Friday's CBS This Morning touted Oprah Winfrey's recent Harvard commencement speech, airing over a minute of half of footage from the former daytime TV host's address. The morning newscast spotlighted how Winfrey took the opportunity to promote two liberal pet causes: gun control and "a clear path to citizenship" for illegal immigrants.
The show's three anchors all sang the billionaire's praises. Charlie Rose gushed over Winfrey's "remarkable speech". Norah O'Donnell trumpeted the TV star's "important message". Gayle King, who is Oprah's longtime friend, marveled over the address: "She did a great job yesterday." The three hosts didn't once mention King's close connection to Winfrey [audio clips available here; video below the jump].
O'Donnell teased the first soundbite of Winfrey, where the left-leaning media mogul pushed for immigration reform: "Oprah Winfrey goes to Harvard and gets political." Eight minutes later, CBS This Morning led the 7:30 am Eastern half-hour with an extended clip of Winfrey's immigration and gun control advocacy during the speech.
The CBS journalist added her two cents after the clip: "And that is Oprah Winfrey getting serious while speaking to graduates at Harvard University. She called for immigration reform and gun control, and we'll hear what she has to say about learning from her failures. That's a little later. An important message from Oprah, as always."
Almost an hour later, King noted how her best friend "talked about political issues, but she also had a message from her own life. She told the [Harvard] class of 2013 to consider the setbacks as opportunities." This led to the third clip from Winfrey, where she asserted, "There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction." King gave her "great job" line afterward, just after stating, "That advice will come in handy next time you think you're going to fail." Rose replied with his "remarkable" label of the speech. An on-screen graphic proclaimed, "Express Yourself: Oprah Delivers Words Of Wisdom To Harvard Grads".
The anchors mentioned Winfrey's speech two more times during the broadcast. O'Donnell referenced the host's advice about failure during an interview with Domino's Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle. They briefly discussed it again moments before ending the program.
The Huffington Post's Friday article about the commencement speech pointed out that longtime TV host cited leftist Bill Moyers' interview of a couple who lost their child in the Sandy Hook massacre: "She [Oprah] said she had seen an interview that...Moyers conducted with David and Francine Wheeler...She said that their refusal to be discouraged about the slow pace of gun reform had inspired her."
