Whoopi Goldberg: 'I Cussed Out This Country'

Whoopi Goldberg, in defending Reverend Wright, admitted to, at times "cuss[ing] out America." On the November 4 (Election Day) edition of "The View," a conversation about Sarah Palin’s clearance in the "Troopergate" probe quickly morphed into a fight (three on one) over Reverend Wright. In justifying Wright’s "God damn America" remark, Whoopi confessed "I have been guilty of cussing this country out because we have not always shown our best and put our best foot forward."

Aiding Whoopi’s tirade against Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Sherri Shepherd defended Obama’s decision to forego public financing "because they’re swift boating Barack Obama with this Jeremiah Wright stuff." Sherri and Whoopi also scolded Elisabeth for allegedly not understanding black issues and Reverend Wright’s bitterness towards his country.

Adding to the pile on, Joy Behar, for her part, claimed she did not want to sit in judgment as a white woman stating "I don’t really think that I have any business to discuss what goes on in a black church because I am not black." When Elisabeth called out Joy for defending Wright when "Obama hasn’t," Behar comically denied defending Wright. When Elisabeth questioned Obama for sitting in Wright’s church for 20 years, Behar made a bizarre comparison claiming "A lot of people sat- a lot of people sat for eight years while Bush committed his little atrocities. So let’s not cast stones."

The transcript follows.

ELISABETH HASSELBECK: She is cleared, okay, on the record cleared. And if we’re going to investigate that, there are things that have happened in this election that have been bold faced broken promises. What about- you want to talk about improper use of power when Barack Obama, look-

JOY BEHAR: Isn’t it over yet?

HASSELBECK: No, it’s not over yet. [applause] Palin- look he’s not my president yet. I can fight this to the very end because I believe that and I will. It’s my right.[applause] This- what about- if you find problems with that. So that’s like a claim on a maybe, and on something that’s already been cleared. So you still have a problem with that. But why don’t you then ethically have a problem with Barack Obama who promised America, promised John McCain that he wouldn’t take public financing, and then if a Republican did it they’d say-

SHERRI SHEPHERD: You know why? You know why? Because they’re swift boating Barack Obama with this Jeremiah Wright stuff. If he didn’t take public financing from taxpayers who wanted to give it to him, he wouldn’t have money to fight that stuff.

[applause]

HASSELBECK: He’s swift boating? Swift boating? Jeremiah Wright, Jeremiah Wright is a legitimate issue. Let me tell you why because Barack Obama sat in that church for 20 years and we’re supposed to elect him in with good judgment, who attends a church with- who preaches those- "it is this world where white folk’s greed runs a world in need." This is a man who chose to have his children in this church. He- you have defended- you have defended Reverend Wright more than Barack Obama has.

BEHAR: Can I say something as a white person, as a white person?

HASSELBECK: This is outrageous. Barack Obama hasn’t even defended it.

BEHAR: I don’t really think that I have any business to discuss what goes on in a black church because I am not black. So I don’t know- Oprah Winfrey belonged to that church. A lot of prominent people belonged to that church. If Jeremiah Wright wants to spout these things against the-America-

HASSELBECK: God da- [bleeped out]

BEHAR: Wait a second. Wait a second. Then, then those people may enjoy that type of eruption.

HASSELBECK: Enjoy?

BEHAR: That doesn’t mean that they’re blowing anything up or doing anything illegal.

[applause]

HASSELBECK: That’s William Ayers. That’s William Ayers.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Let me put it to you this way. I have tried to give you some idea of why people of a certain age feel the way they feel, black people in particular. Somewhere along the lines, you know, you have to look at Barack Obama as a person who has come after the Civil Rights movement. He has a different way of thinking. So his attitude about this Reverend Wright thing is vastly different. Also, I have been guilty [bleeped out] I have been guilty of cussing this country out because we have not always shown our best and put our best foot forward. [applause] I can not be angry with anyone who feels that way. And, you know, it is his right to be angry about having to walk in the street instead of the sidewalk because we had, have racial issues in this country. The other thing, you talk about somebody being cleared, William Ayers was cleared. Okay? William Ayers was cleared. So if we’re clearing everybody, then we’re clearing everybody. Let’s be fair as you are asking. Let’s be fair. Let’s be fair.

HASSELBECK: He actually did the-

GOLDBERG: He was cleared.

HASSELBECK: He actually carried out bombings.

GOLDBERG: [singing] He was cleared in the court!

HASSELBECK: Due to a mistrial.

GOLDBERG: [singing] He was cleared in the court!

[...]

HASSELBECK: The three of you right now have defended Reverend Wright more than Barack Obama has. Barack Obama-

BEHAR: We’re not defending Revered Wright. We’re not defending Reverend Wright. See that’s where you’re wrong. I’m not defending Reverend Wright.

HASSELBECK: You’re defending the fact that, look. This is a man, he sat in his church for- I don’t trust his judgment.

GOLDBERG: I’m trying to educate you.

HASSELBECK: I don’t need education on this Whoopi. There’s judgment.

GOLDBERG: Well, you do, a little bit you do.

HASSELBECK: And I’m trying to educate you- to say that is not fair.

GOLDBERG: I understand that you- no Elisabeth you have not.

HASSELBECK: I don’t care what color church it is, it is not right to say we got what we deserved on 9/11. It’s not right to say-

GOLDBERG: You know what? Excuse me! Didn’t what’s his name say that? Didn’t that preacher say that?

HASSELBECK: It’s not right.

GOLDBERG: I’m sorry- Hagee. What’s the other man, the other man? I believe Jerry Falwell. I believe that young Mr. McCain was at Jerry Falwell’s school. Now, he wasn’t too put out by that either. We know that people say things that we don’t like. You judge it on how you feel about the person that you’re dealing with. That’s why John McCain said "look, I don’t like what he said, but I like what his school is doing."

HASSELBECK: Is that his mentor, his personal mentor for 20 years who baptized his kids?

GOLDBERG: It doesn’t matter. And getting back to- yeah and baptizing his kids. You know what? That’s the way we do it.

BEHAR: I made the point- I made the point one time that being a Catholic, there are many things that the Catholic Church has done over the years. The sex scandal has been an abomination on the Catholic Church. That does not stop me if I want to go into a Catholic Church-

HASSELBECK: It stopped Barack Obama. Why doesn’t he go to that church?

BEHAR: Well, I’m talking about me right now.

HASSELBECK: Why did he quit the church?

BEHAR: I’m talking about me.

GOLDBERG: Because people like you took it to that level.

BEHAR: My aunt Julie still goes to church. When someone dies, a priest comes to the funeral. It is still part of our culture.

HASSELBECK: Same thing with me.

BEHAR: But, but that’s the point. I don’t stop going to church because one priest molested a kid. And the same thing goes for him.

[applause]

HASSELBECK: But you can’t- what I’m saying is there’s irony here. There’s irony in the fact that if it’s not so bad, then why did he walk away, just to get votes? That to me seems not founded on good principle. Who are you? Who are you?

GOLDBERG: You know why he walked away? Because it became, it became about Reverend Wright and not about him. And I want to clear something up because I didn’t mean to mis speak to you. When I said educated, I was talking specifically about the history of what-

HASSELBECK: I understand history. I have been through many years of school.

GOLDBERG: You know, why am I trying to explain it?

SHEPHERD: I don’t know if going through many years of school, Elisabeth, I don’t know if going through many years of school qualifies you to understand when a corporal comes home from serving in Vietnam and he tried to get a cab on the day that Martin Luther King died, and he tried to get a cab in Boston, in uniform and a white cab driver would not pick him up, you can go to school all you want, but you can not understand the anger that he might have. He might be angry and he might say-

HASSELBECK: Reverend Wright is entitled to feel the way he feels based on his past. Barack Obama himself obviously thought there was something wrong with that if he distanced- if he separated himself from the church and quit that church. So you have defended this notion-

BEHAR: A lot of people sat- a lot of people sat for eight years while Bush committed his little atrocities. So let’s not cast stones.

[applause]