Behar Claims Liberals More Intelligent and Open-Minded Than Conservatives

The latest edition of CBS’s “Sunday Morning” featured a glowing profile of “The View” co-host Joy Behar in which the stand-up comic implied that conservatives are not intelligent and insisted that liberals are more open-minded.

Interviewer Russ Mitchell asked Behar how she developed a liberal worldview, to which Behar responded: “It comes from, uh, being smart.”

Mitchell then pressed Behar on how her conservative co-host on “The View,” Elisabeth Hasselbeck, would respond to that statement.“Listen, I have my prejudices, you know, too,” she said. “I think that people who are liberal are more open-minded. That's all. I just believe that. You know, you can argue with that all you want—you can say, ‘Oh, conservative people are open-minded,’ and I don't agree with that. I don't.”

It’s ironic that someone who claims to be so open-minded could not come up with a more thoughtful answer on the source of her liberal proclivities. What’s more, it’s ironic that someone who claims to be so open-minded would promote closed-minded stereotypes to characterize conservatives.

A partial transcript of the profile, which aired on “CBS News Sunday Morning” on 3/28/10 at 10:08 am, can be found below:

RUSS MITCHELL, CBS News anchor: Where did this liberal streak come from?

JOY BEHAR: It comes from, uh, being smart.

MITCHELL: What would Elizabeth [Hasselbeck, “The View” co-host] say to that?

BEHAR: Listen, I have my prejudices, you know, too. I think that people who are liberal are more open-minded. That's all. I just believe that. You know, you can argue with that all you want—you can say, ‘Oh, conservative people are open-minded,’ and I don't agree with that. I don't.

MITCHELL: While Behar is the first to admit she's a comic and not a legitimate journalist, in 2008 when presidential candidate John McCain joined the co-hosts of the “The View,” Behar wasn't shy about asking him some tough questions.

--Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.