Oprah talks about what Sarah Palin talks about

As we pointed out here last week when the manager of Barack Obama's never-ending presidential campaign agreed to go on the dreaded Fox News Channel to sell his book, book tours have a way of making superficial friends out of past opponents.

Thus, we will be treated Nov. 16 to the sight of Oprah Winfrey, arguably Obama's biggest celebrity booster, chatting up Sarah Palin, arguably America's most argued- over celebrity politician in recent years.

The subject, of course, is Palin's new book -- "Going Rogue: An American Life" -- which goes on sale the next day, with 1.5 million copies in print so far.

Palin took Piper and Willow with her to Chicago for the interview, which was taped at Oprah's studio Wednesday.

As The Ticket reported Wednesday night, Palin wrote on her Facebook page that the unlikely pair had such a great conversation that they ran overtime.

Which, goldarnit, means that Oprah will have extra exclusive minutes of video she'll simply have to post on Oprah.com for folks to click on. One thing exiting audience members said was that when asked if she wanted her own TV show, Palin did not say no.

And then, of course, Barbara Walters gets second crack at Palin, which will be broken into five parts on various ABC platforms midweek. What's-her-name and what's-his-name over at CBS don't seem to be on the Palin schedule just yet.

Right after Palin left the studio, Oprah (who looks shorter without makeup) made a short video here to....

...describe the O-P encounter and what all they talked about: inside the campaign, The Pregnancy, both babies and, well, pretty much everything.

Related items:

What's actually in Sarah Palin's book

Palin's roguish book tour schedule details

The secret Sarah Palin speeches we never heard

Sarah Palin breaks with GOP to endorse Conservative Party candidate

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Joe Burbank / campaign pool.

So much Obama damage control that David Axelrod even talks to Fox News

Here's how desperate Obama administration spokesmen were Wednesday to fill the info void they'd created by hiding away during the previous night's bad news election returns:

David Axelrod, an ex-newspaper reporter but one of the lead Obama attackers against the Fox News Channel in recent weeks, actually granted an interview to the Fox News Channel. To Major Garrett.

Obama aides knew full well in advance that election night was not going to go well for them and the commentators would connect the dots back to Obama and VP Joe Biden because, well, that pair has been so actively campaigning and money-raising all over.  

So no administration spokesmen appeared during the evening news storm. They passed word ...

Michelle Obama Hula-Hooping our way to health

First, the buff first arms. Then the First Lady's White House playground. Then the First Lady's White House victory garden. Then the First Lady's patronage of farmer's markets for things that grow in the filthy ground or hang on trees where birds perch and do things.

It's a given that too many Americans are obese. They don't exercise enough. The good news is their flabby thighs are hidden by their drooping stomachs.

Now, today First Lady Michelle Obama had a Healthy Kids Fair on the sunny White House South Lawn. Will this healthy stuff ever stop with these people?

Yes, of course, it's a political show. Playing with kids at a scheduled time that allows TV studio editors to process the video in time for the afternoon/evening newscasts is part of American public life now, regardless of party. (Think the Bushes' adorable T-ball games at the White House.)

But M.O.'s enthusiasm is almost contagious, making some American adults at least contemplate getting up out of their La-Z-Boys to move their enlarged bodies slightly. And not just toward the fridge.

Yes, it might be a shock to the old ticker to work a little. So try walking early in the morning before your brain figures out what's going on.

Never mind sitting on your enlarged keister reading books, this first lady seems determined to drive Americans, including her burger-loving, cigarette-smoking husband, to at least feel guilty about all those fries and other gunk they swallow into their bodies.

As she often does in her public remarks (think Copenhagen), the president's wife falls back on her own life for story material. We learn today that in her childhood they got pizza once each year or semester, one or the other -- and then only if the children had received good grades.

We also learn Mrs. Obama loves french fries. Very much. Extremely much. But that she knows she can't eat them every day. She doesn't explain why not. Apparently, she thinks it's bad somehow.

Mrs. Obama also says that her two daughters have no TV time on school days, which forces them to find activities other than sitting. Actually moving around, the way neighborhood youngsters did back in the neolithic pre-TV times of the 1940s and before.

And Sasha and Malia Obama only get a few hours of TV on the weekend -- presumably not Fox News either because, according to other White House denizens, watching that channel can cause bad things to happen to the human brain.

Today's Kids Fair is actually a rather charming event. (See news video below.) So put your Whopper down for a sec and scan what the First Mother had to say.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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First Lady Michelle Obama's remarks at the Healthy Kids Fair, as provided by the White House
MRS. OBAMA:  Well, hello!

CHILDREN:  Hello!

MRS. OBAMA:  It's good to see everybody.  Perfect weather, right?

CHILDREN:  Yes!

MRS. OBAMA:  Thank you so much. I am thrilled to have you all here today at the White House. And I....

Finally, D.C. change to believe in: DNC's mop stunt really shows Republicans

Those millions of Americans who sincerely voted last year for real change in Washington, to elect Barack Obama and Democratic legislators to end the kind of silly partisan pet tricks that both sides have been doing to get attention there for many years, will be delighted to learn that the Democratic National Committee has come up with a really clever strategy. And all apparently without adult supervision.

The committee's PR folks sent out chortling news releases for nearly 24 hours Monday detailing what some activists -- they called them "concerned Americans" -- would do and then did do in front of the RNC headquarters on Capitol Hill.

The goal, of course, was to ensure that some TV cameras got there. Because if a political activity like this happens and no camera is there to record it, did it really make a sound?

Here's what the new administration's supporters did to help change the perennial partisan tone in the nation's capitol and bring all sides together for a clean break with the past silliness, while delivering on the eloquent Illinoisan's campaign vows of real change. Si se puede. They delivered a trio of mops to the Republicans so the now minority party responsible for the last eight years of mess can help clean it up.

Get it? Clean up the Capitol's mess with mops. Wow, what a nifty visual! And on RNC Chairman Michael Steele's 51st birthday too. What an original and refreshing break from the comedic playground acts of political operatives there in recent years.

Nevermind that Democrats have controlled Congress for the last three years. We're still bashing  President Bush, who's so very gone that he's off making a fortune talking to eager audiences around the world about his experiences.

See, the cleverness of this Democratic strategy is that it keeps the focus on the past. That way no one is talking about why the unemployment numbers are so stunningly high despite $787 billion in spending that Vice President Joe Biden has talked about so often to so many people.

Or what do we seriously need to do about the deteriorating mess in Afghanistan where one American soldier is now dying every 14 hours to no apparent political or strategic gain, while, in between multimillion-dollar fundraisers across the country, the well-paid suits safely in D.C. spend weeks talking in very secure rooms? 

Or how come with the same Democratic Party today controlling every corner of the entire powerful White House apparatus, holding a whopping majority in the House of Representatives and a filibuster-proof 60-votes in the United States Senate, those same majority folks still can't seem to get a viable, affordable healthcare reform bill passed?

So, obviously today's inaction and legislative logjam must be the fault of the country-club crowd that got tossed out on its collective, but well-clad keister 50 weeks ago. So, to some DNC staffers, the mop idea, apparently inspired by a recent....

...Obama speech reference (see video above), seems like a perfect symbol of change.

How ridiculous that anyone ever worried that the wondrous ways of Washington would remain impervious to the 2007-08 campaign rhetoric about changing the tone of that one-time swamp, that a political city's culture of symbolic stupidity couldn't be changed by a simple election. Talk about silly, eh?

Next week perhaps the Democrats' secret plan could involve egging the GOP parking lot and kidnapping the Republican mascot before the big Homecoming game.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Arnold Schwarzenegger as you've seen him before

Now that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has laid down the state cellphone law to his wife, Maria Shriver, he's going to be all over television this weekend reminiscing about his previous cinema life, B.S. (Before Sacramento).

In those simpler days he could more easily play the good guy, retakes were always possible, someone else worried about budget details and people voted with their purchases of movie tickets.

Tomorrow, the Encore channel is devoting most of the day to Schwarzenegger movies. In fact, nine of them in a row. Sprinkled throughout with interview excerpts of the big fellow recalling his cinematic experiences.

It does start early ("Conan the Destroyer" launches at 5:30 a.m. Pacific). So you might want to activate the futuristic TiVo.

At 7:15 comes "Red Sonja," 8:50 "Kindergarten Cop," 10:45 "Last Action Hero," 1 p.m. "Batman & Robin," 3:10 "Twins," 5 p.m. "Eraser," 7 p.m. "The Running Man" and the day terminates with you-know-what at 8:45 p.m.

Then, at 11 p.m. you can turn to your local news in the Golden State and see the same guy watching a fire, flood or signing yet another piece of much-argued legislation.

-- Andrew Malcolm 

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Photo: Gov. Schwarzenegger leaves recent partisan state budget talks.

Tom DeLay withdrawing from 'Dancing With the Stars'

It looks like Tom DeLay's time on "Dancing With the Stars" is coming to an end.  People magazine is reporting that the former Texas congressman is bowing out of the dance competition because of foot injuries.

Despite stress fractures on both feet and a doctor’s order to stay on the sidelines, DeLay took to the dance floor Monday night on the ABC program. He’s not as young as some competitors, and certainly not as lithe. But he survived some elimination rounds, although he did falter a bit in last week’s tango portion, when it looked like he was going to drop his partner, Cheryl Burke.

On Monday night, the big question — at least, we presume, among dancing Texas Republicans — was whether DeLay would strut his stuff. “What’s a little pain when you can party?” he said.

And so he danced. Though clearly trying to be careful, he appeared to be having a good time dancing to a jaunty rendition of “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” — a rather bipartisan-themed selection for a man whose hardball tactics earned him the nickname “The Hammer.”  He and Burke were dressed in costumes suggesting Old Glory — she in blue with white stars, he in red and white stripes with the GOP elephant emblazoned on the back of his shirt.

Alas, we don’t have a separate video of Monday night’s performance, but follow this link to ABC’s website for all sort of photos and trivia on the show, or watch the video above of DeLay’s dancing debut.

On Monday, he showed that he can play through the pain, and the judges admired his spunk. His time on the show also produced two memorable quotes. The first from DeLay: “One thing I wasn’t prepared for in learning to dance was getting in touch with my feminine side.”

The other came on an earlier episode when Adam Carolla gave the men a pep talk right before showtime. To DeLay he said: “I know what you’re thinking. You don’t have to practice as hard as everyone else. You don’t have to work as hard as everyone else because you’re a white, middle-aged Republican, and dancing comes naturally to you people!”

-- Steve Padilla

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Photo: Tom DeLay dancing to "Wild Thing." Credit: Associated Press.

Ann Coulter, Carrie Prejean, Michele Bachmann become calendar girls -- and Phyllis Schlafly too

 

When you think of pin-up calendar girls, do you shut your eyes and envision U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)? Or perhaps that uber-hottie, and anti-feminist, Phyllis Schlafly?

Better start.

The Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, a think tank geared toward female conservatives, has released its fifth annual “Great American Conservative Women” calendar this month and – wait for it – has nearly sold out all 25,000 copies of its first printing.

The calendar features 11 conservative women, including Schlafly, Bachmann-- she with the “foot-in-mouth” habit of spouting off sound bites that Fox News and MSNBC love to gobble up -- as well as the va-va-va-voom Ann Coulter and former Miss California Carrie Prejean, who voiced her opposition to gay marriage this spring while competing in the Miss USA pageant.

Alyssa Cordova, spokeswoman for the institute, said the calendar is designed to celebrate strong female conservatives and inspire young women to follow in their footsteps. Previous years have featured the models dressed or photographed in different themes (1940s fashions) or settings (Coulter surrounded by stacks of her books in her publisher’s office).

This year, Cordova said, the ladies are going “more organic, simple white shirts and jeans, so people won’t be focused on hair or make-up, just on the women and their good works.”

They also have a few thoughts to pass on to the next generation. The quote under Bachmann’s picture -- she’s Miss November -- is intended to warm the cockles of every conservative man’s heart: “Since the fall of Adam, freedom has not been the natural condition of man. However, America has chosen to light a candle, rather than curse the darkness, with the bright promise of life, liberty and freedom.” (Follow the jump to see Bachmann's photo.)

Love 'em or hate 'em, you’ve got to respect the fact that the project has fueled some liberal jealousy: The Huffington Post has launched an effort to “help make a liberal women calendar.”

Lame, guys. Seriously lame.

 -- P.J. Huffstutter

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Photos: Images from the "Great American Conservative Women" calendar. Credit: Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute.

OMG, Obama Exec Order fed txtg while drving ROFL!

Now that Health and Human Services Secy. Kathleen Sebelius has issued formal instructions on the proper way Democrats want Americans to sneeze and/or cough during the official federal flu season (into your elbow), President Obama 2day issued an Executive Order with strict new rules for feds to not text while driving.

Good thing for highway safety, cuz feds not known as gr8 multi-taskers.

The order (full text below in legalese) was obviously written by a Harvard-trained team of lawyers with all kinds of cool sections and subsections, which include lots of things -- but, you should know, are not limited to them. You can, for instance, leave the car motor running while texting from vehicle, but must be on the roadside and/or driveway at the time. Good 2 no.

The Obama Order is way longer than 140 chars. But lawyers paid by hr anyway.

Important thing is highway safety, rt? The nation's chief executive is also the country's most notorious left-handed CrackBerry addict. He's very interested in personal safety, according to the executive order, which is no doubt why he also made his daughters wear those goofy-looking helmets while bicycle-riding on their recent Massachusetts vacation. (See photo below.)

Although, truth be told, the role-model-in-chief went helmetless himself for that photo op. (Why? Think 1988. Photo op. Massachusetts. Governor. Democrat. Dukakis. Army tank. Dumb helmet. Laughter. Loser.)

Also, Obama doesn't drive himself anywhere anymore. So he's in the back....

Liberal frog tricks conservative Glenn Beck

This is a weird story having to do with much-beloved conservative commentator Glenn Beck pulling a stunt on his Fox News TV show that may or may not have resulted in the death of a frog. No, not them. The amphibian.

He was apparently trying to make an obtuse point about much-beloved President Barack Obama fooling the American people with his ultra-liberal agenda, without which folks like Beck and his viewers and Keith Olbermann and his would have little to fulminate about while elevating the level of political debate.

Not sure we fully understand Beck's possibly staged stunt. Our blogging colleague has the full story over here at L.A. Unleashed.

But, first, watch this video as background.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Tom Delay goes 'wild' on 'Dancing With the Stars'

We hardly know what to say. Yes, that’s Tom DeLay, the former Texas Republican congressman, making his debut Tuesday night on ABC’s "Dancing With the Stars." With partner Cheryl Burke, he danced the cha cha cha to — and we’re not making this up — "Wild Thing."

On the show’s busy website, DeLay is quoted as saying, “One thing I wasn’t prepared for in learning to dance was getting in touch with my feminine side.” We weren't prepared for that either. Remember, this is the guy whose hardball tactics as a lawmaker earned him the nickname “The Hammer.”

Said judge Bruno Tonioli: "You're crazier than Sarah Palin."

Click to the jump for another photo of DeLay in action.