The View

"You know what, you've been a great journalist for 44 years," The View host Barbara Walters gushed to Dan Rather at the close of a softball interview on May 23 about his new memoir, "Rather Outspoken."

"No matter what CBS says!" an excited co-host Joy Behar interjected. Yes, "no matter what CBS says," Walters agreed of the former anchor/managing editor of the CBS Evening News, who was fired from the Tiffany network for running stories on a discredited phony memo that alleged President George W. Bush was often AWOL when he should have showed up for training exercises when serving in the Air National Guard.

As previously noted here at NewsBusters, while the predominantly liberal hosts of The View did generally coddle and flatter President Obama during his appearance on their show yesterday, they do deserve some credit for questioning at least one ridiculous thing he said when he claimed that he might lose the election due to his untraditional name.

In his appearance, Obama suggested that prejudice among some voters will make it more difficult for him to be re-elected. When asked how close he expected the November presidential election to be, Obama said: "When your name is Barack Obama, it's always tight." After one of the hosts noted that Obama's full name was "Barack Hussein Obama," the president repeated his full name twice, stressing his middle name and implying that it caused voters to vote against him.

On the May 15 The View, President Barack Obama visited the ladies of the ABC daytime talk show to chat about his support for gay marriage, Wall Street reform, the 2012 election, and pop culture. Rather than receive a hard-hitting news interview from members of the panel, he was given fluff questions, such as “Are you going to win?” [Audio here. Video below the jump.]

This is a really scary thought.

On this weekend's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman actually said the most powerful and "unifying" media figures in the country today are "the daytime women talk show hosts. It's Oprah, Ellen and The View" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

During the May 10 edition of The View, the co-hosts reflected on the issue of gay marriage and on the president’s big announcement that he believes gay couples should be able to get married. However, Behar took the opportunity to flex her partisan muscles, and take a jab at former Vice President Dick Cheney. [Video below the jump.]

During the May 9 edition of ABC’s The View, Whoopi Goldberg made a surprising revelation to members of the audience. During an interview with Fox’s John Stossel about his new book, "No They Can't: Why Government Fails But Individuals Succeed," Goldberg disclosed that she was a member of the NRA. [Video below the jump.]

On the April 30 edition of ABC’s The View, co-host Barbara Walters started a discussion about the preceding Saturday's White House Correspondent’s Association (WHCA) dinner. However, as usual, liberal comedian Joy Behar had to throw in a few cheap shots at a Republican.

During their discussion, most of the panel discussed the night's memorable jokes, including one made by comedian Jimmy Kimmel at Walters's expense. In all, the segment was supposed to be a light-hearted discussion about the WHCA dinner, which has a tradition of ribbing politicians of both sides of the aisle as well as journalists. [Audio here. Video below the jump.]

Disgraced former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards, who cheated on his cancer-stricken wife, reminds liberal "The View" co-host Joy Behar of Mitt Romney, even though the latter has been faithful to his wife of more than 40 years, even during Ann Romney’s battles with multiple sclerosis and cancer. [Audio here. Video below the jump]

ABC News contributor Donna Brazile on Sunday - like so many Obama-loving media members have in recent months - said, "The president can't control gas prices."

This led George Will to marvelously ask of his This Week co-panelist, "If he can stop the seas from rising, why can't he bring down gas prices?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

View co-host Joy Behar, who just last week defended Hilary Rosen's nasty attacks on Ann Romney, derided Mitt Romney on Monday, slamming his idea of welfare reform. Behar's comments caused the entire panel to erupt in a shouting match.

After showing the clip of Governor Romney, Behar thought she was summing up the former Massachusetts Governor’s views on the issue by mocking, “So you're poor, and on welfare, then you should go to work. If you're rich, then you can stay home. Is basically what he's saying.” That comment was immediately met with criticism from the rest of the panel. [Audio here, video after the jump]

On Thursday’s episode of The View Joy Behar did what she does best: defend the indefensible.  The ladies of the show were responding to comments made by Democratic donor and PR guru Hilary Rosen, who on CNN Wednesday said regarding Ann Romney, “His wife has actually never worked a day in her life. She's never really dealt with the kind of economic issues that a majority of women in this country are facing.”

The ultra-liberal Behar couldn’t resist the opportunity to attack Mrs. Romney by saying that, “whenever the wife of a politician, very few of them actually work for a living. And she’s talking about economic issues -- she's not the one who's putting bread on the table as millions of women are doing.”  [See video below.  MP3 audio here.]

Discussing Rick Santorum's suspension of his presidential campaign on the April 11 program, most members of the panel, including Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, noted that it was a difficult decision for him and his family. But leave it to hyper-partisan liberal comedian Joy Behar to kick the former senator when he's down. [Audio here, video below the jump]

Oh the delicious irony.

On ABC's The View Tuesday, as co-host Whoopi Goldberg supported Saturday's call by CNN's Don Lemon for reporters to say the N-word when quoting folks that have, the censors actually bleeped her when she said the word herself (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

What world does she live in? According to veteran journalist Barbara Walters on Monday, the American public doesn't know whether "most" reporters are "Republicans or Democrats." The unbelievable claim came during a View segment on the passing of 60 Minutes journalist Mike Wallace.

Walters, who once recoiled at the prospect of the "scary" Sarah Palin becoming President, insisted, "But, most of us...you don't know whether we're Republicans or Democrats or exhibitionists." (Exhibitionists?) The comment came after comedienne Whoopi Goldberg insisted, "And also, the journalists today don't do what journalists did, which was keep their opinions to ourselves." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

A nasty Joy Behar on Wednesday appeared on MSNBC's Last Word to attack conservative women such as Sarah Palin and Nikki Haley. Talking to the ultra-liberal Lawrence O'Donnell, Behar mocked, "Shouldn't [Palin] be turning letters somewhere on some game show at this point? Why is she still involved in the conversation politically?"

Palin's sin, according to Behar? Daring to opine on who Mitt Romney should pick as his vice presidential choice. Behar had more insults for the governor of South Carolina, who recently appeared on her ABC show, The View. Regarding Haley's comment that women don't really care about the contraception issue, Behar dismissed, "...I mean, that just shows you she's not thinking. I don't know where her head is at." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

During a segment on the April 5 edition of The View, the panel was discussing Bristol Palin’s new reality TV show about Palin moving in with her boyfriend and her decision to practice abstinence until marriage.

While the rest of the panel wanted to have a serious discussion about the show and on the issue of abstinence in general, Behar took the opportunity to doubt Bristol’s decision and to make light of the situation. Behar, who delights in mocking conservative politicians and their families, appears to have no “off switch” when it comes to discussing serious issues. [Audio here, video after the jump]

Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) appeared on the April 3 edition of ABC's The View to discuss her new book, “Can’t Is Not an Option.” Liberal journalist and View host Barbara Walters hoped to conduct a relatively positive interview, hailing Haley as a "true American success story."

But doing a positive segment on a successful female conservative Republican politician was just not an option for liberal co-host Joy Behar, who tried to transform the segment into an occasion to further the liberal media's "war on women" meme. (Audio here, video after the jump)

As NewsBusters reported Monday, the ladies of ABC's The View were tremendously sympathetic to Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke's tale of woe and misery having been called a "slut" by conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Yet as Laura Ingraham pointed out on Tuesday's Fox & Friends, her being called a "slut" by MSNBC's Ed Schultz last year was a source of great amusement on The View with Barbara Walters acknowledging to great laughter, "Joy Behar on this program has called me a slut" (videos follow with transcribed highlights and commentary):

On Monday’s edition of ABC's The View, Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke appeared on the show on what was essentially a 5-minute monologue for her to distort the contraception debate.  The "exclusive" interview with Sandra came in response to Saturday’s apology issued by Rush Limbaugh over controversial language he used to describe the student.

Fluke was given the opportunity to respond to Limbaugh’s apology but rather than accept it, she instead went on the attack, “No, and let me be clear that I think his statements that he made on the air about me have been personal enough so I'd rather not have a personal phone call from him.”  [See video below.  MP3 audio here.]

The bizarre allegations continued on ABC's The View, Tuesday, with co-host Whoopi Goldberg comparing a new Tennessee bill restricting the teaching of gay issues to "slavery."

The liberal comedienne derided the legislation, which would stop schools from discussing homosexuality until high school. She linked, "What's funny is I remember in my youth that they referred to black folks kind of the same way, things you didn't want discussed." Goldberg berated, "...One of the things they didn't want to talk about was what the reality of slavery was, because why bring black folks up?" [MP3 audio here. See video below.]

The shrill, extremist comments coming from the co-hosts on The View continued, Thursday. Liberal comedienne Joy Behar trashed Virginia for passing abortion restrictions, saying the new law makes the state like "the Taliban." 

Behar highlighted legislation requiring women, in some cases, to have an ultrasound before getting an abortion, decrying the move as "invasive." She then hyperbolically shrieked, "It's like, what are we? What is this, the Taliban now? What are we, in Afghanistan? Where are we exactly in this country?"  [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

In case you hadn't noticed, Hell froze over Monday.

ABC's Barbara Walters, appearing on The View, actually said on national television that she agreed with Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum's point about radical feminism making it more "socially affirming" for women "to work than to give up their careers to take care of their children" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

The liberal women on The View, Wednesday, shrieked at the "totalitarian" decision by a Texas judge to uphold a law requiring women to look at an ultrasound before having an abortion. Co-host and journalist Barbara Walters found the legal ruling– and not the act of abortion itself-- to be "heartbreaking." [See video below. See MP3 audio here.]

Regarding the ruling, left-wing comedienne Joy Behar spewed, "It's very totalitarian in my opinion. I mean, it smacks of forcing somebody to confront something that they have already decided they don't want to deal with." Rather than focus on the actual abortion, Walters lectured, "Then to have to go and be forced to hear, to see the fetus, to hear the heartbeat, to put more guilt on you, I think is heartbreaking."

Joy Behar, on Wednesday's edition of The View, delivered a rave review for Barack Obama's State of the Union of Speech as she gushed that it was "equivalent to Ronald Reagan's 'Morning in America' speech" and added "Republicans can embrace him" now. Behar then went on to say the President's speech, that was devoted to the kind of class warfare talk The Gipper would have despised, should motivate the Republicans to "start cooperating" and "stop this gridlock because it's not patriotic!" (Video after the jump)

The View's Elisabeth Hasselbeck said Thursday that co-host Joy Behar is a closet Republican.

Such occurred after NBC Late Night's Jimmy Fallon asked her, "Is it hard to be the only conservative on The View? I mean, basically you're getting into arguments every single day" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Appearing as a guest on Thursday's Chelsea Lately show on the E! network to promote his book, The New New Rules, HBO's Bill Maher denied that a sexual joke he made last February about ABC's Elisabeth Hasselbeck and CBS's Lara Logan was a reference to the rape of Logan in Egypt from that month, as he recounted that he actually made the joke on his Real Time show before Logan's sexual assault occurred.

On Tuesday's edition of The View on ABC, the ladies once again held a completely unanimous liberal discussion on gay marriage, with the alleged conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck leading the denunciation of social conservatives, including Pope Benedict. On Monday, Pope Benedict spoke up for the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman, but nowhere in the address did he actually discuss the concept of gay marriage. It was more of a pro-life message.

But no one at The View reads original transcripts. "Someone wasn't invited to Elton John's wedding," Joy Behar joked. “Someone’s ticked off.”  Hasselbeck chimed in. "I think a big mistake that people make, in saying that something works against humanity to me seems quite inhumane. I was raised Catholic, I consider myself Christian now, but I’ll probably get some letters after today," Hasselbeck said. [Video follows]

According to "The View's" Whoopi Goldberg, communism is a "great concept" that "makes perfect sense" on paper. The comedienne and co-host made the rather astounding comment on Tuesday while discussing the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il.

After mentioning the background of new leader Kim Jong Un and his education at a Swiss boarding school, Goldberg proclaimed, "...If you say that this is how our culture is and then you send your child to a Swiss boarding school. You know, this is what happens with communism. It's a great concept. On paper it makes perfect sense." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Appearing as a guest on Tuesday's Joy Behar Show on HLN, after complaining about Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's proposal to provide school children with work experience and the chance to earn money in their schools, Whoopi Goldberg joined host Behar in asserting that it was "racist" for Gingrich to speak of preventing children from becoming "pimps and prostitutes and drug dealers."

Goldberg began by ranting about the absence of people who "want to see the country do better." Goldberg: