Whoopi Goldberg: America 'Not as Free as It Was'

"View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg, an African American woman who grew up in the "Jim Crow" era of the 1950's and 1960's, claimed America is "not as free as it was when I was a kid." This is the same Whoopi who compared modern America to Nazi Germany.

The November 12 edition of "The View" featured noted conservative radio talk show host and best selling author of "Power to the People" Laura Ingraham. Ingraham put veteran journalist Barbara Walters on the defensive on the "do you want to win in Iraq" question. Most notably, though was Whoopi Goldberg’s assertion that America is "not as free" as it once was to Ingraham’s astonishment.

INGRAHAM: It’s a free country though right?

GOLDBERG: Well, it used to be. I used believe that it was, and then a lot of-

INGRAHAM: You don’t think that it’s a free country?

GOLDBERG: Not as free as it was when I was a kid, no, no.

INGRAHAM: I think that, that’s a disconnect.

BEHAR: Nobody was tapping into my phone when I was watching "Howdy Doody."

INGRAHAM: People are flooding into America, because we’re free.

Laura Ingraham also called out the co-hosts on "The View," and in the elite media in general, on not reporting all of the good news that is currently coming out of Iraq. Barbara Walters, who never corrected Joy Behar on her false statements regarding the "Swift Boat" ads, immediately jumped in to say that some things are going well and some are not. Laura Ingraham asked Barbara Walters if she wanted America to win, and Walters immediately grew defensive.

INGRAHAM: We have, right now, in Iraq, really good news coming out of Baghdad. On Veterans’ Day, I think we should talk about that. We have violence down, sectarian violence down, the Al Qaeda is being pushed out and the insurgents by the people of Iraq. And you can sit here, and you can stay with your narrative that we’re big losers and that we’re going to lose in Iraq. But the truth of the matter is things are turning around for the better, and we should recognize it right now.

BEHAR: We’re losing Pakistan now.

INGRAHAM: Let’s recognize it right now!

[applause]

BARBARA WALTERS: Laura, there’s some things going on for the better.

INGRAHAM: A lot of stuff is turning around for the better, Barbara, and you should be-

WALTERS: There are some things that area not, and I think, I think this is a country that is still very unhappy about it. This is still a country that is-

INGRAHAM: But could it change Barbara? Do you want win in Iraq?

WALTERS: Of course we do! No, come on. Of course, we all want to win.

INGRAHAM: Then just say you want to win, and if we’re winning, we should be able to say. If things were turning around, we should say "you know something, it’s not perfect. It’s very difficult, but things are turning around."

[...]

WALTERS: The only thing that I was saying before I was shut off is that we all want things to be better in Iraq. Some things are. Some things are not. But if there are still things that you criticize about the way certain things are being handled, that does not mean that you do not support the troops, and that you do not pray that it all turns out okay.