According to TMZ, 9/11 truther and denouncer of "radical Christianity" Rosie O'Donnell has signed a deal with ABC to once again be a permanent host of The View. In the wake of the retirement of Barbara Walters and the departures of Jenny McCarthy and Sherri Shepherd, the show has turned to the woman who once said this of America: "I just want to say something. 655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists?"
On September 12, 2006, after token conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck raised the threat of "radical Islam," O'Donnell spat back: "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have a separation of church and state." On March 29, 2007, the talk show host promoted 9/11 conspiracy theories on the show: "I do believe it is the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel. I do believe that it defies physics for the World Trade Center Tower Seven, building seven, which collapsed in on itself." [See below for video and MP3 audio of O'Donnell's top five most shocking quotes.]
"I just want to say something: 655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists?...If you were in Iraq, and another country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us?"
— Co-host Rosie O’Donnell on ABC’s The View, May 17, 2007. [MP3 audio here.]
ROSIE O'DONNELL: "As a result of the [9/11] attack and the killing of nearly 3,000 innocent people, we invaded two countries and killed innocent people in their countries."
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: "But do you understand that, that the belief funding those attacks, okay, that is widespread. And if you take radical Islam and if you want to talk about what’s going on there, you have to-"
O'DONNELL: "Wait just one second. Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam [loud applause] in a country like America where we have a separation of church and state. We’re a democracy."
— Exchange on ABC’s The View, September 12, 2006. [MP3 audio here.]
"I do believe it is the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel. I do believe that it defies physics for the World Trade Center Tower Seven, building seven, which collapsed in on itself, it is impossible for a building to fall the way it fell without explosives being involved, World Trade Center Seven. World Trade Center one and Two got hit by planes. Seven, miraculously, for the first time in history, steel was melted by fire. It is physically impossible....[Asked who was responsible for 9/11, she responded] I have no idea."
— Co-host Rosie O'Donnell on the March 29, 2007 edition of ABC's The View. [MP3 audio here.]
JOY BEHAR: Well, the one thing is that Giuliani post-9/11 appeared to be very heroic. But now they're saying that he was not that efficient in helping the people who were the recovery, the responders.
ROSIE O'DONNELL: Also, he was, you know, instrumental in making sure that all of the steel was removed and shipped to Canada right away, Giuliani, was shipped to China, sorry, right away."
BEHAR: "For what purpose?"
O'DONNELL: "Well, to get it out of there and to have, you know, all of the stu -- but it was all gone. So there was no like metal to test. There was no, there was no-"
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: "Giuliani was involved in the cover-up is that what's going on? I just want to check."
— Discussion of 9/11 the May 14, 2007 edition of ABC's The View.
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: "Well, I'm a person of faith, so I, but I also believe-"
O'DONNELL: "Well, then, get away from the fear. Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers."
— Exchange on the May 14, 2007 edition of The View.
Ex-View host Jenny McCarthy is an anti-vaccine crusader. So, O'Donnell should feel quite comfortable retaking the conspiracy "seat" on the ABC program.
For more on O'Donnell's wackiness, go here.
