The View

Joy Behar, a noted Bush hater, took the moral high ground to denounce hatred against Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton. On the January 28 edition of "The View," Ted Kennedy’s endorsement of Barack Obama was the discussion topic. Behar then scolded those who exhibit hatred towards the Massachusetts Senator as well as Senator Clinton claiming Kennedy "is hated by a lot of Republicans just like Hillary Clinton is hated. The hatred that goes through on both sides is horrible."

Video (37 seconds): Windows (2.19 MB), plus MP3 audio (266 kB).

Before Behar casts stones, she may want to consider some of the hateful comments she has made on "The View." Maybe she will exhibit another double standard as she previously denounced a personal attack on Senator Clinton but defended her own personal attacks on President Bush because she "doesn’t like him."

A woman has the hots for former President Bill Clinton, "The View’s" Joy Behar. Discussing the former president’s recent confrontation with a CNN reporter, Behar announced she still has "the hots for the guy" and "women respond" to a man notorious for sexual indiscretions.

Video (1:12): Windows (2.25 MB) or MP3 audio (538 kB)

Sherri Shepherd and right of center co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck added Bill Clinton is "very charming" and "extremely charismatic." Whoopi Goldberg told the story of her mother’s star struck meeting adding Clinton has "got it" "that just grabs somebody."

A long time NBC anchor spent his weekends as a hippy. Appearing on the January 23 edition of "The View" to promote his book "Boom," former "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw described himself as "kind of a weekend hippy" when he lived in California in the 1960's. Brokaw recalled "wearing bell bottom trousers and sandals" and attending the Renaissance Faire. Of course on Mondays he would put on a coat and tie and "be a network correspondent."

Elisabeth Hasselbeck asked the "did you inhale" question to which Brokaw responded "as Senator Obama has said, isn’t that the point?"The veteran journalist then recounted the strong marijuana culture in 1960's California and that he himself "experimented with it."

The entire transcript is below.

Whoopi Goldberg has proven to be no Rosie O’Donnell. While Rosie’s successor on "The View" does lean to the left, she has taken some conservative positions like attacking the death tax. The January 22 edition was another example.

Discussing a recent CNN story on black women torn between Obama and Clinton, Whoopi felt "pissed off" that the media would simplify individuals to voting their gender or race. Elisabeth Hasselbeck agreed questioning if this story "undermines the intelligence of the individual" adding "it’s pretty ridiculous." Sherri Shepherd joined the consensus opining "a lot of black women are very angry" adding she wants "the best person who’s going to lead the country."

Predictably, Joy Behar dissented adding "all things being equal" she would vote for the woman over the man. Hasselbeck continued that she just sees "the individual."

Ten years after the Lewinsky scandal broke, Barbara Walters is still acting as a spokeswoman for Bill Clinton’s former mistress. On the January 21 episode, Walters scolded fellow "View" panelist Joy Behar for incorporating Monica Lewinsky jokes into her comic routine, opining "I don’t think one should joke about it."

The veteran journalist, who landed the first interview with Lewinsky, hyped her recent master’s degree and claimed she is having difficulties finding a job. Elisabeth Hasselbeck felt "that’s what happens when you make decisions like that, that affect your future." Whoopi Goldberg ended the segment adding that women should support Lewinsky because she’s a woman. After the commercial break, Hasselbeck replied that she thinks " about supporting the person, you know, and taking gender out of it."

After Joy Behar’s inflammatory comments, claiming saints would be no more than mental patients in modern society, Fox News was the one of the very few major news outlets that picked it up. Other than Joe Scarborough on MSNBC, Fox News was the only news outlet that covered the Joy Behar craziness. In cyberspace, Fox News was the only major news website to report it.

Could it be that her comments were simply not newsworthy enough? Under the mainstream media’s standards with Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly, they should be. On the January 11 edition of "Fox and Friends First" Steve Doocy noted Fox News’ sole voice.

"Extraordinarily, I was googling this last night. Fox News is pretty much the only outfit that is even talking about this. It’s so extraordinary."

Roughly 24 hours after essentially calling the saints mentally ill, "View" co-host Joy Behar claimed moral authority on inflammatory statements. Discussing Chris Matthews dismissing Hillary Clinton’s successes due to her husbands infidelities, Behar opined that Matthews’ comments were "inappropriate."

Behar previously admitted to having a "do as I say, not as I do" approach. When she railed against McCain for a supporter calling Hillary Clinton a "bitch," Sherri Shepherd called Joy out on the many personal attacks on President Bush asking "what’s the difference?" Joy Behar snidely responded "the difference is I don’t like [Bush]"

According to "View" co-host Joy Behar, those sainted by the Catholic Church are no more than mentally ill individuals who heard voices. On the January 9 edition of "The View" Behar, who considers prayer a "distraction," suggested that there are no longer any saints due to modern medicine.

"I have a theory that you can’t find any saints any more because of psycho-tropic medication. I think that the old days the saints were hearing voices and they didn’t have any thorazine to calm them down. [laughter] Now that we have all of this medication available to us, you can’t find a saint any more."

Anyone who has given birth to a child knows that post-partum hormones can really cloud your thinking. But your political views?

Apparently, when you are a conservative, or thought to be a conservative, reporters think you might move left after you give birth. That was the assumption ABC's JuJu Chang brought into her interview with The View's Elisabeth Hasselbeck on today's broadcast of Good Morning America.

Chang, who said she gave birth within nine days of Hasselbeck, was back on GMA with an interview of The View's co-host, labeled a conservative two times in the piece, who returned to her job this week as well. The interview was set up to be a chat between two new moms, but quickly became political.

Chang: Has motherhood changed your views at all - either your politics or just your worldview or your life view ?

Hasselbeck: I think motherhood stirs up questions about life. You look at it differently. I'm not voting just as a single woman anymore or just for myself. I'm actually looking at how this world will be shaped so that my kids can live in a place that's safe for them. And that is my main goal. I think it does change.

Are Hillary Clinton’s recent troubles the result of unfair press coverage? According to "The View’s" Joy Behar they are. On the January 8 edition of the ladies chat show, the co-hosts discussed Senator Clinton’s recent emotional breakdown when Behar exclaimed, "I feel like crying for her now. I feel so bad about how the press has been vilifying her."

As is expected for a woman who frequently gets her facts wrong, the facts simply do not back her up. Even the allegedly "conservative" Fox News gave the New York Senator a softball interview. Since the fall, several negative stories about Senator Clinton broke that the network news simply did not pick up. Some of the most prominent examples include news that former President Bill Clinton left his wife in charge of Clinton Library documents that have not been released, and raising an extremely high amount of money from poor Chinese immigrants.

Before we ring in 2008, it's worth taking a look back at some of the liberal media's goofiest or most outrageous moments, courtesy of the Media Research Center's Best Notable Quotables of 2007: The Twentieth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting. The awards were determined by a panel of 53 distinguished media observers, including radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, editorial writers and informed media observers.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews was a big "winner" this year, taking the top slot in three categories -- the "Blue State Brigade Award for Campaign Reporting," the “Channeling the Nut Roots Award,” and the "Dynamic Duo Award for Idolizing Bill and Hillary," for (in order) gushing over Barack Obama, suggesting Bush and Cheney be tried for Nuremberg-style war crimes, and equating Bill Clinton with Jesus Christ. Oh, what a busy year he had.

I've noted previously that Old Media has developed a squeamishness towards describing this time of year in business stories as the "Christmas shopping season."

In the midst of media criticism of Mike Huckabee's Christmas ad, including the Whoopi Goldberg-Joy Behar exchange on "The View" noted earlier today by NewsBusters' Justin McCarthy, how interesting it is that one of Hillary Clinton's latest ads in Iowa joins in the C-word sqeamishness (HT Hot Air, whose Bryan Preston calls it "Hillary's Unintentionally Revealing Christmas Ad").

The ad shows Mrs. Clinton wrapping presents for the American people, including "Universal Health Care," "Alternative Energy," "Bring Troops Home," and "Middle Class Tax Breaks" (where have we heard that undelivered promise before?). In search of the final present to wrap, she asks, "Where's Universal Pre-K?" Finding it, she says, "Ah, there it is."

(Three of these "presents" to the American people would have to be paid for with money coming from the American people in the form of taxes -- but that's for another time.)

Then comes the ad's final new slide:

"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?

After speaking against the death tax last week, "View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg said "people are very annoyed" with her and reliably left Joy Behar attacked with her pro-tax liberal spin. The December 12 edition of "The View" featured country star and politically conservative guest co-host Sara Evans, who also spoke out against the death tax.

Similar to her previous statement on the issue, Goldberg said "I just feel like...I’ve worked very hard...this is something I want to give to my kid and she should be able to accept it." After Whoopi called it a "double tax" Sara Evans exclaimed "I totally agree with you!"

Joy Behar, in using the typical left wing class warfare propaganda claimed that "the very, very rich, not only don’t have to pay it, but get tax cuts." As she has done before, Behar gets her facts wrong. In 2005, the top one percent (those making $364,657 or more) paid 39.4 percent, but earned only 21.2 percent of the wealth.

Whoopi Goldberg did call out Joy Behar exclaiming that the wealthiest Americans are "pay ing 50 percent of their income. It’s not like they’re not paying."

Video (50 secs): Windows Media (1.55 MB) or MP3 audio (384 kB).

The entire transcript is below.

Joy Behar took up Media Matters talking points on her "View" forum and Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd, whom Barbara Walters calls "very conservative," backed Behar up. On discussing Barack Obama and whether his African American race helps or hurts him, Joy Behar brought up the far left Media Matters smear of Bill O’Reilly.

JOY BEHAR: Well, remember the Bill O’Reilly thing when they went up to Sylvia’s and he was so astounded-

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Yes he was astounded.

BEHAR: -that black people use forks or something when they eat?

GOLDBERG: Yeah, I mean, you know, what kind-

BEHAR: It’s Bill O’Reilly.

In reality, Bill O’Reilly was using his experience to note that African-American culture is not as profane and coarse as stereotyped by many white Americans. Barbara Walters very timidly defended O’Reilly before Sherri Shepherd and Whoopi Goldberg continued.

Joy Behar still complains about Al Gore’s 2000 election loss. In discussing Gore’s Nobel Prize acceptance, Behar implied Gore lost an unfair election. When Whoopi Goldberg reminded Behar that Gore conceded. Behar retorted "that was a mistake" after the Supreme Court, which has final jurisdiction ruled against him.

Behar continued that Gore "should have let them count the votes legitimately...to keep our country the way it’s supposed to be instead of the Supreme Court making the decision." Behar essentially said Gore should have defied the Court to "let them count the votes legitimately."

Behar is forgetting that Gore exhausted the legal system and there were little or no avenues Gore could have pursued after the Supreme Court ruled against him. Also, Florida did have a full state recount, including court ordered hand recounts of Florida’s most liberal counties.

Barbara Walters did not defend Rosie O’Donnell against Bill O’Reilly’s "Wicked Witch of the East" comment, but laughed and diverted to complimenting Whoopi Goldberg. "Not defending" usually fires up the former "View" moderator as was best exemplified on Rosie’s last live "View."

The veteran journalist and "View" creator appeared on the December 5 edition of "The O’Reilly Factor" to promote her upcoming special "The Ten Most Fascinating People of 2007." After discussing the special, Bill O’Reilly moved on to "The View" and noted that the ratings are up from the "Wicked Witch of the East" era last season. It led to this exchange between Walters and O’Reilly.

Joy Behar’s case of Bush Derangement Syndrome is so severe that she mocks them for what she herself it guilty of. It is no secret she hates the Bush administration to the point of calling them liars and murderers, comparing their former defense secretary to Hitler, applying a different standard to Bush than to Hillary Clinton, and even to the point of airing false charges on the administration. The December 5 edition of "The View" added some hypocrisy in her latest charge.

Opponents of the Death Tax may have found a very unlikely celebrity spokesperson, "View" moderator Whoopi Goldberg. On the December 4 edition, guest co-host Kate Walsh noted all of the programs Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul wishes to abolish. Goldberg then stepped in proclaiming "I’d like somebody to get rid of the death tax...If I have to give something to my kid I already paid the tax, why do I have to pay it again because I died?"

Video (0:55): Real (1.48 MB) and Windows (1.70 MB), plus MP3 audio (424 kB)

After a strong applause from the audience, Joy Behar retorted "only people with a lot of money say that." Whoopi strongly disagreed and added this comment against the death tax.

On Tuesday's "Morning Joe," hosts Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist skewered the morally relative, anti-American comments made by the women of "The View" on last Friday's edition of the ABC program. As reported on NewsBusters, hosts Sherri Sheppard and Whoopi Goldberg assigned blame to a British schoolteacher who was being persecuted in the Sudan for naming a teddy bear Muhammad.

After playing a clip of the discussion, Scarborough disgustedly asked, "And I do wonder why these people who are so quick to defend extremism like this-- I do wonder if they have any idea what they are talking about, about these cultures that abuse women." Geist asserted that some violent societies aren't "worth understanding." That prompted Scarborough to retort, "Or if we do understand them, we'll understand how evil they are and they'll need to be neutralized. Possibly killed. I'm sorry. That's just the way it is."

All the co-hosts of "The View," a show intended to advance women’s voices, do not get offended by women’s persecution in the Islamic world. On the November 30 edition, in discussing the British woman charged for naming a class teddy bear Muhammad, the co-hosts did not direct any anger at the Sudanese government, but rather blamed the woman for not adapting to their culture.

Co-host Sherri Shepherd opined "you would think that with her being in Sudan, she would know the rules and customs." Whoopi Goldberg said Europeans and Americans are "not as anxious to learn the customs before we go places." And of course that’s why we’re called "ugly Americans."

The show was recorded before news of the woman’s 15 day sentence. The entire transcript is below.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Now in the Sudan, there’s a British teacher who is possibly going to be stoned or lashed.

JOY BEHAR: A woman.

Do none of the Republican presidential candidates, including the former mayor of New York City, care about crime in the African-American community? According to "The View’s" Sherri Shepherd, they do not. Joy Behar says those encouraging a more stable family structure are "mental midgets" because they will not discuss racism.

On discussing the Republican YouTube debate, Joy Behar said she was "slightly annoyed" that Mitt Romney stated a large factor in black on black crime are unstable families, and that he did not address racism. Sherri Shepherd scoffed that "not one of these candidates ever thought about black on black crime."

Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg also exclaimed why no one ever asks about "white on white crime." Joy Behar did concede that Rudy Giuliani dramatically reduced black on black crime in New York City, but questioned "the way he did it." Sherri Shepherd responded "because one of my cousins called me from jail."

Faux climatologist Joy Behar, who previously exclaimed drought stricken victims in Georgia should pray "to people who will fix global warming" again raised a provocative forecast after meeting with presidential candidate John Edwards

"But he said some scary thing- one of the things he said that I thought was very interesting was that in 23 years the polar cap will disappear."

Perhaps Joy Behar can inform the masses whether or not there will be a white Christmas this year given her ability to see into the future. Behar, who took such an alarmist prediction without question, may have believed Paul Ehrlich in 1969 who predicted that "England will not exist in the year 2000."

Team Edwards, both eminently coiffed candidate John and his designated political hitter bride Elizabeth, on Wednesday, Novemeber 21st cancelled their scheduled appearance on The View, doing so, according to the UnDynamic Duo, to “honor the members of the Writers Guild of America”, who are currently on strike.

Not to be outpandered, Michelle Obama, wife of the incredibly audacious Barack, later that same day pulled out of her December 5th guest co-hosting duties.

Obviously, sucking up is more important than being sucked up to in Democratic presidential politics.

This is related to nearly every Donkey candidate promising to not participate in a scheduled December 10th CBS debate (moderated by the ratings Juggernaut Katie Couric) should their news writers decide to join their union brethren and sistren (one must be, in this age of PC, all-inclusive) and abandon that foundering network vessel to the waves unscribed.

Is ‘The View’s’ token non-liberal Elisabeth Hasselbeck drifting leftwards? In a letter to Barbara Walters she hinted she may actually vote for Senator Hillary Clinton. On the November 19 edition of "The View," creator and co-host Barbara Walters read a letter from Elisabeth Hasselbeck updating the co-hosts on her new born baby Taylor Thomas and the congratulatory letter she received from Senator Clinton.

"Well, you know if you watch the show, you that Elisabeth is our resident Republican. Okay, alright? Fine. Taylor Thomas received an official letter from Senator Hillary Clinton today, wishing him well. She said ‘truly a most thoughtful and warm act. I may actually change my vote.’" [applause]

Laura Ingraham’s Monday appearance on The View on ABC wasn’t well-reviewed by the Huffington Post, where Rachel Sklar whacked Laura’s knuckles for daring to ask Barbara Walters if she supported victory in Iraq. She condemned the question as an irresponsible rhetorical trick, a conservative canard, “Slightly accusatory, more than a little condescending.” On Thursday’s Laura Ingraham show, Laura and Rachel faced off over what you can ask Barbara Walters. Sklar insisted this kind of who-wants-victory question was a “debate-ending question,” meant to stifle discussion rather than promote it. Ingraham was quick to disagree, insisting that she wanted the discussion about the war to go on, but The View gang changed the subject to a more important topic: Heather Mills and her nasty tabloid-pleasing divorce from Paul McCartney. Here's what Sklar wrote on Eat the Press:

"The View’s" Joy Behar objects to personal attacks on presidential candidates, when they agree with her. On the November 15 edition of "The View" co-host Joy Behar ranted against John McCain because one audience member called Hillary Clinton a "bitch." But when confronted for her personal attacks on President Bush, as co-host Sherri Shepherd pointed out how "you do personal assaults on President Bush" and wondered "what’s the difference?", Behar passively responded: "I don’t like him."

The co-hosts were discussing the recent "controversy" of an enthusiastic McCain supporter calling Senator Clinton a "bitch." Whoopi Goldberg surprisingly defended McCain, because there is not much else he could do. Behar responded by placing all of the blame on McCain because he did not lecture the woman on the spot.

The discussion led to this exchange with Sherri Shepherd calling out Joy Behar on her many personal attacks against President Bush.

"The View’s" Joy Behar considers prayer a "distraction" from achieving scientific results. On the November 14 edition of "The View," the co-hosts discussed Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue’s prayer service for drought relief. Whoopi Goldberg, surprisingly defended the governor, but Joy Behar, just like Rosie O’Donnell, fretted about the "separation of church and state," and hinted the Georgia residents should be praying to Al Gore instead.

"Well, they need to be praying to people who will fix global warming and take care of the environment because that's more realistic."

As NewsBuster Justin McCarthy reported Monday, "View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg, who grew up during the "Jim Crow" era, actually said that America is "not as free as it was when [she] was a kid."

A few hours after this aired, Congressman Peter King (R) of New York was Steve Malzberg's guest on WOR radio.

Malzberg read Whoopi's comments to King, who responded by first saying, "They are absolutely insane these people," and then explained how they "reflect that hardcore base which is driving the Democratic Party, and which is causing otherwise fairly responsible politicians in the Democratic Party to do really wrong things, and to act totally irresponsibly" (audio available here with relevant section beginning at 8:30, partial transcript follows):

Barbara Walters wanted "The View" audience to understand that she normally disagrees with Bill O'Reilly. But when it came to his views on child-rearing, Walters had to admit that she largely agreed with the Factor host. And that depressed her.

O'Reilly, the father of two young children, appeared on today's View to promote his new book on child-rearing and related issues, Kids Are Americans Too.

View video here.