"The View"co-hosts discussed the Mike Huckabee Christmas ad when Joy Behar moved to quote Ron Paul, ideologically libertarian, whom Behar calls "a very staunch Republican," who quoted Sinclair Lewis: "When Fascism comes to the country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."When they played the advertisement, Behar moaned "we don’t have to listen to him do we?"

Whoopi Goldberg, who previously defended Georgia Governor Perdue for holding a prayer service, defended Huckabee’s ad claiming "if he wasn’t a Christian, I don’t think people would be as freaked out by it." Whoopi also defended those who wish to proclaim Merry Christmas.

KEYS: Do you think it matters? Well, well, do you think it matters?

GOLDBERG: Apparently it does. It matters to quite a few people because one of the other complaints on this is people are saying "and he said Christmas!" And I said, but it is Christmas!

SHEPHERD: But he talked about Jesus on the thing.

GOLDBERG: Well, it’s the birth of Jesus! It’s Christmas! So why wouldn’t you say that? That I don’t understand.

The entire transcript is below.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: [Mike Huckabee’s] got this video, this sort of holiday video that, that is out, and people are questioning now. They’re saying "well did he put up a subliminal cross because he’s a Christian?" Let’s take a look at it to see if anybody else sees the ridiculousness-

JOY BEHAR: We don’t have to listen to him do we?

GOLDBERG: We don’t have to listen to him. Now, so here’s the cameras moving.

ALICIA KEYS: It’s a window or a book shelf?

GOLDBERG: It’s a book case actually.

KEYS: It’s a book case.

SHERRI SHEPHERD: And there’s a tree once they keep panning.

GOLDBERG: But, you know, once you keep panning-

BEHAR: If you keep going there’s a Christmas tree.

GOLDBERG: -there’s a Christmas tree and everything else.

KEYS: Does it look like a window when you go further?

SHEPHERD: Yeah, well the tree is in front of it.

GOLDBERG: Can you roll it some more? Can you roll a little bit more so people can see the whole thing? Oh, we don’t have it. We only had that much.

BEHAR: It’s tree. It’s a tree.

GOLDBERG: But there’s a tree right next to it. So people are saying he did that on purpose because he’s a Christian.

BEHAR: And he’s saying no. Well, it’s not just that he’s a Christian. It’s also he’s appealing to the Christian right, so that he can get the nomination.

GOLDBERG: Well, if he wasn’t a Christian, I don’t think people would be as freaked out by it. Because, you know, everybody is, is pandering to the right. Everybody is not pandering to the right, I take that back, pandering to the religious part of this. Which is, you know, here’s, I believe in this, I believe in this, I believe in this. What is your religion? Who? What? Where? Asking questions we’ve never asked before. And I think it’s- oh here we go. We got the whole thing.

BEHAR: But it’s a, it’s a heavier appeal on the Republican side than the Democrats.

GOLDBERG: Did you see those guys on CNN talking about their religious beliefs in the early part- I mean, it was crazy. I’ve never seen anything like that. Still moving. And there’s the tree.

SHEPHERD: And now there’s the, you know, when we were talking downstairs, Fran our costume designer, she’s like with set design everything, there’s every thought that goes into the way a set is designed. And she felt like there was no accident with anything. That they saw the that it was a cross, and you know, they left it in there.

BEHAR: What do you think?

SHEPHERD: I think, you know, I didn’t think it was intentional. But I didn’t have a problem with it because I’m a Christian.

KEYS: Do you think it matters? Well, well, do you think it matters?

GOLDBERG: Apparently it does. It matters to quite a few people because one of the other complaints on this is people are saying "and he said Christmas!" And I said, but it is Christmas!

SHEPHERD: But he talked about Jesus on the thing.

GOLDBERG: Well, it’s the birth of Jesus! It’s Christmas! So why wouldn’t you say that? That I don’t understand.

BEHAR: Ron Paul, who’s running on the Republican ticket, and was one of the guests that we had, said on "Fox and Friends."

GOLDBERG: The man you told what?

BEHAR: Well, he’s a very interesting guy.

SHEPHERD: The man she told he wasn’t going to win?

BEHAR: He’s the only one in the Republican party that wants to get out of Iraq immediately.

GOLDBERG: Right.

BEHAR: And he’s the only one who addresses our policies in the Mid East. He’s the only one. But he said today, he’s a Republican, a very staunch Republican too. He says when Fa- this is quoting Sinclair Lewis who’s a famous American writer. "When Fascism comes to the country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross." That is from Ron Paul, who was a Republican candidate.

[...]

GOLDBERG: But the bottom line is, is it, is it really an issue or is it Christmas and that’s all it is?

BEHAR: Everything is deliberate in these campaigns. I don’t believe it’s an accident. I don’t believe it.

SHEPHERD: But, so what if he did it? It is Christmas-

BEHAR: Fine! But let’s just call it what it is. If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. It’s an appeal to the Christian right base of the Republican party. The end. That’s it.

—Justin McCarthy is a news analyst at Media Research Center.