but Tails comes with Electrum pre-installed on it so you can't verify Electrum's signature anymore as far as i know because it is already extracted.
You can download Electrum, put it on a USB and run this version instead of the one that is pre-installed. Or you can put it in Tails' persistent storage if you use it.
besides isn't it harder to use persistence with Tails that is designed by default not to leave anything behind? and if you want to use it installed on a USB to be used as the cold storage then you need persistence.
To me the amnesia feature is actually the biggest appeal of Tails, because it helps mitigate a theoretical airgap-jumping malware. I always transfer the unsigned transactions first, then I insert my USB with Electrum and wallet files and sign the transaction. After that I broadcast a transaction with mobile version of Electrum by scanning its QR code. This way, my keys are even less exposed than with persistent storage.
I agree. Since my cold storage device will never connect to the internet, then I do not need most of the things that Tails provides. A general OS with full disk encryption provides better usability and better security.
With my first cold storage setups I tried Ubuntu and Mint, and I've ran into issues with drivers and lack of a Python installation on the latter. Tails worked out of the box, and pre-installed Electrum is a bonus. It's true that you have to trust them with it, but you have to trust them on a bigger scale anyway - if OS authors wanted to steal coins, they would do it with or without malicious wallet software.