THEY MISUNDERESTIMATED ME

It is said the US President Barack Obama has no love for the British. I know not whether that is true but he certainly has a command of the Queen’s English. He is a fine orator so can talk the talk and his writings would indicate he can walk the walk too.

Enter stage far right the woman who would replace him as president in 2012 – Sarah Palin. A challenger she may wish to be but she is certainly challenged. This twit, surely the name for a person who Tweets, wrote at the weekend the non-word “refudiate” when she clearly meant “repudiate”. However when her mistake was picked up by those who monitor her Twitterings rather than hold up her hand and say it was a typing error she claimed it was a new word.

She had even more scorn poured on her when she later Tweeted in her own defence: “Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!” The literati presumed she was putting herself on a pedestal beside the Great Bard Will. Not so - she had merely jumped up on a bar stool alongside Chuck Shakespeare who held court in the One Eyed Moose in Beaver, Alaska and spouted nonsense in to the spittoon.

Everybody I have spoken to about Sarah Palin –men and women – insist the American people would never be so stupid as to elect her to the top office in their land. Surely they wouldn’t hand her the crown so far denied to the highly talented Hilary Clinton? Well as Obama told us “Yes we can” and if you want further proof of what damage the US voters can inflict on themselves (and us) look no further than George W Bush.

Logic says that George W Bush should never have been anything more than a middle ranking oil exec. Yet he was governor of Texas and thanks to those hanging chads went on to be a two term US President.

He and Palin would make good Twitter companions. Remember it was George who told us: “Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream” and “I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family” and least we forget “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.” It is obvious there is nothing he can teach Palin that she doesn’t know already.

So it would be a brave man or woman who would bet against Sarah Palin being the first woman in the White House as president. As George W Bush reminded us: “They misunderestimated me.” Let us not make the same mistake with the Number One Dude’s better half.

TAKING THE “PE” OUT OF FOXY SARAH PALIN

As the wind and rain howled around my zone of Spain yesterday the power kept going off. Rather like the world finance markets I guess. To keep in touch with the economic trends, as power was restored for a few minutes, I’d zap around the TV stations – BBC World, CNN, Sky News and Fox.

I was rather puzzled that every time I arrived at Fox the economic crisis didn’t get a mention. Instead it was concentrating on that day’s theme – is Barack Obama linked to terrorists? They even dragged out a retired cop who gave us his view of world terrorism no doubt as seen through the bottom of a glass in a Bronx or Brooklyn watering hole.

There too was Sarah Palin revealing the low down on Obama’s alleged links to radical professor William Ayers.

This morning it all became clear. Turning on Sky News it reported that an Alaska ethics inquiry had found that Governor Sarah Palin had abused her authority by pressuring subordinates to fire a state trooper involved in a feud with her family.

Fox, bless it, was merely laying the ground in a clumsy attempt to divert our attention. Unfortunately it was “off-message” because on the same day McCain was desperately trying to back track assuring his bewildered supporters that Obama was a "decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States."

Fox prides itself on being “fair and balanced”. Of course it is – all shades of Republican views are catered for. Democratic views aren’t worth a dime, which puts them slightly ahead of the US economy.

Meanwhile actress Penélope Cruz has said in a magazine interview that Barack Obama has to win the Presidential election – he is “intelligent, prepared and open.” Just why a Spanish film star was giving her views on US politics to an Italian magazine I’m not too sure – but that’s the global village for you!

Penélope is affectionately known as “Pe” in Spain, which is rather unfortunate when given the Anglo-Saxon pronunciation. She says that if the McCain and Palin ticket win the elections – she will cry for hours. No doubt Hollywood will at last reward her with the long lusted for Oscar! However in the coming days be preparing for the “Pe” to be taken out of Palin, but not on Fox.