Palin: Phantom Of The Oprah

Palin: Phantom Of The Oprah

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, September 08, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Media Bias: Oprah Winfrey won't invite Sarah Palin on her show because she doesn't want to use it to promote any candidate. Yet she was willing to use the celebrity garnered from her show to promote Barack Obama.

This is the classic distinction without a difference. Oprah is one of those one-name celebrities. Her very mention of a book's title can make it a best-seller. When Oprah speaks, people listen.

People listened earlier this year when she bypassed Sen. Hillary Clinton to publicly embrace the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama, who had been on her show twice — in January 2005 and October 2006.

Oprah, right, Michelle and primary candidate Barack in New Hampshire in December. No room for Palin on this platform.
Oprah has influence, and she used that influence to help Obama. She said she endorsed him as an individual and not as a talk show host. She says when he was on her show he was not yet officially a candidate and that her policy is not to use her show to advance the cause of any candidate. Or is it just Republicans?

The endorsement of Oprah the beautician or Oprah the sales clerk at a department store cosmetics counter would have no impact. Using her celebrity as the No. 1 talk show host does. Obama doesn't have to appear on her show once she's publicly endorsed him.

A study by two University of Maryland professors found that Oprah's endorsement of Obama may have netted him 1 million votes in his primary run against Hillary Clinton. The Obama campaign said her rallies produced 10,000 new volunteers, 650 volunteers in critical New Hampshire alone.

Her decision to endorse Obama on "Larry King Live" on May 1, 2007, over Hillary did not come without a cost. An August 2007 CBS poll found her approval rating had dropped from 74% just seven months earlier to 61%. How many were Hillary supporters?

Maybe that's what she's afraid of. A too aggressive or patronizing Palin interview might turn off hockey and soccer moms everywhere. Palin's mere presence would remind Hillary voters of both her endorsement snub and Obama's veep selection snub.

Oprah's claim of fairness falls flat when you consider that, according to the Drudge Report, she blocked an appearance by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as part of his book tour promoting his autobiography.

Oprah Winfrey has an agenda, one that does not include giving any kind of national exposure to women and African-Americans who are Republican and conservative and articulate. These are species not supposed to exist and might shatter the liberal myth that Republican conservatives are misogynist racists.

Of her enthusiasm for The One, she says: "What I saw with Barack Obama was something that was transcendent, and I felt transformational for me as a human being and for this country. And I only pray in the deepest part of my being that America will rise to this moment. And I feel that what he was able to offer us as individual citizens and as a united country was something that we have never seen before. I really, I think it's the most powerful thing I've ever experienced."

Like most of the media and the entertainment industry, Oprah is in the tank for Obama. When Obama speaks, tingles run up and down the legs of MSNBC's Chris Matthews. When Obama gave his acceptance speech in Denver, Oprah said she "cried my eyelashes off." She probably would not have been surprised if he had fed the crowded stadium with five loaves and two fishes.

Oprah says that having the female governor of Alaska, the first female on a national GOP ticket, on a show with a largely female audience might influence the election she's already tried to influence.

We know the articulate and engaging Alaskan governor would win some new friends.

So how about having Gov. Sarah Palin on one show where she can talk about her smashing the political glass ceiling to become the ultimate working mom? Then have Sen. Joe Biden on the next day where he can explain to Oprah's audience why he thinks Sarah Palin is "good looking."



Email To Friend |