Opinion: Ticket Replay: Obama-backer Oprah bans Sarah Palin from her TV show
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This weekend The Ticket is republishing some items from the recent 2007-08 political season. This one originally appeared in this space on Sept. 5, 2008. (Sarah Palin has still not been on the Winfrey show):
Oprah Winfrey, the billionaire TV talk-show diva who is supporting the Democratic presidential nominee, says she will not allow the Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on her daily show, which is widely viewed by women.
The 44-year-old Palin is the first female nominee on a Republican presidential ticket in the party’s 164-year history, though she is little-known outside Alaska, where she was elected a reform governor in 2006.
Palin, a former high school basketball star and beauty pageant contestant, is the mother of five, an outdoorswoman and part owner in her husband Todd‘s commercial fishing business.
This past year Oprah endorsed Barack Obama for president. It was the first time she became publicly involved in politics.
Oprah emceed numerous rallies for the freshman Democrat senator in key caucus and primary states, drawing large crowds, donations, media coverage and many new volunteers. She also hosted a lucrative fundraiser at one of her homes, near Santa Barbara. But she has so many we can’t count ‘em.
Oprah’s political involvement, as noted previously by...
...The Ticket, hurt her in TV ratings, though she remains clearly the most-watched such show.
Many commentors on Ticket items expressed resentment that Winfrey, who made her fortune off appealing to women, would desert the first serious female candidate to vie for her party’s nomination, Hillary Clinton, another Democrat, in favor of a male candidate, Obama. She also did not have Clinton on her program during the campaign.
TMZ, the widely-read celebrity website, asked Winfrey about having Palin on her program to describe her life and views to other American women.
In a post earlier today, TMZ said Winfrey replied, ‘There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show.’
According to TMZ, Winfrey also said: ‘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.’
Winfrey also said she would ‘love’ to have the Republican candidate on her show, but only after the Nov. 4 election, which pits the Illinois Democrat Obama against Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
Winfrey has had Obama on her program two previous times, in January 2005 and again in the fall of 2006 shortly before he announced his presidential candidacy.
What do Ticket readers think? Is this fair? Would you watch an Oprah show with Palin and/or Obama? Do you still watch Oprah’s program in the first place?
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo credits: Associated Press
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