Saturday, September 20, 2003

Bad Oprah, Bad

Here:

The sight of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver perched on Oprah Winfrey's sofa and demonstrating the perfection of their marriage made more than a few of the talk-mistress' fans more furious than women scorned, more angry than wet hens and so forth. The oprah.com message board is crowded with complaints about the appearance of the candidate and adoring wife -- see how he respects women -- on nationwide TV under Winfrey's auspices.

"America's woman role model has let us down," writes one woman. "First she has some rah-rah show on going to war with Iraq," writes another, "and now this. It makes me sick. I am no fan of hers anymore."

"As a Californian," writes a woman, "I am offended that Oprah is doing an interview with the one celebrity candidate and his famous wife. . . . We are already seeing our legitimate votes, rendered last November, hijacked by a media circus, with Arnold serving as ringleader. Oprah, don't pander to your famous friends, please."

I had heard a few reports about her pro-war show. Apparently it was a an hour (someone says 3?) of Tom Friedman waxing metaphoric about death and destruction as the jaws of the audience dropped closer and closer to the floor.

Hint, Oprah - some of their kids are in Iraq. No one you know is.

Oprah long ago lost any connection to her audience. I don't know why she still has one.