Sympathy for the Devil? Oprah and the Palin Blitz.
I like Oprah Winfrey. She gets people to buy--if not actually read--books like Carson McCuller's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. She oozes the right amount of sympathy for people who have been mauled by chimpanzees and incest survivors and recovering drug addicts like Mackenzie Phillips. She's perfected the technique of humanizing celebrities and wringing heart-wrenching stories out of victims - it's good TV.
But that's exactly why Oprah did a terrible disservice to the public in today's interview with Sarah Palin, who is no victim and no ordinary celebrity. She's a politician who has carefully crafted a bogus narrative of victimization at the hands of McCain aides, the Washington elite and the mainstream media. And now with Going Rogue, she's trying to cement that story, neutralizing McCain staffers who say otherwise (see Sam Stein and Geoffrey Dunn's reporting at the Huffington Post), and stay relevant enough to make a bid for president in 2012, while continuing to flex her Facebook-Twitter muscles to torpedo Obama's agenda.
For most of the show, Oprah pitched Palin softballs and missed opportunity after opportunity to inject some reality into the conversation. Oprah asked Palin to talk at length about how the McCain campaign dealt with the news of Bristol's pregnancy. According to Palin, the McCain team painted a picture of happy grandparents instead of the more complicated mixture of disappointment and surprise that Palin and her husband actually felt. That might be true but somewhere along the line of questioning, shouldn't Oprah have mentioned Palin's support for abstinence-only sex education? What about when Palin claimed that Bristol - who was in the audience and is a Teen Abstinence Ambassador for the Candie's Foundation--was on a mission to educate American youth about the consequences of "unprotected sex"? Just what kind of "protected sex" does abstinence-only education teach?
Then there's the segment when Palin discussed at length the empathy she felt for women who have unintended or unwanted pregnancies. The "easy" way out is how Palin characterized abortion, casting her choice as heroic and making it seem as if she regarded abortion, personally, as the wrong option. But what Oprah failed to point out is that Palin wants women to have no choice at all - not even in cases of rape or incest.
When Oprah finally asked Palin about why she left the governor's office so abruptly, Palin suggested it was because journalists and opposition researchers from the Obama campaign had come up to Alaska, filed FOIAs (oh snap!) and started ethics investigations - making her an ineffective governor. But the ethics investigation into Troopergate began before Palin was nominated and not by Obama opposition researchers but by the Alaska state legislature. Palin made herself an ineffective governor by abusing her office - as the Branchflower report found--before she was even on the national radar. Notice also the conflation of journalists with political operatives. That's what Palin is now calling fact-checking of her book by AP reporters--"opposition research."
The entire effect of the show was to cast Sarah Palin as an ordinary American woman who has been thrust unwillingly into the political and media machine. Poor Palin--in her universe Katie "the Perky One" Couric badgers her incessantly with questions like--what's your policy on abortion or what magazines or newspapers do you read? And then there's McCain strategist Steve Schmidt who bullied and manipulated her into doing things she didn't want to do--like run for vice-president. In Palin's eyes - Schmidt's a marauding chimp. But just who does Oprah take us for - chumps?
Over the next few days, my co-editor Betsy Reed and I will be reading and responding to Going Rogue, as will contributors from our book Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare, which is available only at www.orbooks.com.
My copy of GOING ROUGE is supposed to arrive tomorrow!
Don't blame Oprah -- she never asks hard questions. Has anyone ever challenged Sarah? If "What do you read" is a tough question, then I hate to think of what would be a real challenge. But to be fair; none of them get asked truly challenging questions.
Silly things, like "Are you still smoking cigarettes?" and crap like that are considered major big deals in this pathetic press corps.
November 16, 2009 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here, here... 'Going Rouge' is much preferred to providing financial support to Palin & Co.
November 16, 2009 9:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's right! it's only about the money!
November 17, 2009 6:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oprah is doing penance for having gotten too political in 2008. Is she going to do The Daily Show?
November 16, 2009 8:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh please! too political? yeah, right.
November 17, 2009 12:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. I felt uncomfortable about that Oprah did not as her more questions as she talked about abortion and 'unprotected sex'. I didn't feel that Oprah was really interviewing her so much as providing her a venue to talk and I didn't care for it much.
And I see a complete irony in the 'oh poor me victim' story and her quitting her job as governor after having tried to convince us that 'hockey mom's are pitbulls with lipstick' and she shoots wolves from helicopters and other such hooey.
We should know how incapable she is of handling the presidency. She couldn't even handle her experience as governor or running for VP well.
November 16, 2009 9:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ratings trump facts.
November 17, 2009 6:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am hard pressed to recall a topic on TPM more worthless than this garbage book.
November 16, 2009 9:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's entirely too much attention being paid Sarah Palin by our side. Just in case you haven't figured it out she's in it for the money not the governmental power. For her, her fame is power enough. She has no business in politics and she is smart enough to have figured that out and she also realized that in order to cash in on her fame she needed to do exactly what she has been doing since she resigned and it's working out very well for her. What she needs more than anything else is to remain in the limelight. She gets more attention and publicity from the left than she does from the right. Her appearance on Oprah would have been just another episode if people on the left weren't kicking up all this dust about her appearance and her book, etc... It's time to focus on what's important instead of this nitwit.
November 16, 2009 9:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well said! This is a golden egg laying goose that's she's going to milk for every egg possible before the lights go out. McCain selecting her as his running mate was the golden opportunity to make her filthy rich at the expense of the downtrodden in the republican ranks.
November 17, 2009 6:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
You expect a little much out of Oprah. She's not a journalist. She doesn't ask people hardball questions. It's just a personality program. Nothing to see.
November 16, 2009 10:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Give 'em enough rope ...
"The perky one" (Katie Couric)
"Ricky Hollywood" (Levi Johnston)
Oh yeah, she's presidential material.
November 16, 2009 10:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Hitch you wagon to a star"
This is the cliche' that fits all commentary on this page.
The only time I can remember this much hate as during the JFK adminisrtation. So just rememeber that hate is what it is.
November 16, 2009 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
JFK wasn't stupid.
November 17, 2009 6:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
I remember hate, iamatroll.
Palin calling Obama a baby killer, a guy who pals around with terrorists, not a Real American, people shouting to kill him at rallies, others carrying guns in the streets, Palin saying he comes from a Party that would kill her baby and have death panels.
I remember John Lewis saying to John McCain to stop the hate.
Lewis, who knew hate, had not seen anything as bad as the Republican campaign fear and hate stoking rhetoric since churches were burned with kids inside in Alabama, Blacks were beaten in the streets of Selma and the bodies of college kids were fished out of ditches in Mississippi.
November 17, 2009 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oprah is not a news show. Her job is to show that everyone has a story, no matter what they've done in the past.
November 17, 2009 12:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good Lord, why do people keep talking about Sarah Palin?
This situation reminds me of the debate about whether college football should have a playoff system.
A vast majority of college football fans would like to see a playoff versus the current bowl format, but these same people continue to support bowls by buying tickets and merchandise. If you really want a playoff, stop attending or watching Bowl games.
If you want Sarah Palin to go away (at least as far away as Fox News), stop obsessing over her! Her continued presence in the MSM's spotlight is due primarily to the Democrats, who, since her big speech at the RNC in St. Paul, have developed and maintained some sort of weird psychological Palin-complex.
She will never be president. If she runs, she won't even get the GOP nomination.
She'll end up hosting her own 60 minute show on Fox News. And that's not so bad.
November 17, 2009 3:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
I know, and normally I'd totally agree with you, cheering you on (rating your comment high if we still had those,) but then I was just over at The Guardian (UK) newspaper website and at the top of the home page is a big picture of Oprah, Sarah and kids, with the title
Sarah Palin on Oprah--
She's not retreating, she's reloading.
Methinks this is not just the usual dumb work of the liberal blogosphere giving conservatives the buzz they need going on here....I'm not wondering whether she's going to be the next prez or even whether she will run, I'm more wondering whether she's going to trying to be the next Oprah, or more like the next Rush Limbaugh. After all, his shtick must be growing quite tiresome even for the diehard fans, and he's not getting any prettier to look at, either. :-)
November 17, 2009 3:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Understatement of the year!
November 17, 2009 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
She's milking the public for every penny they have.
November 17, 2009 6:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Interesting factoid:
Hezbollah's Ammar Mousawi to Sharmine Narwani, in a recent interview">:
The key word there is "social," not "political." Sometimes people just like to know some of the feelings of the people behind political celebrities, that's human nature. They want to know that whether they like the person(s) or despise them. That's what Oprah tries to do with virtually all her guests, and it's also a big reason why she's a very successful and wealthy woman with an international audience. Her show is mostly about personality, personal interaction, personal history, and dealing with personal problems. If she went serious political like you want her to, she'd never have gotten where she is, she'd be retired in nowhere land along with Phil Donahue. She also wouldn't have inspired a lot of people who don't normally bother to vote to go out and vote for Obama in a similar fashion; she didn't sell her fans on him on policy arguments, that's for sure.
November 17, 2009 3:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
This also maybe strikes me as that typical TPM "why doesn't everyone get that my issue is most important" style.
It's like when that guy who posts on VA issues leads every essay with something like, "While the nation distracts itself with the Carrie Prejean sex tape, Virginia Senator and military veteran..."
And this is one of the reasons that we look so detached from people's real lives sometimes. Oprah's fans don't want her to skewer Sarah Palin. That's not why they watch the show. If Bill Maher had been caught lobbing softball questions at the Roguette, it'd be different.
November 17, 2009 6:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are a typical uninformed, lying liberal. It was the constant barrage of unfounded ethics complaints from liberal activists that made her decide to leave so the state could conduct real business. Republicans should show a similar disregard for the law and swamp every elected democrat with the same types of charges. I'm sick and tired of playing nice while democrats play hardball. What ever happened to the 'serious' charges against Tom Delay? Nothing, because they still can't make a case, and they knew they never could. It was simply democrat political dirty tricks to misuse the law as a political weapon.
This line was just a classic "Notice also the conflation of journalists with political operatives. That's what Palin is now calling fact-checking of her book by AP reporters" -- When did the AP launch an army of investigators to "fact check" Obama's books? or Bidens? Or any democrat? This conflation of journalist/political operative has been in the making since the 70's. The MSM is simply now the propaganda wing of the DNC.
November 17, 2009 7:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Aw ... TFB . . .
Wallowing in your hot pile of dog crap again, are you?
hahahahahaha . . .
~OGD~
November 20, 2009 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sarah Palin is perfectly representative of conservative thought. She articulates conservative policy ideas flawlessly, without making those ideas sound any smarter or dumber than they really are.
Palin was as good a governor as the GOP is ever likely to field. As VP candidate, she was as close to truth in advertising as Republicans get.
November 17, 2009 8:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
The new 'American Dream' is having a publicist and image consultant in every household. Who needs an education and experience anymore? We're all either going to "sing and dance" or "pray" our way out of the world's global capitalist crisis.
November 17, 2009 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with everything you wrote, evaluating the strength of the Oprah-Palin interview, except for one thing -- Bristol Palin was not in the Oprah audience, not in the audience glimpse I saw. However, her middle daughter Willow was, as well as the ubiquitous youngest daughter Piper.
November 18, 2009 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink