertise.

When sitting for the ABC interview with Charles Gibson, Sarah said: "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." [Charlie? Does she know him well enough to call him 'Charlie'? And is she implying she has no other 'credentials' and what 'table' is she talking about -- her kitchen table?]

Notice that Sarah is again, while nearly incoherent, a deep and dark liar: She hasn't been governor for "years" but for less than two "years." And the state of Alaska does NOT produce "nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy!

Salon.com quotes FactCheck.org. Alaska produces under three percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy. Palin later changed that statement to read that it is her job "to oversee nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of oil and gas." Again, a lie. "Alaska accounted for just 7.4 percent of total U.S. oil and gas production in 2005."


What about Sarah's touted "expertise?" Salon.com describes a little "question and answer" session when Palin was telling her lies in Michigan. The question had to do with keeping "all that oil we're going to drill" here in the good ol' U.S. of A rather than exporting it to other countries.

Palin, cheerleader style, responded: "Oil of coal, of course, is a fungible commodity and they don't flag, ya know, the molecules where, where it's going to, where it's not, but and in the, in the sense of the Congress today they know our very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first. So I believe that what Congress is going to do also is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it's Americans who get stuck holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here; it's gotta flow into our domestic markets first."

If that counts as expertise, we've got a problem, Houston! "Oil of coal"? And why the hell does she talk about "molecules?" The sentence about export bans makes very little sense and contradicts what she is likely trying to say.

But, discounting her inability to string a few sentences together into an understandable paragraph, does Palin know what she's talking about?

Nah. In 2007, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that the U.S. exported 27,000 barrels of crude oil a day. As Salon.com notes, "That's compared with 13,500,000 barrels of crude oil a day that we imported.

And...all of the crude oil we exported was sent to Canada! All 27,000 barrels. Wait. We imported 2,455,000 barrels of oil a day FROM Canada.

Yet Sarah, the energy policy "expert" thinks its incredibly important to ban oil exports.


Here's the thing. At an Ohio campaign stop, Palin informed the crowd that, if she and ol' John were elected, she'd be in charge of our nation's energy initiatives. She and John agreed, she said, that as vice president, she would "help to lead the mission of energy security."

Now, don't you feel better? No? Take a few motrin or valium and wait until November 4. If Palin/McCain win, call your doctor or move to Canada.