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    Levi 'Is Part of the Family,' Palin Tells Oprah

    Posted:
    11/12/09
    Filed Under:Woman Up

    Levi Johnston "is a part of the family," and he "is loved," Sarah Palin says. But does that mean he's invited to spend Thanksgiving with the Palins? (Not so far, says his spokesman.)

    In an interview with the former Alaska govenor that will air on the Oprah Winfrey show Monday, Winfrey asks Palin if Johnston, the 19-year-old father of her grandson, will be invited to the house for dinner.

    "You know, that's a great question," Palin replies. "And it's lovely to think that he would ever even consider such a thing. Because, of course, you want -- he is a part of the family and you want to bring him in the fold and kind of under your wing. And he needs that, too, Oprah. I think he needs to know that he is loved and he has the most beautiful child and this can all work out for good. It really can."

    In her chat with Winfrey, Palin also talks about her 2008 interview with Katie Couric, which most viewers thought she bombed.

    Palin admitted it was a bad performance, but said it wasn't a defining moment for the campaign.
    In fact, John McCain's staff told her she'd done fine. "The campaign said, 'Right on. Good. You're showing your independence. This is what America needs to see and it was a good interview.' And, of course, I'm thinking, 'If you thought that was a good interview, I don't know what a bad interview is,' because I knew it was a bad interview."

    In a video teaser of the the upcoming interview, Winfrey's own performance is lackluster. "Governor Palin just left and it was really an interesting interview," says Winfrey, talking directly into an eye-level camera, giving the video a very web cam-esque feel with a dash of "Blair Witch Project" and a side of "Paranormal Activity."
    The queen of daytime goes on to say that "lots of people," Palin supporters included, didn't want the rogue-ish maverick-in-training to appear on the show. Memories of Palin's disastrous interviews with Charles Gibson (remember the Bush Doctrine?) linger. The newscaster's name probably gets the Lord Voldemort treatment in the Palin household.

    Yet Winfrey claims nothing was off limits. "We talked about everything," she said, ticking off a list of topics that sounded more insipid than juicy. "We talked about Bristol, the pregnancy. We talked about Trig, ah, her baby. We talked about ah, um, um Levi Johnston," a name Winfrey underlines with her now signature forced alto (I call it the falto). Just close your eyes and imagine how Oprah will introduce the former Republican candidate for vice president. "Sarah PayhLUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!"

    More than a year after her unsuccessful bid for the White House, just four months since announcing her temporary retreat from public office and a few days before her memoir is released, Palin's decision to go on "Oprah," which pulls in about 7 million viewers, might actually go in the W column. The problem is: who's keeping score? With Tina Fey racking up Emmys without the wig and Elisabeth Hasselbeck keeping her 2012 views to herself (for now), it's doubtful that this interview does more for Palin's star power or poll rankings. Maybe Gibson will come out of retirement and heckle the governor from the front row Oprah's studio audience. Now that's must-see TV.

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    Helena Andrews

    Helena Andrews writes about the importance of everything pop culture. Her collection of essays, Bitch is the New Black, will be published by Harper Collins the summer of 2010... more

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