Good lord, that’s quite a scoop for Suzy Byrne’s blog, Maman Poulet.

Plaudits, Ms Byrne. Another award winging your way, I’d wager.

Anyone following the US election campaign will know that Ms Palin, Republican VP candidate, included Ireland on her three country total in her resumé of visits outside the US. But Maman Poulet had a hunch that ‘Ireland’ was in fact the Shannon stopover lounge, and now the Palin campaign have confirmed that.

And the Huffington Post and numerous other blogs have picked up Maman Poulet’s scoop.

Hopefully it was a rare fine day and Ms Palin could actually see Ireland from the air and wonder about the beautiful island beneath her. But given the atrocious weather we’ve been having these last few years (August 08 being the wettest in 170 years) it’s hardly likely. The sooner the oil era passes, the better for us. One of the reasons our weather has become so foul is this incredible fact:

As the water warms, its energy increases and the hydrological cycle intensifies. According to Prof Sweeney, ocean water temperatures in the region south of Newfoundland where our recent weather systems are forming have increased by an astonishing 5-6 degrees.
- The Irish Times

The recent torrential rains in Newcastle West (hometown of late and lamented poet Michael Hartnett and quite close to where Ms Palin enjoyed her Shannon Stopover), was a was a once-in-650-years event.

Close friends, including close American friends, know that I’m something of a political junkie when it comes to US elections. It’s not because of the showbiz or soap opera aspect of it, I can assure all and sundry. What Ms Palin’s daughter does is her own business.

I’m actually very impressed with the level of political debate on the Democratic side, given that one has to be elected before one can do anything. Reading the speeches has been a pleasure, revealing a literacy and vision in politicians that we could do with here. And I’m willing to concede that Mr McCain may feel he has to do and say things he doesn’t believe in to get elected, that he might not dream of doing once elected (at least I hope not). That’s politics, especially in a culturally complex nation like the US.

But the main reason I’m interested is a deep anxiety about the US in an absolutely crucial time in world history. This is it, folks. The most powerful country in the world will, in the next few years, make or break us all, depending on whether it stays in a 20th century mindset, or makes a thrilling break for the 21st century and all its opportunities.

I think Mr Obama is right: Mr McCain doesn’t get it. Our main hope for both peace and a reasonably fine August in Ireland in what’s left of my lifetime is for the US to move lock stock and oil-barrel to alternative energy. (Of course we have to do it in Ireland and Europe too). Whether they actually achieve it or not, the Dems have a plan for this. Ms Palin talks like she’s living at the beginning of the 20th century.

I’m sorry to go on about it. It goes against my instincts to comment on the internal politics of another country in public. I’d probably find it odd if an American blogger commented on an Irish election. But what happens in the US climate literally can have a devastating effect on the climate in which I, my family and friends live out our lives. It literally affects our health and wellbeing for better or worse.

The climate doesn’t care about national boundaries, much less passports or race or national myths.

So given all of that, I am extremely scared that Ms Palin, who at best has only seen my country through a rain cloud, might sooner or later become the most powerful politician in the world.