Meredith Vieira, one of the hosts on ABC's daytime show The View, who announced on Thursday's program that she has agreed to replace Katie Couric as co-host of NBC's Today, marched in an anti-Iraq war protest back in August of 2004. On the Monday, August 30, 2004 edition of The View, the former CBS 60 Minutes reporter told viewers that she attended the anti-Bush protest held in New York City on the Sunday before the Republican convention opened, insisting: "I didn't go anti-Bush or pro-Kerry. I'm still so upset about this war and I'm so proud I live in a country where you can protest." She showed a photo of herself marching with her pre-teen daughter and her husband, Richard, who was the senior political producer at CBS News for most of the 1980s. Behind her in the photo: A protest sign featuring a “W,” for George W. Bush, with a slash through it.
Earlier in 2004, she declared of the Iraq war: "Everything's been built on lies. Everything! I mean the entire pretext for war." And, with war impending in March of 2003, Vieira argued that anti-war protests "should be consistent and repeated every day, I believe." On other episodes of The View Vieira has also made clear her opposition to the death penalty and when guest Ann Coulter charged that “liberals hate America,” Vieira called that “stupid" and became defensive: “But some people wrap themselves in the flag -- I mean, that's what some liberals are against.” Then she charged: "Just like McCarthy: 'I'm just being patriotic.'"
Video clip #1: Vieira talking about participating in the 2004 anti-Iraq war march (1:25). Real (2.5 MB) or Windows Media (2.9 MB), plus MP3 audio (425 KB).
Video clip #2: Vieira declaring war “built on lies” (28 secs). Real (900 KB) or Windows Media (1 MB), plus MP3 audio (168 KB).
On Thursday's The View Vieira, with her fellow hosts Star Jones, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, listening, explained the reasoning behind her decision to accept NBC's offer: “I say to my kids -- I hound them all the time -- I say change is important. And if you're going to grow you have to be willing to change and maybe get off the path you're on and find another one. And I've reached a point where I have to veer off my path. I'm very honored that NBC has asked me to co-host the Today show...and I'm thrilled, I'm really thrilled.”
She didn't say anything about whether she will continue to host the syndicated game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Below are excerpts from past MRC CyberAlert items from which the quotes above were drawn:
Monday August 30, 2004 CyberAlert, PM edition:
Meredith Vieira Marched in NYC Protests Against Iraq War
Meredith Vieira, the former CBS 60 Minutes reporter and current co-host of ABC's The View, announced to viewers Monday that she attended the Sunday anti-Bush protest in New York, insisting: "I didn't go anti-Bush or pro-Kerry. I'm still so upset about this war and I'm so proud I live in a country where you can protest." Barbara Walters added that the current focus on Vietnam and John Kerry "doesn't make any sense."
After a discussion about co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck's upcoming Tuesday night speech at the Republican National Committee on fighting breast cancer, Vieira proclaimed: "I don't know if you saw the cover of the New York Post, but I believe this is me right here on the cover [which had a picture of hundreds of people]. I went to that demonstration yesterday, not because I'm, you know what, I didn't go anti-Bush or pro-Kerry, I'm still so upset about this war and I'm so proud I live in a country where you can protest and it was really [applause]....I went with my daughter, Lily, and my husband, Richard. My sons didn't want to protest. They chose to not go, or even just experience it. I wish they had because it was peaceful, the New York City police department, phenomenal. They did such a wonderful job. They had 40,000 of them out there and the people that demonstrated I would say, by and large, there were a few probably, I didn't see anybody that was out of hand at all."
Star Jones: "Aren't you impressed that your kids made choices? You know, one son decided ideologically he just disagreed with you, and he didn't want to be there so that nobody could misinterpret his presence."
Vieira: "Absolutely, and the other one said that as he was doing Game Boy, so I'm not sure what he really felt. But Lily went and it was just a really wonderful thing. And there were a lot pro-Bush folks along the side who were also saying, giving their two cents, so it was interesting just to experience."
Barbara Walters: "It was interesting when you mentioned the war, that here it is, and instead of discussing the Iraq War that much, we're discussing Vietnam war 35 years later. Doesn't make any sense."
Vieira replied: "I know, I know."
:
Vieira Declares “Entire Pretext for War” Was “Built on Lies”
Vieira, a former 60 Minutes correspondent who now hosts the syndicated version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, issued her vicious charge, which matches the most virulent hate speech of the far left, after Barbara Walters asserted that part of the rationale for going to war against Hussein “was the tie, right, between al-Qaeda and Iraq and now we know that’s not true. And the President continues to say, and the Vice President, are you not better off -- I think, you know, since, now that Saddam Hussein is not there? That’s the defense-”
Vieira jumped in: “Who knows anymore because everything’s been built on lies. Everything! I mean the entire pretext for war.”
Another quad-host, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, defended Bush, in the show’s up top “Hot Topics” segment, by asserting that given what was assumed at the time, “we had to act.” Former Good Morning America staffer Joy Behar countered: “But they were lying to us.” Bahar urged viewers of the June 17 program: “Go see that Fahrenheit 9/11. It will tell you a lot about what’s going on.”
December 17, 2003 CyberAlert
:
ABC’s Barbara Walters Comes Out Against Executing Saddam Hussein
ABC’s Barbara Walters has come out against executing Saddam Hussein, arguing on the ABC daytime show The View on Tuesday [December 16] that "we condemn the suicide bombers, we condemn those who have no regard for life, and Lord knows this man deserves, you know, the greatest punishment, but I just sort of feel this would be a chance for us to show the regard for life that this man didn't have." Another host, former ABC and CBS reporter Meredith Vieira, agreed with Walters...
Walters: "But I think we condemn the suicide bombers, we condemn those who have no regard for life, and Lord knows this man deserves, you know, the greatest punishment, but I just sort of feel this would be a chance for us to show the regard for life that this man didn't have."
Vieira: "But we don't have it in this country. How can you say that? We have the death penalty here."...
Star Jones: "I'm not an advocate for running out and stabbing people in the heart, but I don't think I'll lose one night's sleep if they execute Saddam Hussein, right?"
Joy Behar, while audience applauds and cheers: "Well, no one's gonna care!"
Vieira, as audience continues to applaud and cheer: "I do, I don't believe in it, I don't believe in it."
June 26, 2003 CyberAlert
:
Ann Coulter Sends ABC's The View Crew Into a Tizzy
Ann Coulter's guest-hosting slot on ABC's daytime show The View on Wednesday [June 25] sent the regular tri-hosts into a tizzy as they denounced Coulter's criticisms of liberals. To Coulter's assertion in her new book, Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism, that liberals hate America, former CBS News correspondent Meredith Vieira shot back: “Well, it's stupid.”
Former NBC News reporter Star Jones was so adamant about defending liberals that she boasted: “I'm a card-carrying Democrat."
Later, Jones suggested Coulter was just mad at Hillary Clinton because of how many books Clinton has sold and Jones sing-songed to Coulter: “Hater. Hater.”
During a discussion of a study that claims women are as sexually aroused by pornography featuring two women or a man and a woman, to the dismay of the View crew, Coulter quipped that “the last time” she saw “two women get it on” was “the Katie Couric interview with Hillary Clinton."
The MRC's Jessica Anderson took down a hunk of the gabfest at the beginning of the June 25 The View, ABC's daytime show created by Barbara Walters, for whom Coulter was filling in.
Meredith Vieira explained: “In your last book you said liberals have been wrong about everything in last half century. You ticked us off over that one, alright. And now in this new bok you say that liberals hate freedom...I want to talk about your politics because in Treason you say, yes, that liberals hate America."
Ann Coulter: "Right."
Vieira: "Well, it's stupid. What do you mean liberals hate America?"
Coulter: "Well, for one thing, I mean, part of the point of my book is to get back to asking that question. I mean, I find it interesting that that is the one thing we cannot talk about: which party is more patriotic, the relative patriotism. Liberals, Democrats feel perfectly comfortable saying that Republicans are not as good on civil rights, on civil liberties, they aren't as good on women's issues. Why is the one issue that is simply off the table for debate, the relative patriotism of the two parties? Let's at least get back into that debate again. Surely you can acknowledge that it is possible to be more or less patriotic?"
Vieira: "Based on what?"
Joy Behar: "Yeah, based on what?"
Coulter: "Based on, for example, the burning hatred of the American flag from the left. I mean, that is how liberals describe someone they want to denounce; they cite his affection for the flag, 'flag-waving yahoos.'"
Star Jones: "I love the flag. I'm a card-carrying Democrat." [Audience member yells "Woo!" at this declaration, at which point the audience begins to applaud as Jones continues]
Jones: "My biggest, the biggest, most wonderful thing in my life is my citizenship, so that's one down -- keep going. I love the flag!"
Coulter: "It could well be that you belong to the–"
Vieira: "But some people wrap themselves in the flag -- I mean, that's what some liberals are against, to argue their point."
Behar: "Yeah, but they cover up their evil with the flag, and that is a sin."
Vieira: "Just like McCarthy: 'I'm just being patriotic.'"
Behar: "Yeah."
Coulter: "Well, that's why much of my book discusses McCarthy. I mean, this is how liberals have taken this issue off the table."
Behar: "We're not talking about the dummy and the ventriloquist, Charlie McCarthy."
Vieira: "Eugene."
Behar: "We're talking about Eugene McCarthy who was a senator.
Coulter: "Joe McCarthy."
Vieira: "Joe McCarthy, Joe McCarthy – sorry, that's what I said."...
March 6, 2003 CyberAlert
:
Ex-CBS Reporter Vieira Wants Anti-War Marches “Every Day”
Former CBS News correspondent Meredith Vieira proclaimed on Wednesday's ABC daytime show on which she is the leading quad-host, The View, that anti-war protests “should be consistent and repeated every day, I believe.”
On the March 5 edition of The View, a show created by Barbara Walters, ex-actress Linda Carter filled in for Walters and this exchange took place in the midst of a discussion about the inevitability of war:
Carter: “We are on a train that has left the station, I’m sorry.”
Joy Behar, to Meredith Vieira: “Didn’t I tell you that, remember you said to me on the air, you said 'these marches are going to turn him [Bush] around.’ And I said, 'no they’re not’ and you disagreed with me.”
Vieira conceded: “I did. I thought if enough people, but there was that one day where people demonstrated. What was it, the 15th, where you had millions of people and we haven’t seen it again. It should be consistent and repeated every day, I believe.”
From 1989 to 1991, Vieira was a 60 Minutes correspondent after a few years in other CBS News positions. In addition to working on The View, Vieira is now the host of the syndicated version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
