Oprah to sit down on show with Sarah Palin
Let's see. What will Oprah Winfrey ask Sarah Palin four weeks from now when the two sit down for the first time? Levi? Bristol? Letterman? McCain?
Or . . . maybe this: When will you announce your run for president?
Viewers had to wait a full year for the Palin-Winfrey summit, so something good better come out of this.
Winfrey's production company, Harpo, Tuesday announced that the former governor of Alaska has agreed to appear on the Nov. 16 edition of the hit program, her first "Oprah" appearance. The subject will be Palin's forthcoming book "Going Rogue: An American Life" and who-knows-what-else.
Just another interview on the book stump? Hardly. In September 2008, a story on the Drudge Report reported that Winfrey had banned Palin from her show - inflaming Palin supporters who cried foul over her support of then-candidate Barack Obama. She even released a rare statement that debunked the report, saying, "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."
What does Palin get out of this? Besides a few hundred thousand potential book sales? Palin remains one of those fascinating characters on the national stage - a Red State symbol who thumbed her nose at Washington, the political establishment, the national press and may or may not seek a grander stage.
Going on "Oprah," says Tom Rosenstiel, director of Washington-based Project for Excellence in Journalism, "is a way of re-introducing herself . . . to an audience that's not political junkies," although he adds that big entertainment platforms like this can also be a great place to break big news.
