Concerns about whether Sarah Palin is fit to be president, should the need arise, can now be laid to rest: according to the crack geneaologists at Ancestry.com, FDR was her ninth cousin once removed. Palin's also a 10th cousin of Princess Diana ("the former royal," as the Associated Press calls her, a little jarringly), though strangely she seem to have none of the late Princess of Wales's interview skills. FDR, by the way, is clearly a far better person to be related to than Dick Cheney, who has the same ninth-cousin-once-removed relationship to Barack Obama -- a link that inspired probably Obama's best campaign-trail wisecrack.
We can assume, also, that the genealogists' findings rule out, once and for all, any suggestion that Sarah Palin might be related to Michael Palin, since if they'd found such a link they'd surely have informed us. (Which finally, finally gives me an opportunity to mention on this blog that though Sarah Palin may not be related to Michael Palin, I am, because my mother's second cousin is his wife. Ha! Just deal with it, Sarah Palin.)
