Just as with past "hot seat" segments, there was one truly interesting question. Meteorologist Sam Champion read a viewer e-mail that probed, "With all of the interviews you have done, is there one you wish you could do over?" Roberts responded by claiming, "There are times I wished I had asked different questions...especially this past political season." Perhaps one such example would be on March 26, 2007. That's when the GMA journalist conducted an episode-long "town hall" meeting with (then) presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in which she allowed the New York senator to talk, uninterrupted or unchallenged, for 18 of 26 minutes.
And when Roberts did question Clinton, it was often to offer softballs, such as asserting that the former first lady's failed 1993 universal health care plan was just visionary: "What you said then in, in ‘93, many people felt it was just, in some ways, ahead of its, ahead of its time."
Easy queries are a hallmark of Roberts' interviews with Democrats. While speaking to Barack Obama on May 19, 2008, the host empathetically cooed, "Should you get through this process and you have the general election ahead of you, that this [attacks against Obama] is what you can expect more and more of. Are you prepared for that?"
On June 26, 2008, while talking to Father Michael Pfleger, another radical religious figure associated with Obama, Roberts described him as a "maverick priest." However, she ignored his extreme and incendiary statements, such as a May 25, 2008 sermon when he exclaimed, "America has been raping people of color and America has to pay the price for the rape!"
Co-host Diane Sawyer will be on the "hot seat" on Monday. To submit some tough questions, go to ABC's GMA website.
A partial transcript of the segment, which aired at 8:06am, follows:
REGINA: Hey, Robin. My name is Regina. I'm from Arkansas. Your jewelry is so pretty. I would like to know where you get it.
8:09
SAM CHAMPION: Tara from Oklahoma asks a really good question. With all of the interviews you have done, is there one you wish you could do over?
ROBIN ROBERTS: Oh. A do over?
CHRIS CUOMO: Own it.
ROBERTS: Own it. I know.
CHAMPION: Quickly. Quickly. Quickly.
ROBERTS: There are times I wished I had asked different questions or maybe had asked- especially this past political season with both- It was like oh, I should have asked this. Or why didn't I ask that? And- That was the only time. I don't think I would want to do it over. But there was times I wish I had more time to have asked-
CUOMO: But you don't today. Next question.
DIANE SAWYER: This is an interesting one. This is a serious one. Robin being African-American-
ROBERTS: I am.
SAWYER: -by the way, this is Pamela from Vineland New Jersey. Being African-American, you are, have you ever encountered any type of racism in any of the places you've traveled with ABC News? Racism?
ROBERTS: Ooh, that's a good one. Racism, while working with ABC News? I know early on in my career, because I started in the '70s, there was some tough times. No. I haven't. My only incident was in Saudi Arabia. It wasn't with race. It was more sexism. When I got kicked out of the gym because women aren't supposed to be in the gym. And had I been traveling as, you know, on my own, I probably would have objected a little more. But I was there as Mrs. Bush's guest. And also there as ABC News. So, that was- that was a tough one.
SAWYER: We all respect the customs of the country.
ROBERTS: Yes, we do. We do. Yeah.
Other viewer questions from the segment:
"Do you miss sportscasting?"
"If you had to evacuate your home and could only grab one thing, I guess KJ excluded, what would it be?"
"Robin, we want to know what's on your iPod?"
"If your life was turned into a movie, what would be the title? Who gets to play Robin Roberts?"
"When will we get to see you on 'Dancing With the Stars'? Because we see you show your stuff or strut your stuff in the morning all the time."
"What was the most horrible job you had to deal with on your rise to the top?"
