Oprah Winfrey is giving Sarah Palin the cold shoulder.
The GOP vice-presidential nominee may have wowed delegates in Minnesota, but Winfrey decided yesterday to freeze her out – saying she had no interest in sharing her TV couch with the first-term Alaska governor.
The daytime-TV talk queen said it was highly unlikely she’d have the self-proclaimed “hockey mom” appear alongside her, even after reports that there had been discussions to have Palin appear on a future 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,” Winfrey said in a statement.
Winfrey, a big supporter of Barack Obama, has had other politicians on her show before, including Presidents Bush and Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore.
The TV host did leave the door open for a Palin appearance – but only after the Nov. 4 election.
Winfrey added, “I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over.”
Winfrey, who tapes her high-rated daily show in Chicago, has had Obama as a guest twice – in January 2005 and October 2006.
Both occasions were before the Illinois senator officially announced he was running for the White House.
For years, Winfrey has had the ability to sway large chunks of viewers – particularly women – into buying certain products or reading books.
A recent study by two economic professors at the University of Maryland found that Oprah’s endorsement of Obama – with the help of her TV show and magazine – may have snagged some 1 million votes for him during the contentious Democratic primary race against Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Winfrey, who appeared at the Democratic convention in Denver last month, threw her support behind Obama last year – the first time she had ever made such a public endorsement of a political candidate. She and Obama appeared together, drawing huge crowds in December in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina.
The move alienated many hard-core Clinton supporters.
Last year, Winfrey blocked an appearance by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, timed to a promotional tour of his best-selling autobiography. Critics pointed out yesterday that Winfrey was more than happy to have Gore on her show last year to talk about his Academy Award-winning and politically charged global-warming documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”
Meanwhile, ABC’s “The View” has take a different stance. The show, produced by Barbara Walters, has already had Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain on as guests.
A spokesman refused to say whether Palin had been contacted to guest-host the show alongside Walters and her gabby friends.
“We don’t comment on bookings – except to say we want all the candidates on,” he said.