The Washington Post has a nice fact-check piece on Sarah Palin's claim Alaska produces "nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy." This, it turns out, is not true. It's not near true. It's not good friends with true. It doesn't go to parties with true, and occasionally sleep with true when it gets lonely. Rather, it's false. Here's a chart laying out US energy production:
3.5 percent. That's Alaska's contribution to our national energy situation. Indeed, based on this, George W. Bush is rather better qualified to handle America's energy crisis. Also based on this, Sarah Palin, whom John McCain has said knows more about energy than probably anyone in the United States of America," doesn't actually know how much energy her own state produces. Of course she then updated her remarks: When she said "energy," she didn't mean "energy." She meant "the U.S. domestic supply of oil and gas." Fair enough. Except Alaska only produces 7.4 percent of that. So that's two wrong energy claims on the central fact of Alaskan energy production, which is supposed to be the central proof of her readiness for office. To make this a bit starker, here's a graph:
The final line of the Washington Post fact-check is, incidentally, a classic of the genre. "The McCain-Palin campaign did not respond to a request for an explanation," they say.
3.5 percent. That's Alaska's contribution to our national energy situation. Indeed, based on this, George W. Bush is rather better qualified to handle America's energy crisis. Also based on this, Sarah Palin, whom John McCain has said knows more about energy than probably anyone in the United States of America," doesn't actually know how much energy her own state produces. Of course she then updated her remarks: When she said "energy," she didn't mean "energy." She meant "the U.S. domestic supply of oil and gas." Fair enough. Except Alaska only produces 7.4 percent of that. So that's two wrong energy claims on the central fact of Alaskan energy production, which is supposed to be the central proof of her readiness for office. To make this a bit starker, here's a graph:
The final line of the Washington Post fact-check is, incidentally, a classic of the genre. "The McCain-Palin campaign did not respond to a request for an explanation," they say. 
