– Mon Nov 8, 3:17 am ET
New York – American commentators hang on the former Alaska governor's every word. What do foreign pundits have to say about her?
Sarah Palin makes headlines in American newspapers nearly every time she expresses an opinion, whether it is as a Fox News contributor or tireless Twitter-user and Facebooker. But the former GOP vice presidential candidate's countrymen aren't the only ones obsessed with her — she gets nearly as much attention overseas as she does at home. Here are some uniquely foreign takes on the Tea Party queen:
Spain: We need a Sarah Palin figure
Sarah Palin has given America a fresh start, says Eulogio Lopez in Hispanidad. Washington has been "perverted, not only by Obama's Democrats," but by the political hacks running the Republican "machine." The principles that are being revived by Palin and the Tea Party — cutting public spending, shrinking the state, and abolishing abortion — are things we have lost in Spain, too. We could sure use somebody like Sarah Palin here.
Russia: Palin is an embarrassment — but who are we to talk
Sarah Palin is turning American politics into a "spectacle," says Mark H. Teeter at The Moscow News. It is shocking that the "unemployed" Palin is actually considering a run for president — she failed both as a vice presidential candidate and as "governor of a state with fewer citizens than caribou." But Russia recently silenced its own "mad tea party" when the government removed corrupt Mayor Yury Luzhkov from office. So maybe there's hope for the U.S., too.
Germany: Palin is the Lady Gaga of the Right
"Palin is the perfect Lady Gaga for the new Republican platform," says Ralph Sina on Tagesschau.de (German language). Like the pop icon, she is "a visually interesting piece of art," always ready to rant against the establishment "for a fee," and a "self-marketing genius." It's incredible that she could run for president — but then, in crisis-struck America, "almost nothing is impossible."
Pakistan: Palin is the real first lady
Michelle Obama was recently named the most powerful woman in the world, says Fifi Haroon at The Express Tribune. For what, "playing wifey?" Although I dislike Palin's "roguish opportunism," the Alaskan conservative's "incessant Tea Partying and successful power-brokering in the Republican primaries establish her as a woman of real power in a way Michelle Obama simply cannot rival." Her "pea-sized" grasp of foreign affairs is irrelevant.
Argentina: Our president could take a leaf out of Palin's book
If only our own president, Cristina Kirchner, were as tough as Sarah Palin, says James Neilson at the Buenos Aires Herald. Kirchner whines when she is criticized in the press — she has even proposed nationalizing the media, presumably to make journalists play nicer. Palin takes "a ferocious verbal pounding" in the media nearly every day, but she takes it in stride. A "rambunctious press" is good for democracy — and so is a leader who can stand up to it.
