Presidential Timber: Then & Now

Sarah Palin's appearance on "Oprah" this week is being heralded as the kickoff of the 2012 presidential campaign despite the awful poll numbers that the smirking face of the Republican Party keeps getting.

That is one scary thought considering that Winfrey, as should have been expected, threw softballs during the hour-long gabfest.

While former not-son-in-law Levi Johnson, Katie Couric and the dregs of the McCain campaign came up, there was nary a peep about the issues that concern, uh . . . oh yeah, voters.

Contrast this with Senator John F. Kennedy's appearance on Jack Paar's "Tonight Show" in June 1960. The future president fielded more than 30 minutes of questions from Paar, comedian Peggy Cass and the New York studio audience. The subjects were the U-2 incident, failed Soviet summit, Cuba and JFK's Catholicism.

More here and here.