While no one knows who first uttered the sentiment "It's better to say nothing and seem a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt," Republican presidential hopeful John McCain's speech this week on climate change certainly supports the phrase's validity.

McCain spoke at the facilities of Vestas Wind Technology, an Oregon-based firm that manufactures wind-power systems. The irony of the setting was rich given McCain's outspoken opposition to pork-barrel spending.

He even risked his presidential hopes by criticizing ethanol subsidies ahead of the all-important Iowa caucuses. Next to solar power, however, wind power is the most heavily subsidized form of energy.

Taxpayers cough up an astounding $23.37 per megawatt hour of electricity produced, according to the Wall Street Journal. In contrast, coal and natural gas are only subsidized to a tune of 44 cents and 25 cents, respectively.

McCain lauded wind as a "predictable source of energy." He must have missed this Feb. 27 headline from Reuters: "Loss of wind causes Texas power grid emergency." The electric grid operator was forced to curtail 1,100 megawatts of power to customers within 10 minutes.

"Our economy depends upon clean and affordable alternatives to fossil fuels," McCain stated.

What he's talking about is not quite clear since our current economy is about 75 percent dependent on fossil fuels and will remain that way for at least the next 25 years, as solar and wind technologies remain only marginal sources of energy.

If anything, we are likely to be even more dependent on fossil fuels in the future as nuclear power, which provides about 20 percent of our electricity, shrinks in availability as a supply of energy.

Although our energy needs are ever-growing, construction of nuclear power plants is not keeping pace - not one has come online in the last 30 years. Even if a few nuke plants are constructed during the next decades, they will not supply enough power to keep nuclear power at the 20 percent level.

McCain then demonstrated how little he knows about the science of global warming.

Editor's note: Steven Milloy's full piece can be read by clicking on the below link.