Florida’s Republican women call for boycott of Oprah

Florida’s Republican women call for boycott of Oprah

By MELISSA BURNSED

Reports that Oprah Winfrey refused to heed her staff’s suggestion to have newly announced Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin on her high-profile program have ticked off the Florida Federation of Republican Women’s group. The group which is one of the state’s largest political groups is calling for a boycott of Oprah Winfrey’s afternoon talk show in retaliation.

Critics say Winfrey won't have Palin on show because of Obama.

The boycott call to take on TV’s most popular personality is being led by Linda Ivell who is the leader of the politically active group. The boycott call includes the cancellation of subscriptions to Winfrey’s O magazine.

After reports of the mega-stars refusal to invite Alaska’s Governor Palin surfaced, numerous Republicans have criticized the decision as politically motivated. Those criticisms are based on Winfrey’s vocal support of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. She had previously been reluctant to use her considerable influence among women to get involved in America’s political scene.

According to pundits Palin, who has electrified the Republican base since her selection as John McCain‘s running mate, would have been a perfect fit for Ms. Winfrey‘s show which is crafted to be appealing to women.

Sarah Palin

Obama was a guest on the daytime talk show before he announced his run for president. In addition she has shown up at several Obama campaign stops since endorsing him as "her candidate."

"Women in Florida helped build Oprah into the icon she is today," said Ivell. "We are deeply disappointed in Ms. Winfrey’s decision to sit out the greatest political moment in the history of women since suffrage."

According to published reports, Winfrey and her staff were divided over inviting Palin, with the talk show diva allegedly flatly refusing.

Oprah denied the reports in a statement posted on her website. "The item in today’s Drudge Report is categorically untrue. There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my 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. I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over."

That statement has been derided by hundreds of Oprah fans who have posted comments in response on the Oprah.com web site.

Locally the Republican Women of Baker Network, while not affiliated with the state organization, has been forwarding e-mails about the boycott to other interested parties.

"I don’t think it’s fair that she had Obama on and not Palin… She should have remained neutral, but that’s just my opinion," said the Baker groups Vice President Gedone Pracher, who supports the boycott.

Mrs. Pracher added that while no one from her group was able to attend last week’s Republican convention, they were pleased with Palin’s selection and felt "she resonates with all the people."

The Baker County Republican women’s group will be supporting local and national candidates in the final two months leading up to November’s general election, according to Pracher. Coming up on their agenda is a booth at the county fair where they will be distributing information for Republican candidates vying for offices. Among those is the presidential ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin, U.S. House of Representative Ander Crenshaw seeking another term, Baker County Superintendent of Schools candidate Vincent Ferreria and County Commissioner contender Michael Crews.