Nor will Sarah Palin appear on any other talk shows because according to Todd Harris of the McCain campaign, she's not ready for prime time as JedReport has informed us in his diary, New GOP Spin: Sarah Palin's Not Ready.
She may not be ready for prime time, but that hasn't stopped the Drudge Report from claiming she's ready for day time and championing a campaign to demand that Oprah Winfrey invite Sarah Palin to appear on Oprah's show. Under the guise of reporting, the Drudge Report claims that they learned from sources that "Oprah's staff is sharply divided on the merits of booking Sarah Palin" and that "One executive close to Winfrey is warning any Palin ban could ignite a dramatic backlash!" Claims that Oprah categorically denied.
Oprah Winfrey has issued a statement in reply to this nonsense. Here's the statement:
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.
Oprah Community: Statement from Oprah Winfrey
For the record: Barack Obama has been on "Oprah" twice -- in January, 2005 and again in October, 2006. Both appearances were before he announced his campaign for president.
Oprah has made an ethical decision not to invite ANY CANDIDATE on her show until the election is over. But the GOPers are outraged and up in arms that she won't invite Palin on to her show, even though Palin is not giving interviews to anybody right now.
Where is all the outrage towards Ellen Degeneres? Ellen has had Obama, Clinton and McCain on her show during the primaries. Why aren't they yelling at Ellen to have Palin on? At least they have an argument there. Well, sort of. Since Joe Biden hasn't been on Ellen's show, we are making a slightly erroneous comparison since Ellen has only had the candidates for President appear, so far. But, let's be fair, and ask Ellen to invite Joe Biden, as well.
Obama dances with Ellen Degeneres:
John McCain discussed gay Marriage with Ellen Degeneres:
Helen and Hillary have a bowl-off:
Oh, wait. Ellen is gay. Surely, they aren't snubbing Ellen because of that?
It's not all insanity over on the GOP side. Jonah Goldberg at National Review came out saying, "I don't see why she should be bullied — or we should be outraged by her refusal — to lend support to a politician she doesn't support."
Oprah’s a private citizen, albeit a very public one. She’s not the host of Meet the Press or even the host of Hardball. She’s the queen of daytime TV or some other cliché. She’s under no obligation to have anyone on her show she doesn’t want to. I think it might be good for Winfrey, Palin and/or the country. Or it might not be. I agree that Gov. Palin seems like a perfectly natural fit for the show personality-wise. But at the end of the day she’s a governor and vice presidential nominee. Oprah is an infotainment diva or some such. But some of the readers emailing me about this seem to think there should be more outrage about this. Outrage? About what? I’m far from a "who am I to judge" guy, but what standing do we have to express outrage over the fact that she’s making a poor business decision or acting on her political preferences. I’m no more outraged that Oprah won’t have the governor on her show than I would be if Brit Hume refused to interview the Dog Whisperer.
Oprah & The Governor
So, let's start pushing back at the GOP and their ridiculous attempt to strong-arm Oprah! Let's start a campaign to get Palin to agree to appear on the Ellen Degeneres Show!
UPDATE: I was searching on YouTube to see if I could find video of Barack Obama's appearances on The Oprah Winfrey show in 2005 and 2006 (before he announced his run for President). I wasn't able to find any, but I did find this video of Oprah endorsing Barack Obama on Larry King:
Within this video they show clips of Obama's appearance on Oprah's show, and something stood out at me. Oprah introduced Obama by saying "This is my Senator. My favorite Senator." This is a point I didn't think of before and hasn't been mentioned in the comments. Barack Obama is the Senator from Illinois, and Oprah Winfrey is a resident of Chicago, Illinois. So he is her Senator! Sarah Palin is not Oprah's governor. To the best of my knowledge, Oprah Winfrey does not own a home in Alaska.
I think it is also important to note that Oprah Winfrey has an account at YouTube. She could easily post the video of Barack Obama's appearances on her show to YouTube and promote her show as well as his candidacy. But, she hasn't. She's chosen to make her support of Barack Obama that of a private citizen, and keep it separated from her show.