SHEPHERD: And I remember, I remember you said, not going back, but you said "when can we go to the place where they say ‘forgive them they know not what they do’?" Anger is sometimes a very good thing, because I’m thinking of Rosa Parks. Had she not been angry and said "no I’m not going to get up. I’m tired my feet hurt."
BEHAR: Yes, righteous rage.
SHEPHERD: It’s righteous and that’s what Jeremiah has.
HASSELBECK: Enlighten me.
SHEPHERD: No, but I’m saying he had a righteous anger. Martin Luther King was angry, he was very angry.
This was not the first time such as comparison was made as Sherri Shepherd compared Wright to Martin Luther King, and, alongside Whoopi Goldberg, lectured Elisabeth Hasselbeck does not understand race based voting because Hasselbeck holds a "very white" worldview. Joy Behar even called Wright’s anti-Italian slurs a "compliment."
Hasselbeck again strongly condemned Wright’s words and questioned Obama’s strong association with the pastor calling his words "despicable," noting some of her friends died on September 11. The sole Republican panelist also noted the inconsistencies with Obama’s call for "unity" and his very divisive long time pastor.
"There’s a difference because Obama has been preaching one America, unity, everybody should be together, okay? And his personal adviser, the person who’s been with him all of these years is preaching the exact opposite."
The entire transcript is below.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: What about Jeremiah Wright? He is back in the news. He’s broken his silence and when asked why at a National Press Club meeting this morning, he said in a nutshell, "where I come from we have something called the dozens. If you think I’m going to let you call me out, talk about my mama and her beliefs and religion and how my daddy and his religious traditions, you got another thing coming." I thought that was the best thing he could have said. I think it’s the best thing he could have said. I just, it’s amazing, you know, when you start looking at all of the things that all of the different people that know all of the candidates have done, it’s exhausting.
JOY BEHAR: Yeah, it’s exhausting.
GOLDBERG: It’s exhausting. I’m exhausted.
SHERRI SHEPHERD: I didn’t get to see his speech, but I did watch him on Bill Moyers Friday when he was speaking. It was really interesting to get his take on why he said like "God damn America" and it was right after 9-11 and he-
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: Chickens have come home to roost.
SHEPHERD: Well, you know, with the "chickens have come home to roost," it’s very interesting because he took that quote from Ambassador Edward Peck, who is a white man, who said that, that the chickens were coming home to roost.
HASSELBECK: It doesn’t matter who says it. I don’t care if you’re green, it’s not a good thing to say.
BEHAR: But he agrees with-
SHEPHERD: But he took it from somebody else who was on Fox who was saying this, but when he said "God damn America," he was saying, you know, so many things America, we look at all the good that America has done, but America put the Japanese in internment camps, they bombed Hiroshima, they made slaves, they, with the Indians, if you asked the Indians on reservations , how do they feel about America? There are some really bad and bloody things that Americans have done.
BEHAR: What they say is "don’t call us Indians." They say "call us native Americans."
SHEPHERD: Native Americans, but we’ve done.
HASSELBECK: But this is a place where we can vote, where we can voice our opinions, where we can have discussions like this. I mean, I really think you have to look at, yes, I mean you can look at America in, in any way you want. It’s just a matter of choice. Does it need improvement? Absolutely. That’s why we’re all trying to push for a better place. But I think to focus so much and zone in so much on negative things, and to even suggest that we got what we deserved and the people, my friends who were in that building on 9-11 who died, got what they deserved and America got what they deserved is despicable.
GOLDBERG: That’s not what he said. That’s not what he said.
HASSELBECK: It’s despicable.
GOLDBERG: That’s not what he said. He did not say that.
SHEPHERD: It would be nice, you know, I would love to see the whole sermon, that was not what he was saying.
BEHAR: Can I just add one more thing to that? That, Ron Paul, who was on the Republican ticket, was basically saying very similar things in his platform that, you know, the United States has to talk about our policies in the Middle East that might have had some precipitary, precipatory, you know, reasoning behind the attack.. That’s all. I think this guy’s way of saying it is in the preachery way that turns everybody off.
GOLDBERG: Well, he’s a preacher. He only turns white people off.
HASSELBECK: I actually like his cadence. He doesn’t turn- that’s not true. That’s not true. 56, right after he said-
GOLDBERG: Joke.
HASSELBECK: 56 percent-
GOLDBERG: Joke.
HASSELBECK: I know, but I think we got to clear that up. Because there is a misconception that it’s only what people who thought what he said was disgusting. 56 percent of black people, after hearing what he said, thought it was despicable after hearing that.
GOLDBERG: I don’t think so. I don’t know if I’ll go with that.
HASSELBECK: Look at the survey that came out. Maybe not. Maybe not now.
GOLDBERG: I don’t know if I’ll go with that, but I will say this about him.
HASSELBECK: I like his cadence. I wish that I went to a church where a preacher spoke like that. I love it.
GOLDBERG: Yes. There are a lot of things that are going to be very, very hard for people to swallow. Because we are now in the middle of a discussion, and I said this stuff and I’ve said this all of the time. We’ve never had before. You are, we are being invited and I say you, talking about people who do not, who have never been in a black church, of being invited in to see something totally different. Now, unfortunately, all you’re seeing is that.
HASSELBECK: I’ve been to a black church. I’m sorry but go ahead, but it’s like assuming that I haven’t.
GOLDBERG: No, I was explaining, I was saying the collective, the collective people. A lot of people have been to the black church. You probably have not heard those kinds of sermons before.
HASSELBECK: I’ve heard some pretty heavy sermons.
GOLDBERG: Then why did it surprise you?
HASSELBECK: Because my pastor, when I went- I’ve been to a black church. I’ve gone there. I lived in what, seven different cities in the United States.
GOLDBERG: I understand that, but if you’ve heard that kind of-
HASSELBECK: I’ve never heard someone say "G-D America." I’ve never heard someone-
BEHAR: Well, Obama wasn’t there that day either.
HASSELBECK: I know he didn’t-
[applause]
BEHAR: He wasn’t there the same as you.
HASSELBECK: Let me tell you this. When I, when I go to church, when I go to church, we talk about, when you have a community, you talk about "did you hear what Pastor so and so said this week? That was crazy what he said." You talk because there’s a fellowship.
GOLDBERG: Yes you do-
HASSELBECK: So you know what’s going on.
GOLDBERG: No, but you don’t always, and I guess what I’m trying to say is you’re being invited to be witness to something that you may not be aware of. You may not know that a lot of folks, a lot of folks over a certain age are still angry at America, really angry at America.
HASSELBECK: Sure.
GOLDBERG: You know, with good reason. Now, of course, you know, it would be great if we could just get past it. But, you know, if you are 65 and you come from the south, and you’ve always had to get off the sidewalks so a white person could go by, it’s not that easy to get over. So I say all of that only to say that the discussion is happening and it’s great because you are learning, and I say the collective you, not you, but you [laughter] are learning things that you didn’t know. You didn’t know. You thought maybe we were further along than we thought we were.
BEHAR: I also would add to that, that it’s not just older people who are, older black people who are angry. Younger ones who are now, I think there’s a 50 percent drop out rate in the African American community, those people very shortly will be very angry also. And then you will see more, you know, discomfort in the larger society, and it’s going to, then the chickens will come home to roost again. So we have to be very sensitive to what’s going on in the black community. And not attack the guy, and not attack Obama for the fact that he went to that church. I mean, we all have been in churches where the preacher has said stuff that we don’t agree with.
HASSELBECK: This wasn’t a passive relationship.
[applause]
SHEPHERD: Wait, and also too, anger-
HASSELBECK: This is not a passive relationship.
SHEPHERD: And I remember, I remember you said, not going back, but you said "when can we go to the place where they say ‘forgive them they know not what they do’?" Anger is sometimes a very good thing, because I’m thinking of Rosa Parks. Had she not been angry and said "no I’m not going to get up. I’m tired my feet hurt."
BEHAR: Yes, righteous rage.
SHEPHERD: It’s righteous and that’s what Jeremiah has.
HASSELBECK: Enlighten me.
SHEPHERD: No, but I’m saying he had a righteous anger. Martin Luther King was angry, he was very angry.
HASSELBECK: Of course. I think anger is a good thing. Here’s where people find the problem. Can I just explain this? It’s because you see, there’s a dichotomy, alright? There’s a difference because Obama has been preaching one America, unity, everybody should be together, okay? And his personal adviser, the person who’s been with him all of these years is preaching the exact opposite. So that’s the-
BEHAR: It’s a goal. It’s a goal that he has. He has different goals.
