Laura Vitale’s blog

Sarah Palin believed she was speaking with French president Nicolas Sarkozy on the phone Saturday, only to discover at the end of the call that she had been pranked by two members of the Canadian radio station CKOI. Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel, a duo known as “The Masked Avengers,” are notorious for prank calling heads of state and celebrities.

While the Masked Avengers made outrageous comments indicating the call was a prank, Palin continued to make polite, diplomatic conversation with the person she believed was Sarkozy.

You can listen to the call below:

or read a transcript here.

According to an article on Fox News, Palin’s spokesperson issued a statement. “Governor Palin received a phone call on Saturday from a French Canadian talk show host claiming to be French President Nicholas Sarkozy. Governor Palin was mildly amused to learn that she had joined the ranks of heads of state, including President Sarkozy, and other celebrities in being targeted by these pranksters. C’est la vie.”

The Masked Avengers

If the Masked Avengers aimed to make Palin look bad, they did not succeed. Instead, Palin demonstrated that she is a skillful politician. Since she has never spoken with Sarkozy, she would not recognize that the French accent was outrageously fake and that his words were uncharacteristic. Even though “Sarkozy” made outlandish and inappropriate remarks, Palin responded to them exceptionally well on the spot. Since Palin lacks foreign policy and diplomatic experience, even if the call raised red flags of suspicion it would be understandable that she would hesitate to end the conversation in case her intuition was wrong.

Furthermore, when the Avengers revealed it was a prank call, Palin kept her cool and was gracious. I don’t think she could have handled the situation any better – although I wonder why it was so easy for the Avengers to speak with Palin directly. Audette told The Canadian Press, “we had to go through the Secret Service, the people in her entourage. It’s the biggest coup so far. We’re proud to add (this prank) to our top hits.”

I feel bad for Palin this time. She should be able to trust the Secret Service and “the people in her entourage” and know that when someone says they are the French president, they really are the French president. Naturally, when the Avengers made factually inaccurate remarks during the conversation, as when Audette refers to French singer and actor Johnny Hallyday as his special adviser to the U.S., singer Stef Carse as Canada’s prime minister, and comedian and radio host Richard Z. Sirois as the provincial premier, someone with more experience and factual knowledge than Palin may have caught on to the prank.

Many news outlets and bloggers are capitalizing on the fact that when the Avengers mentioned that they would like to see her as president, Palin answered “maybe in eight years.” But when you listen to the recording of the conversation, it is obvious that Palin laughed and answered somewhat jokingly. It’s just too bad that it took a prank phone call to show that Palin has a sense of humor, and not the more traditional Saturday Night Live appearance.