Is Oprah biased? Dept. of Duh. ABC, normally the sanest of the mainstream media, belabored the obvious yesterday by asking that rhetorical question . Oprah is as biased as I am and you are, not to mention Adam Nagourney, Pat Buchanan, Sally Quinn and everybody else on the planet. So should Winfrey have Palin on her show? Does it really matter? Maybe the Alaska Governor doesn’t want to go. For the moment, her ratings are higher that Oprah’s, speaking of belaboring the obvious (this time by Politico, who informs us that many in McCain’s crowds are even more interested in seeing the newly-minted Palin than the presidential candidate himself… Alert the media, media.).
More interesting is the snippet from O’Reilly of Obama acknowledging that the Surge was a great success while seemingly not being able to admit that he was wrong about it. You would think it wouldn ‘t be that difficult, but he struggled as if admitting an affair. Compare that with McCain who in the midst of his acceptance speech, seen by more even than Obama’s, acknowledged to the world that he was broken under the pressure of North Vietnamese torture. What we have before us is the pretension of honesty (Obama) versus honesty (McCain). In a certain way it relates to the Oprah Show, which has always seemed to me an “as if” production: we are all “open” here, it purports to say. But to paraphrase Orwell, “some people are more open than others.” I suspect the public senses this and, ultimately, knows the difference. We shall see.
(BTW, in the snippet above, Obama interprets the Sunni-Shia dichotomy in the most conventional sense. He appears not to realize that Shia Iran has on numerous occasions aided Sunni terror groups, including Al Qaeda. Barack says he’s a great fan of The Godfather, but he apparently has missed its message.)
UPDATE: The new Clueless Old Media Award goes to Peggy Noonan who, scrambling to make up for her open mike gaffe of the other day, lavishes extensive praise on Palin, only to end this way: John McCain also made a speech. It was flat.
Funnily enough, although I was there, I don’t remember very much of Palin’s speech, only her presence and poise. I do remember, a couple of days later, much of what McCain said and, possibly because of his “flat” simple style, it resonates more. Of course, not having written speeches, like Noonan, what do I know? Fortunately, someone I respect agrees with me.
MORE: Another reason to like Palin. The tedious Dr. Laura says she shouldn’t run. (Too many kids)
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