Song for Sarah, and other Election Day bits

In honor of the election watched 'round the world, here is this mildly entertaining contribution to the online body of material (growing fast, but probably with a short shelf life) poking fun at Sarah Palin. It seems to be by a couple of faux Russians, presumably based somewhere in the Lower 48:

If actual Russians could vote, it appears that they would support Obama but be somewhat indifferent, unlike the rest of the world, which seems to favor Obama by a landslide - well, except for Georgia (but see here) and Israel.

The preference for Obama is not shared by Russians who have emigrated to America, reports Ekho Moskvy - they overwhelmingly support McCain. Eugene Ivanov of the Ivanov Report eloquently presents the minority perspective of a pro-Obama Russian-American.

And yes, I know the difference between online polls and actual polls - RIA Novosti has a more advanced take on the traditional online poll, providing visitors with an opportunity to vote "Yes" or "No" on certain key campaign statements supposedly made by the candidates (you vote on each statement without being told which candidate made it).

Users are then told which of the candidates their responses suggest they support. What's interesting about the statements presented is that I doubt some of them ever passed either of the candidates' lips as presented, and a couple even seem a bit like "push-polling" questions. Plus, most of them deal with the US-Russian relationship, which wasn't exactly the focus of the campaign (though I understand why it's the focus of RIAN's fun app). Anyway, the RIAN thing can't be right, because it told me I am torn between McCain and Obama:


On a tangentially related note, by strange coincidence this is the second (presidential) Election Day in a row I'm spending in London. This morning we went to the US Embassy to receive some unrelated American Citizen Services and dropped off our absentee ballots for delivery to the motherland. Unfortunately, no matter who the next president is, I doubt he'll be able to reinvent the world so that our diplomats in friendly nations no longer feel they have to live in bunkers.

And on a barely related note, I wanted to send a congratulatory shout-out to the good people at Global Voices, who received a much more substantial shout-out last week - from the Washington Post - for their excellent Voices Without Votes project.

[update Nov 5] Thank goodness for MSNBC's internet-accessible election coverage. Without it, there is no way I would have been able to stay up into the wee hours of the morning to see McCain concede and Obama orate. Chris Matthews may be annoying, but he's nowhere near as annoying as watching Brits try to fill airtime talking about US politics with D-list "experts."

Here is further confirmation that there is "no Obamamania in Russia" (and I'm not referring to Medvedev welcoming Barry to president-elect status by announcing missile deployments). And some thoughts about the contest from Ukraine.

[update Nov 7] Here is an interesting compilation of Russian elite opinion soundbites from Kommersant-Vlast.