Future Host of Today Touts Transsexual’s Book

Today’s edition of The View may have given us a window into not only that show’s future, but also the interviewing style we might expect from Meredith Vieira on Today. Ms. Vieira, who joins the NBC program in September, and her co-hosts interviewed Dhillon Khosla, a transsexual who underwent several surgeries in an attempt to become a man. Vieira complimented Khosla for his ability to "find yourself finally." Here is a brief sample of her comments:

Vieira: "I can understand why people would love you. You’re a very nice guy. Very, very nice guy. Very smart and what a struggle to find yourself finally...You’re a very smart guy and a very brave guy to go through this and to write about it too. And help- obviously a lot of people struggling with the same situation."

Then, perhaps in a bid to make the day of the studio audience, Vieira announced, "Everyone in our audience is getting a copy of his book, Both Sides Now. A great read."

At no time during the segment, which aired at 11:36AM EDT on May 4, did Vieira or anyone else on the program question or challenge Khosla as to whether he was encouraging confusion in children. No one asked if sex changes in general made sense. Even Elisabeth Hasselback, the program’s token Republican, couldn’t find anything to disagree with. Instead, she simply contributed to the discussion with graphic queries about how the operations were performed. If this is how she acts now, one can only imagine what effect Rosie O’Donnell will have on her conservative instincts.

To be fair, Ms. Vieira did offer a warning at the beginning of the segment that parents should change the channel if they had children in the room. But her gushing attitude towards a controversial subject does not inspire hope. Is this what we are to expect for discussions of gun control and abortion?