September 4, 2008

Hello Sarah Palin, Goodbye ANWR

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Doublemountain.jpg Republican delegates in St. Paul this week believe Sarah Palin could provide the tipping point on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Washington Wire blog points out that Palin fiercely advocates drilling in ANWR. All the while McCain’s been running scared on the issue and the Republican platform has been treating it with caribou-kid gloves.

Palin, talking to CNBC in July about John McCain said: “He’s right on war, he’s right on with energy independence measures that need to be taken. Wrong on ANWR, but we’re still working on that one.” Palin’s place on the ticket “gives us the opportunity to have a live, walking platform to advocate for the development of our oil and gas resources,” said Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Henry J. Pulizzi and Siobhan Hughes.

So, Hurricane Bristol aside, Troopergate aside, Policegate aside, this global-warming-doubter-soccer-mom is a menace to the future of life on this planet. McCain’s VP choice is 100-proof evidence that he’s a really bad decider.

Julia Whitty is Mother Jones’ environmental correspondent, lecturer, and 2008 winner of the Kiriyama Prize and the John Burroughs Medal Award.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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