Palin: outshone by Beck and ‘unfit’ to be president

A new poll claims that 59 per cent of Americans think Sarah Palin is unfit to be president of the United States. The bad news comes after the former vice-presidential candidate and darling of the right-wing Tea Party movement was outshone at the 'Restoring Honor' rally in Washington by the event's organiser, Fox News host Glenn Beck.

The 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll revealed 59 per cent of voters feel Palin, who many believe will run for the Republican nomination in the 2012 presidential elections, would not have the ability to be an effective commander-in-chief. Conservative voters are split down the middle on the same question, with 40 per cent saying she is unfit and 41 per cent supporting her.

But among commentators in the mainstream media, there is little doubt that the star of Saturday's rally, organised by Beck supposedly as a non-political gathering to honour US troops and "restore honor" to the nation, was the controversial Fox News man himself.

The Washington Post summed up the general mood, saying: "In a matter of hours, Beck went from a hugely popular media figure... to a spiritual player, embracing a new and overtly religious rhetoric that made him sound like an evangelist."

Beck himself boasted that "no broadcaster in the history of America" had turned out a bigger crowd, although his attendance estimate was 500,000 - a significantly more generous picture than the 87,000 quoted in the rest of the news media.

As for Sarah Palin, her speech early on in the proceedings was less talked about than the flock of geese that overflew the rally, and which Beck claimed was a miracle. ·