For Sarah Palin, a Long Road to Oprah's Couch
Whatever Oprah wants, Oprah gets — including bookings with the fresh face du jour. So when Sarah Palin was tapped as John McCain's Veep pick in the 2008 campaign, fans and staff suggested that Winfrey bring the political phenom from Wasilla onto her show. But while Oprah had publicly endorsed Barack Obama, she said she didn't want to use her program as a political platform. Republicans were enraged, arguing that it was a hypocritical decision: Obama had appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show back in 2006. (As Oprah's reps pointed out, that was before he announced his candidacy.) Gossip columns and reputable news organizations alike claimed that political bias was the reason the talk-show host didn't want to have the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket on her show. On Nov. 16, 2009, Palin finally appeared on the show to discuss her memoir Going Rogue.