A Bright Future for Sarah Palin in Politics or Entertainment

David Gardner at the Daily Mail writes movingly of John McCain’s concession speech and predicts a bright future for Sarah Palin in either politics or entertainment. It’s noteworthy that the first favorable media coverage for Palin that I’ve seen in weeks turns up in a UK publication.

Speaking of Palin’s future, Gardner reports:

“But Republican leaders say the election was just the beginning for Sarah Palin. Despite coming under fire for her inexperience, insiders say she is already being groomed to run for the presidency in 2012.

‘“She even let slip her own ambitions last week, saying in a TV interview that she’s ‘not doing all this for naught.’

“And should her presidential ambitions full flat, Hollywood has also come calling. Several top producers are vying to see if she can turn her popularity among the country’s conservatives into TV ratings.

“Now Joe Biden will be filling the vacant VP job in Washington, network executives are sharpening their pitches to try and persuade her to capitalise on her new found celebrity. Her self-mocking appearance on Saturday Night Live, with lookalike star Tina Fey and actor Alec Baldwin, only heightened Palin fever in Hollywood.

“‘Any television person who sees the numbers when she appears on anything would say Sarah Palin would be great,’ said veteran morning-show producer Steve Friedman.

‘The passion she has on each side, love and hate, makes television people say, "Wow, imagine the viewership".

“According to the Hollywood Reporter, most industry insiders believe an Oprah Winfrey-style daytime talk show will be the probable route for the 44-year-old. They think her folksy, straight-shooting personality would be an immediate hit with the predominantly female audience.

“'I see her less a variety show host like Ellen De Generes and more of a single-topic host like Tyra Banks,’ said one top TV producer.

“Cable news is another possibility and perhaps easier to fit in with her day job. Mike Huckabee, who lost out to John McCain in the Republican primaries, has just begun his own weekly show on Fox News.”

The only negative in the article is Gardner’s mention of occasional booing by McCain supporters at mention of Obama, but then I’ve frequently seen this kind of behavior from Obama supporters throughout the Democratic primary and the general election.