Behar: Sarandon and Robbins 'Most Patriotic Americans'

Joy Behar finds actors and hard left activists Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon "two of the most patriotic Americans that we have in the media." On the May 29 edition of "The View" the panel discussed Susan Sarandon’s threat to leave the United States if John McCain is elected president. The following Monday, June 2, Whoopi Goldberg read Sarandon’s response to the controversy.

In her letter to "The View" Sarandon claimed her words have been "morphed into something other than intended." Sarandon bizarrely added she simply would feel unsafe in New York City because of McCain’s "statements regarding foreign policy and his volatile temper."

After Goldberg read in Sarandon’s letter that she "has faith in the American people," Joy Behar called Sarandon and longtime partner Tim Robbins "two of the most patriotic Americans that we have in the media" because "they stuck their neck out in the beginning when it was very unpopular to speak out against the war and the Bush administration."

ABC employee Joy Behar must have missed a story from her own network at the time when "it was very unpopular." In April 2003, Peter Jennings and Jim Wooten smeared those who speak out against Robbins and Sarandon as "McCarthyites."

Behar then verified Sarandon’s charge that in McCain’s American New York will no longer be safe adding "there is a certain amount of fear" raised the specter of a war with Iran and felt "we would become a target even more."

The entire transcript is below.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: The other day we were talking about Susan Sarandon saying that she’d consider moving out of the country if McCain was elected. Now it turns out she was watching us and she wrote us a letter, which I had to have them write in very big letters because I can’t read it otherwise. It says "hey girls I came up over coffee in your ‘Hot Topics’ segment. I want to clarify a quote that has been repeated and morphed into something other than intended. If I were to entertain the notion of leaving my country, it’s because I believe under McCain it would be significantly more dangerous to live in New York City with my family because of his statements regarding foreign policy and his volatile temper not because I would ever hate my country. Continued on next card"- Oh. [laughter] "If discontent at the present leadership were motivated to leave, I would have left a long time ago, but instead, it’s every citizen’s duty and right under the Constitution to express their discontent. That’s called democracy. As I said in the full quote, this election is a critical one. I also said I have faith in the American people. Love, Susan."

JOY BEHAR: Yeah. Well, Susan and her husband Tim Robbins are two of the most patriotic Americans that we have in the media. And they stuck their neck out in the beginning when it was very unpopular to speak out against the war and against the Bush administration. I’m just saying that for Susan. And I think she was, you know, in a fit, pique, yeah maybe frustration. Well, so there is a certain amount of fear that you have that if someone gets into office who doesn’t have the right foreign policy and does insist these wars keep going, and Iran is next and this and that, that we would become a target even more. That’s why she said she wants to move away.