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  • min

    Charlie Rose chats with pre-VP-candidate Sarah Palin

    Since everyone seems obsessively interested in Sarah Palin these days, here she is in Charlie Rose’s “Green Room,” saying, among other things, that Alaska’s oil can revitalize our economy and give us energy independence, which is of course, um, false: And here’s a full hour of Charlie Rose with Ariz. governor Janet Nepolitano and Palin: […]

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    Grist talks to Jim DiPeso of Republicans for Environmental Protection

    David and I talked to Jim DiPeso, policy director of Republicans for Environmental Protection, while we were covering the Republican National Convention this week. The group endorsed John McCain way back in October, and despite the addition of the less-than-green Sarah Palin to the GOP ticket, DiPeso said his group stands by McCain. We caught […]

  • Palin’s ‘energy expertise’

    Alaska is basically a petrostate — to the extent oil prices rise, it benefits. Thus politicians in Alaska develop a very sophisticated ability to encourage Alaskan energy exploration and to use the resulting revenue to garner support among their constituents. It’s difficult to see how that sort of “expertise” is going to translate to the […]

  • min

    The dynamic behind the GOP’s mockery of community organizing

    Lots of folks have been talking (angrily) about Wednesday night’s GOP effort to make “community organizer” an object of mockery — see, for instance, Joe Klein, Chris Hayes, Sally Kohn, and the excellent Jay Smooth: This is all right on, but I think one aspect is being overlooked, one contrast between community organizers and mayors […]

  • Most revealing Palin energy whopper: Iran could cut off a fifth of the world’s energy supplies

    Palin’s full speech contained yet another energy lie, one that is very revealing: To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of the world’s energy supplies … Not even close. Yes, if you live in a world where the only energy source is oil, then the Persian Gulf countries […]

  • In her big speech, Palin repeats the GOP’s big energy lie — plus three other energy lies

    Excerpts from Palin’s big speech: Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems — as if we all didn’t know that already. But the fact that drilling won’t solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all. Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we’re […]

  • Note to media: Pork queen Palin is an earmark expert, not an energy expert

    If you google “Palin ‘energy expert,'” you’ll find more than 10,000 hits. It’s no surprise that conservative shills like George Pataki and Haley Barbour use that label — heck, a major conservative talking point is that she’s a foreign-policy expert because “Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia,” as Cindy McCain put […]

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    VP acceptance speech hits on energy issues

    Sarah Palin. Photo: johnmccain.com Sarah Palin’s much-anticipated VP acceptance speech on Wednesday night included a lot of energy talk — and extensive criticism of Barack Obama. “We are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and a servant’s heart,” she said. “I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this […]

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    Truth about oil support is blurred in new McCain ad

    Before Sarah Palin’s VP nomination acceptance speech tonight, the McCain campaign released a new ad, “Alaska Maverick.” It compares Palin to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama: “She has a record of bi-partisan reform,” it says. “He’s the Senate’s ‘most liberal.'” “She took on the oil producers,” it continues. “He gave big oil billions in subsidies […]