Sarah Palin as Oprah

Sarah Palin’s weakness as apresidential candidate is that she lost the opportunity to hone her skills asgovernor of Alaskawhen she was thrown into the national spotlight.  Even one solid term would have hardened theresume and eliminated doubts on that score. Since then she has worked her books, the tea party network and all thatand has become a legitimate celebrity.

Stepping in and effectivelyfilling Oprah’s shoes is an excellent way to use her talents and this writerhas it right.  She will pull the audienceand let us be serious. That is why she is here in the first place.  Her intellectual contribution is at best anatural parroting of established dogma and more need not be expected unless shefinds and trusts a mentor as Reagan did with Laffer.

It is decision time for the 2012presidential campaign and it really looks burdensome.  Exiting that race and coming up as thenatural replacement for Oprah will even open the door for a much later run atthe presidency in 2016.  That is surelynot an unattractive option.

Breitbart: Palin Could Be a Conservative Oprah

Tuesday, 17 May 2011 05:27 PM

By Henry J. Reske and Ashley Martella

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/andrew-breitbart-palin-oprah/2011/05/17/id/396745

Sarah Palin's wide appeal gives her a unique opportunity to step intoOprah Winfrey’s shoes and attract women to the political center-right position,conservative Web entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart tells Newsmax.TV.

As such, Palin and her Reaganesque communication skills could do forconservatives what Winfrey has done for liberal views, Brietbart said.

“She has a huge pop cultural capability,” he said. “I think that, in ourcountry, if she aspired to be Oprah Winfrey instead of Barack Obama, she wouldhave a 10-, 20-year reign as a person who could influence people in the middleof the day, specifically women in the middle of the day, and pull them backtowards a center-right perspective where Oprah Winfrey has spent the last 20,25 years indoctrinating people slowly but surely in a liberal point of view.”

Breitbart was quick to note he is not against the former GOP vice-presidentialcandidate running for president. But the political provocateur stressed thatthe former Alaskagovernor's knack for drawing large crowds and her ability to speak around andover the media, a skill she shares with President Ronald Reagan.

Breitbart, who got his start with the websites the Drudge Report and TheHuffington Post, recently wrote the book “Righteous Indignation: Excuse MeWhile I Save the World.” The tome chronicles his work in creating websites andthe power of new media as a counter to the mainstream media. 

With the Internet, people can do what "60 Minutes" does for“pennies on the dollar,” he said.

“I was there from the beginning, since 1995, and now we’re at the mostexciting point because we’re actually defeating the old media,” he said. 

“We’ve given them every warning in the world to correct their business model.We’ve acted as a check and balance and said to Katie Couric, ‘You know, wenoticed that you treated Barack Obama in your questioning of him to a differentstandard than you held Sarah Palin.’ If you’re not going to be fair whileproclaiming that you’re an objective journalist, we’re going to become themedia.”

It is important to regain control of the American narrative, Breitbart said,asserting that liberals always realized that the United States is a center-rightcountry and that they are outnumbered by the people who believe in theConstitution and individual responsibility.

“In order for them to slowly move a center-right country to the left, theydecided to take over and isolate the cultural institutions, Hollywood, the mainstream media, the mainlinechurches, academia, K-12,” he said. 

“And what they’re able to do starting in kindergarten and all the way up as anaccompaniment to your liberal education kids are getting reinforced with MTV,they’re getting reinforced with reality television; they’re getting reinforcedwith movies and music that affirm the liberal narrative in our culture.

“The only place a person like Andrew Breitbart could even find conservatism wasstumbling upon the AM dial. If you listen to the AM dial, you are listening tothe conservative narrative. But the rest of our culture, where most people haveit as a massive firehose into their mouths, you’re only getting the liberalnarrative. 

"What the new media is is a check and balance against that, and it’s a waythat we’re trying to drive the conservative narrative and make it so themainstream media can’t be the only game in town.”