View co-host Barbara Walters, who admitted in 2009 that she had an affair with a married politician, weighed in on the scandal engulfing Republican Congressman Vance McAllister, caught on tape kissing a staffer. Co-host and former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy joked about the surveillance footage: "You're in a government building. That's what a Motel 6 is for."
This caused Walters to lecture on privacy: "Even when you're on the street, when you think, 'I can do whatever I want,' there are cameras everywhere now...It's a different world." In the 1970s, Walters had an affair with Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts.
In contrast, Walters heaped sympathy on former Congressman Anthony Weiner after his sex scandal, worrying on June 16, 2011: "We can make fun of him, but in a way it's a tragedy...He's never had another job. What does he do after this?"
"You thought that Anthony Weiner should resign, and that seems to be what a great many people are saying. So I don't think so. I think what he has done is unfathomable. I think the pictures are disgusting....The ethics committee can investigate him and chastise, but not necessarily throw him out. And we had a President named Bill Clinton who went through a great deal of trouble, weathered the storm and is now not only respected, but he's beloved by many people with a very good marriage. So, I think Anthony Weiner should hang in there. He was a good Congressman, and maybe he can weather this all and be effective."
— Barbara Walters to her co-hosts on ABC's The View, June 9, 2011.
On February 10, 2012, Walters attacked a woman who wrote about her affair with John Kennedy, mocking the author, "She'll make a lot of money!" She chided the woman, "You could have let it go!" (Again, Walters wrote about her own affair in the 2009 book Audition.)
20/20 anchor and View guest host Elizabeth Vargas mockingly noted: "He also ran on a platform of being very Christian, religious, family very values."
A transcript of the April 9 segment is below:
JENNY MCCARTHY: Which is hilarious. You’re in a government building. That's what a Motel 6 is for.
BARBARA WALTERS: But you all realize now. Even when you're on the street, when you think, 'I can do whatever I want,' there are cameras everywhere now. It's a very different -- you know, we know this. It's a different world. It’s not just Facebook, its cameras on the street taking—
SHERI SHEPHERD: Didn't he just get this position? And he is talking about he wants to run again. And 'm like, normally when you nail your first day at the job, you try to figure out the power players, where your office is? Where’s the commissary?
GOLDBERG: You're not making out with the secretary.
ELIZABETH VARGAS: He also ran on a platform of being very Christian, religious, very family values. He made a point of saying we all have a family breakfast.
SHEPHERD: God was the video camera, dude. That’s who was the video camera.
MCCARTHY: Basically, he asked God for forgiveness. His wife will forgive him and the intern will pose for Playboy and end of story.
VARGAS: By the way the staffer involved-- the female staffer involved has resigned and her husband is furious.
WALTERS: The husband's furious?
VARGAS: And the congressman has already vowed that he will run for re-election.
SHEPHERD: Would you trust him? Usually that doesn't happen until they have been in an office for a while.
GOLDBERG: I'd have to kiss him first. Because that's how I can tell. That's how I can tell. Nah, not electing you.
