All over Drudge today has been his scoop that Oprah’s staff is splitting pretty hard over whether or not to invite Sarah Palin onto the show as a guest. Supposedly, Oprah is refusing to consider it against the wishes of her staff and many reuqests on her website. Oprah’s response:
“The item in today’s Drudge Report is categorically untrue. There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show. At the beginning of this Presidential campaign when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates. I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over.”
That’s fine, Oprah, but do you happen to know which candidate has appeared on your show twice? Of course you do, he’s the one you endorsed and went stumping for last year. Why would, the most powerful woman in entertainment history, really consider not inviting a new, strong woman in politics onto your show? There’s no explanation other than you think it would hurt Obama’s chances.
What is this bogus claim that because you decided to endorse Obama you’re not going to use your show as a “platform” for any candidates? You don’t have any problem using your star-status as a platform for the Obama campaign, so what’s wrong with giving Sarah Palin a little face time?
The sad part for Oprah is that it’s going to be hard for you to recover from the 2008 election. Her numbers have been declining steadily since she endorsed Obama last year and not having Palin on the show is just reinforcing her new image as a deep-in-the-tank Obama cult follower.
Who is and isn’t on her show is her choice, but if she thinks that by not having Palin on she is somehow keeping her show “neutral” from politics she is beyond deluisional. At least ABC isn’t buying it so far.
