Opinions expressed on this site are solely the responsibility of the site's authors and any guest authors whose material is posted here. This site is not authorized or operated by Governor Palin, her staff, or any other candidate or committee.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Mixed Reactions to the Sarah Palin/Oprah Winfrey Interview


Yesterday, Harpo announced that Sarah Palin has agreed to be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and that the interview will air on the November 16 Oprah Winfrey Show. However, this event has not yet been confirmed by Meg Stapleton or any other spokesperson for Sarah Palin. Until that confirmation is received, all discussion of the event is mere speculation.

There have been mixed reactions to the event.

Richard Huff wrote this on the New York Daily News:
Sarah Palin is going rogue with the enemy.

Palin, out to sell her new book, will sit down with Oprah Winfrey, the famed talk show host who backed President Obama for the White House.

The Republican and former Alaska governor, who was Arizona Sen. John McCain's running mate, will appear on Winfrey's daytime show Nov. 16 to talk up her book, "Going Rogue: An American Life."

It will be Palin's first-ever visit on Winfrey's show, which has proven time and time again to be able to move books.

Winfrey is getting the first shot at Palin, and the show will air the eve of the book's release.

A spokesman Winfrey's show would not say yesterday when or where the interview would be conducted.

In the Washington Post, Lisa de Moraes speculated that the interview willl serve the dual purpose of boosting Oprah's sagging ratings and promoting Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue, which will be released on November 17:
Oprah Winfrey, on a campaign to climb back from last season's ratings slump,
will attempt to kiss and make up with conservative viewers on Nov. 16 when she
has Sarah Palin on her syndicated talk show.

You may have noticed that the appearance by the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate is happening smack dab in the middle of the November ratings derby. It's also the day before Palin's new book, "Going Rogue: An American Life" is scheduled to hit bookstores....

It's not just another show booking for Oprah Winfrey. She's going whole hog this season to try to recover from the ratings tumble she took last season when her audience slid to under 7 million viewers. And, during one awful week in July, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" suffered its smallest ratings since its debut way back in 1985.

Industry navel gazers speculated Oprah had turned off some of her conservative viewers -- or, more accurately, they had turned her off -- when she not only endorsed then presidential candidate Barack Obama but even campaigned for him. (Palin, of course, was the running mate of Obama's rival, Sen. John McCain.)

Paula Cee at the Examiner was of the same opinion:
The duo will chat next month... just in time for November Sweeps and the book's
release. Convenient, no?

However, some of Sarah Palin's fans are not enthusiastic about this event and view it as more of a setup or a trap. Shannon Bell at The Admonition wrote:
Look I love to see Sarah Palin as much as the next guy, but I figure why give
Oprah the ratings when she’s really just there to make you look bad? Former
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s Oprah interview on November 16th will no doubt be
highly rated, but is it a good idea for Palin? Don’t you just get the feeling
it’s a trap?

It’s no coincidence that Sarah Palin will be on Oprah the day before her book “Going Rogue” hits the shelves; the book will of course be a topic of conversation, but I doubt it’s all they’ll talk about. Do you really trust an Obama crony like Oprah Winfrey to give Palin a touchy feely, nice to see ya kind of chat?

Some of Oprah's fans aren't happy either. Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters wrote this yesterday:

As announced moments ago at Oprah.com:


In a world exclusive, Oprah Winfrey will interview former Alaska governor Sarah Palin for an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show to air Monday, November 16, 2009. Winfrey and Palin will meet for the very first time on the episode, which will mark Palin’s first interview to discuss her upcoming book, Going Rogue: An American Life and her first-ever
appearance on the Oprah show.

Unfortunately, judging by some of the comments being left at her website, Oprah's fans are not pleased:

I am so disappointed that Oprah is helping sell Palin's book . I thought you were
above that Oprah.

I am soo disappointed in Oprah for giving Sarah Palin airtime. I will no longer be watching the show....

Such a tolerant bunch, dontcha think?


Of course, there is also the possibility that Harpo, like several previous groups, has announced the interview without first receiving confirmation from Sarah Palin that she has accepted their invitation. Several groups have previously invited Sarah Palin to their events and advertised the events before obtaining confirmation from Sarah Palin or her spokesperson. All of them have been disappointed and then tried to blame Sarah Palin as a no show. That leads to still another possibility: an attempt to discredit Sarah Palin as a no show.

So until a confirmation is received from Sarah Palin or a Palin spokesperson, it will just be wait and see. Sarah Palin has shown that she doesn't bend to pressure and that she makes her own schedule.


References:

Oprah to plug Palin book and maybe placate conservatives http://voices.washingtonpost.com/tvblog/2009/10/oprah-to-plug-palin-book-and-m.html?hpid=news-col-blog

Oprah Winfrey Talks to Sarah Palin on The Oprah Winfrey Show http://www.oprah.com/article/pressroom/pressrelease/20091020-orig-sarah-palin-oprah-winfrey-november-16
Posted by Fay at 2:28 PM
Share |

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)