Eh, 20 percent, 3.5 percent, who's counting?

McCain/Palin energy lie about Alaska the latest to come in for media scrutiny 7

In her Friday interview with Charlie Gibson, Sarah Palin said that Alaska "produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy." McCain has said the same thing -- in an interview with Univision that aired Friday, he said, "Alaska supplies 20 percent of America's energy." It's clearly an established campaign talking point.

Thing is, it's false. FactCheck.org debunks it here. Alaska is responsible for 3.5 percent of domestic energy production, and 2.4 percent of the energy consumed in the U.S. Even if you conflate "energy" with "oil and gas" -- as the campaign clearly intends -- the claim doesn't add up: The state produces 14 percent of U.S. oil and about 2 percent of U.S. natural gas.

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."

Will the aggressive, unapologetic lying work? There's some evidence the dynamic is shifting. The Obama campaign released a blistering memo fact-checking a whole series of McCain campaign claims, which got picked up by several campaign reporters. The New York Times had a front-page story on Friday on McCain's "distortions." The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and Bloomberg have recently run harsh stories on the campaign's knowingly-false statements (MSM still has trouble with the "lie" word). First Read says the wheels may be coming off the Straight Talk Express. And there's this:

David Roberts is staff writer for Grist. You can follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/drgrist.

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  1. Spearhead Posted 6:08 am
    15 Sep 2008

    Nice rounding skillsIt's nice to see some fact checking... keep it up!  Unfortunately, I'd be surprised if more than .5% of the voting population picks up on this, but that's besides the point.
    I guess Republican's don't know how to round either.  Imagine if the IPCC rounded any of their projections up 40%.  I imagine the Republican's would be all over that.
    Ugh, for someone who sits on the right end of the spectrum, the GOP really digusts me.

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  2. wesrolley Posted 7:25 am
    15 Sep 2008

    McCain policiesThere are several things at work here.  Since they knew they were going to lie, and they knew that some in the media were going to call them on it, it was only natural that they began with an attack on the media, right form the convention speeches.  Now, when the media issues its fact checking correction, they can say ... "I told you the liberal media would be against us."
    The days of Great Republicans, like Lincoln Chaffee and Pete McCloskey are over.  Of course, Chaffee is now an independent and McCloskey registered Dem.



    Wes Rolley



    CoChair - EcoAction Committee

    Green Party US

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  3. jaimegutierrez Posted 12:24 pm
    15 Sep 2008

    20% of US crude oil comes from AlaskaJust digging into this myself, and it seems that 20% of US Crude Oil comes from Alaska and off-shore Alaska.
    http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_crd_crpdn_adc_mbblp ...
    Of course, it's a stretch to equate energy with oil, but that's really where our foreign dependence is greatest. Alaska does play a significant roll when it comes to our oil.

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  4. Pangolin's avatar

    Pangolin Posted 12:51 pm
    15 Sep 2008

    Why not lie?The televised media won't correct these lies while the lies will be supported by advertising from industry. When the bulk of your populace doesn't bother to read any kind of text-based news there isn't any requirement to tell the truth.
    The US populace thinks that it's acceptable to be stupid. What they don't get is that reality is always going to find the weakness of an inattentive system and consume it.

    Put the Carbon Back

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  5. amazingdrx Posted 2:17 pm
    15 Sep 2008

    So AlaskaOnly produces 4.8% of the oil we use?  And 14% of the oil the US produces.  But Palin is an oil expert, as governor of Alaska, even after she claims Alaska produces 20% of uS energy supplies?
    That's a real rookie mistake for an expert.  Kind of like all the other mistakes she seems to make.  
    Trying to fire her ex-brother-in-law using her influence as governor, then firing the guy who resused the order to fire him, then covering it up.
    Lying about the bridge to nowhere, and selling the government jet, and firing the chef.  And still repeating the lies to this day, even after they were exposed.
    She's no expert at anything relating to her prospective position as VP.  Remember duuhbya was supposed to be an oil bizz expert too.

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

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  6. redhairing Posted 11:10 am
    16 Sep 2008

    Obama adThat's the hardest attack ad I've seen from Obama so far.  The gloves are off now, it appears.

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  7. amazingdrx Posted 2:18 pm
    16 Sep 2008

    600 million dollar bridge to Wasillahttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080916/ap_on_el_pr/palin_bri ...
    Palin supports this one, it reduces the avergae Wasilla resident's commute from 35 minutes to 24 minutes.  Wasilla has 8000 people.
    Your tax dollars (borrowed from China) at work.
    And it threatens endangered Beluga whales.
    Yep it's Sarah fighting corruption as usual!

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

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