View co-host Whoopi Goldberg on Tuesday fought back against liberal outrage in the wake of her comments on bad teachers and tenure. On Monday, the co-host insisted that bad teachers should lose their job, declaring, "You teachers in your unions, you need to say, 'these bad teachers are making us look bad. We don't want it!"...And it has nothing to do with being a liberal or a Democrat. It has to do with being an American."
On Tuesday, the comedienne responded to attacks on Twitter and doubled down: "We were not talking about good teachers who do a great job. We were talking about getting rid of teachers who don't do a good job." She lectured, "My mother was a teacher. So, this is not about bashing teachers and I don't appreciate you misquoting what we said." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
Conservative columnist Emily Miller guest-hosted on Tuesday. Goldberg wasn't willing to go quite as far as Miller and this exchange followed:
EMILY MILLER: I think what you're seeing from the reaction of the audience is sort of a switch in America – and now all of the teachers are going to hate me next – But the teachers unions are so strong, and so the not good teachers get to stay in. And that's why you see people like Chris Christie trying to break up those teachers unions.
GOLDBERG: No. I'm sorry, no, no. You cannot compare the two.
MILLER: Why? That's what tenure is all about.
GOLDBERG: Well, tenure for bad teachers is what we're talking about. He was trying to bust the union. We weren't talking about busting the union. There's a difference.
A partial transcript of the August 5 segment is below:
JENNY MCCARTHY: We respect teachers.
GOLDBERG: You know, I know it's shocking, that I have good money, that I would put my grand kids in school. But we do know teachers. My mother was a teacher. So, this is not about bashing teachers and I don't appreciate you misquoting what we said. We said that teachers who do not do a good job in teaching have no right to have tenure, that's what we said. That's what it is.
