Palin's inflated resume is rapidly leaking air

This morning, NBC's "Today Show" took on four myths of Sarah Palin and debunked them all. The more you peel back the onion on Palin, the more it stinks. She seems to be nothing more than a figment of the campaign's imagination, conjured to fool women and working class voters into thinking she's their champion.

For starters, McCain referred to her as an energy wiz saying, "She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America."

Quite a claim. And in her first TV interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson, Palin described herself as "the Governor of this state that produces more than 20% of the U.S. domestic supply of energy." On the campaign trail this week she refined the statement to say, "My job has been to oversee nearly 20% of the U.S. domestic supply of oil and gas."

The truth is Alaska accounts for only 3.5% of America's total energy output and 7.5% of its oil and gas.

When it comes to her foreign policy credentials, Palin admitted to Charlie Gibson that she had not met with any foreign leaders, saying:

"I have not. And I think if you go back in history and ask that question of many Vice Presidents, they may have the same answer as I just gave you."

Actually, every single VP candidate of a major party since Pearl Harbor has had significant exposure to foreign leaders with two exceptions: Spiro Agnew, Nixon's embattled VP who resigned, and Sarah Palin.

Palin's travel record isn't all its cracked up to be either. As reported earlier in this blog, Palin originally inflated her foreign travel experience to include a trip to Iraq. The McCain camp later backtracked and said she visited a border crossing there. The Alaska National Guard has since confirmed that she never set foot in Iraq.

The most oft-repeated tale has been Palin's story about telling Congress "thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere." The fact is, she took the money and still has it. The original bridge project was killed after Congress pulled its support following the public outcry of wastefulness. But under Palin's direction, the Alaska Department of Transportation is still investigating several alternative bridge projects using federal earmarked dollars.