Drill, baby, drill: Palin spends last days in office Twittering about oil
As the seas of controversy - and climate change - rise around her, Sarah Palin spends her time Tweeting about oil and the ANWR.
By Stephanie RogersThu, Jul 23 2009 at 11:03 AM EST
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Photo: Twitter In Sarah Palin’s own mind, she’s a fierce mother bear, acting on a guttural raw instinct to protect and provide for her young – who apparently include not only her own children but all of the “real Americans” out there who share her conservative views. But Palin no longer sees politics as the best way to do this – or so she says. As she leaves office this weekend, her next step remains unclear, but one thing’s for sure: She’s not letting go of her pro-domestic-oil-drilling stance anytime soon.
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The embattled soon-to-be-former Governor of Alaska has been implicated in an ethics violation concerning her use of a legal defense fund in the 19th such complaint against her, but she doesn’t appear to be too concerned. Indeed, Palin is spending her last days in office penning half-baked op-eds on climate change legislation and Twittering about the amazing qualities of mother bears, drilling for oil and freedom-related song lyrics.
Palin’s editorial appeared in the July 14th edition of The Washington Post, slamming Obama’s “cap and tax” energy plan without ever mentioning the phrases ‘global warming’, ‘climate change’ or ‘carbon emissions’. The op-ed was eviscerated by climate experts, journalists and Palin’s fellow politicians for being long on oft-repeated falsehoods and short on actual knowledge about climate, with The Huffington Post wondering whether The Washington Post can ever recover from this hit to its reputation.
Congressman Edward Markey, co-author of the energy bill that Palin was attempting to discredit, took to The Daily Beast to clear up a few things in a piece titled "Palin vs. The Planet". Noting that Palin’s beloved home state is on the front lines of climate change in America, Markey takes the governor to task on her apparent failure to understand what the bill is about.
"The governor does not understand that Waxman-Markey is not a tax bill—as we explicitly rejected the carbon tax option in favor of a smart cap on pollution with price protections for consumers and businesses that will grow our economy and create jobs.She argues for more drilling as a solution to our energy crisis. But that math doesn’t add up. The United States possesses only three percent of the world’s oil reserves, yet we consume 25 percent of the world’s oil. OPEC, in contrast, controls two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves. Geological reality, not Waxman-Markey, is what is making energy “scarcer and more expensive.”That is why we need to develop American-made alternatives to our nation’s current foreign dependency. No matter how hard she looks, Gov. Palin is not going to find enough oil in Alaska to feed our country’s insatiable appetite for energy."
But even as Palin prepares to leave office she continues to talk up a natural gas pipeline in Alaska that may or may not ever be built, as well as the virtues of drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, in strings of semi-connected tweets that sometimes take up to thirty minutes to complete. On July 23rd Palin used her Twitter account to trump one of her final acts as governor – signing a resolution she describes as “pro-ANWR/pro-Alaska/pro-Energy Independence.”
Palin’s scattered, rambling tweets resemble nothing so much as the incoherent ramblings of a certain famous rock widow – which is probably not the effect that one of the nation’s most notorious political figures should be aiming for. Luckily for her, another conservative governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, used Twitter to post a video message in which he talks about the budget crisis while waving around a two-foot knife, making her look a little more balanced.
And what does Palin care, if she truly has no intent to stay in politics? As conservative media figures like Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly have proven, sometimes shrill, fact-challenged rants and incoherent ramblings can translate into big ratings. If the mysterious venture that Palin is about to dive into involves becoming an even bigger conservative celebrity – which seems likely – she’s already primed for stardom.
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Comments
Bob
06/04/2010 19:09 PM
This statement kills her future political career if by some chance she still had one. The reason this happened is of course, because some American oil company wasn't drilling in ANWR. BP wouldn't have been drilling in this one spot in the Gulf of Mexico along with 4000 other rigs, none of which would be out there. We'd survive purely on ANWR, where no problems would ever occur.... of course she said no problems would ever occur on off-shore drilling either!
Randall Thorpe
07/25/2009 09:49 AM
Thank you for the lovely photos of Sensational Sarah. She will generate much excitement, and the usual commentary, during the nest 18 months.
Rickster
07/24/2009 20:20 PM
I am glad to see her exit the stage. I am sure that no matter what she tries to do next it will be a failure and that her past misdeads will catch up with her.
I knew this woman was a fraud ten minutes after her name was announced. all I had to do was read an interview she gave up there in Alaska about the birth of Trig. Talk about a phony baloney story.
Anonymous
07/24/2009 14:02 PM
Palin embodies the perfect example of political schadenfreude. Love it.
KarenJ
07/24/2009 11:50 AM
Most of the comment by "Eric" (Ericinmiami, is that you?) @ Thu, Jul 23 2009 at 6:16 PM EST is not true.
The ethics violation filed by Kim Chatman is alive and well, and the findings by the Alaska Personnel Board investigator is FINAL. How do we know this? Because the report went to the governor and to the complaintant July 14th -- which is the procedure AFTER interviews are done, and conclusions reached.
Palin sat on the (negative, for her) findings for a week, mulling over.... More
Kringle
07/24/2009 10:50 AM
Regardless of the science behind our global weather trends, it is clear to observe that petroleum-based products are bad for the environment. Those industries, through energy usage, through materials usage (plastics), through the petro-chemical usage (pharma), are lethal to life. Politicians are petroleum puppets and their corruptions are becoming more and more obvious to anyone with half a mind. Trace the money.
Stephanie Rogers
07/24/2009 08:54 AM
I know it's not clear from the article, but "guttural raw instinct" is actually a quote from Sarah Palin's Twitter stream.
genecar
07/23/2009 20:45 PM
Faced with a boom in oil prices, Governor Palin held down the Alaska State budget, and poured the surpluses into massive state savings accounts. And so, Alaska is one of the most fiscally sound states, unlike California which is broke.
Titletown
07/23/2009 20:38 PM
Complete joke of an article, pure left-wing screeching.
- "Implicated in an ethics violation" - Which is ongoing with no final ruling, already have blown up in the face of her accuser
- "Cap and tax" - There's nothing pro-environmental about this garbage, global warming is based on false pretenses designed for government to exert more control over people's lives
- "Markey takes the Governor to task" - LOL! So a Mass. Congressman knows more about a state than someone who grew.... More
Eric
07/23/2009 18:16 PM
Doesn't anyone else see the "apples to oranges" comparison logic you're making here? Doesn't anyone take "Critical Thinking 101" anymore?
Again, sad...
Anonymous
07/23/2009 18:12 PM
Wow u just can't get over the fact that palin is a strong woman who hunts. By the way the only big game she hunts is moose n caribou, her father shoot the bear in her office. You got a problem take it out with the right person. Also if u havnt read alaskas procedures for killin wolves u should. They only shoot them in prb areas and a set amount and only a select few r allowed to hunt frm helicopters.I'm pretty sure the palins don't make the list.
Anonymous
07/24/2009 13:47 PM
The wolf killing is not as "controlled" as yo make it out to be -- whole families and packs have been obliterated -- and for what? the professional guiding industry -- even tho there is NO correlation (sorry for the big words) between the wolf population and any perceived (but non-existant) reduction in big game populations -- and
ALL of the shootings have been done via aircraft -- fixed wing and helicopters.
Even the pilots involved have registered disgust at what is.... More
Lower48
07/23/2009 17:26 PM
Is it true that Palin is proposing sharing the Alaska's oil dividend with all the states. As a conservative, I am usually opposed to this form of socialism -- taking money from capitalists and redistributing it to the people -- but if I get some, I can be flexible on that issue.
Anonymous
07/23/2009 17:22 PM
But Sarah, even a fierce mother bear doesnt shoot ENTIRE wolf families from the air!
And 5:03? Better get some facts; The House of Saud has more stock in Enron and Conoco than anyone else! Do you think they CARE where the billions in profits come from?
Do you think they do not laugh as we destroy our environment because we are led by 11th-century thinkers like Sarah?
Thats like asking if Sarah cares about wildlfe! HA!
What a deluded, frightening and sick human Palin is..... More
Anonymous
07/23/2009 17:03 PM
The House of Saud prospers when fools like you spout your anti-oil, watermelon (green-on-the-outside, red-on-the-inside) tripe. Wussybamians drive up the cost of oil with their anti-oil machinations, which beneifts the Saudis and radical islamists. WTG!
Anna
07/23/2009 16:26 PM
I'm sure she'll make lots of $$$ working for the petroleum industry, since it appears she already is :) Drill more for the little that's up there, and destroy the environment. If she loves bears, maybe she should try and save some before they're gone, like polar bears. Never mind, she's up in a helicopter again....
Is she medicated??? That might explain her incoherency....
Anonymous
07/23/2009 16:18 PM
Mmm. Oil! Forget that entire communities in my state are having to relocate because of global warming and rising sea levels. Drill MORE. That's the ticket, baby. A healthy future for my babies' babies? They can deal with it when it gets there.
