After appearing to endorse Hamas and back Barack Obama's stance on Pakistan in her now infamous interview with Katie Couric, Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has found herself embroiled in another diplomatic row over her meeting with Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari.
Zardari's greeting to the Alaskan governor at their meeting at the UN headquarters in New York - described as "overly-friendly" by the Christian Science Monitor - has earned him a fatwa from some of Pakistan's radical Muslims.
Benazir Bhutto's widower tells Alaska's first woman that she is "even more gorgeous in life" and says he can see why "America is crazy about you". But what really got radical clerics backs up was his comment that he might hug the Moose-hunting governor if his aide insists hard enough.
For Palin, the incident appears to have confirmed jokes that her meet-and-greet sessions with world leaders at the UN were "speed dating" diplomacy.
But Zardari faces much harsher condemnation for his conduct. His remarks managed to unite both hardline Islamic leaders and Pakistani feminists in condemnation.
One radical Muslim prayer leader said the president shamed the nation with his "indecent gestures, filthy remarks, and repeated praise of a non-Muslim lady wearing a short skirt." Meanwhile, Tahira Abdullah, a member of Pakistan's Women's Action Forum, criticised the president for failing to show decorum and behave like a "mourning widower".
But Zardari can perhaps take comfort that not everyone is taking his flirtatious manner so seriously. Two Facebook groups have been set up to commemorate his encounter with the vice-presidential candidate. One group called Zardari should marry Sarah Palin for the sake of world peace!, reckons their union would "stop the incursion of US forces in Pakistan" and lead to polo races in the White House.
