A political talk show on Iranian state-run television last week featured criticism of US Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin that almost word-for-word echoed the talking points of US Democrats.

Interviewed on the show was Mohammed-Ali Fardanesh, a political science professor at a state-funded university, who characterized McCain as a dimwitted old man who will continue what he called the "awful" policies of the current US administration.

Moving on to Palin, Fardanesh focused almost solely on her perceived lack of experience, and insisted that she only became governor of Alaska because her predecessor was so corrupt the people would have voted for anyone else.

By contrast, Fardanesh completely ignored Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's lack of executive experience, and lavished praise on the senator as a "highly educated" and "eloquent" man.

Obama's running mate, Senator Joe Biden, was portrayed as a "very respectable" man with a "good reputation."

Fardanesh, like many in the Muslim world, believes an Obama-Biden administration will be far more sensitive to the values and positions of Muslim nations and will therefore be able to repair America's international reputation.