Discussing a recent CNN story on black women torn between Obama and Clinton, Whoopi felt "pissed off" that the media would simplify individuals to voting their gender or race. Elisabeth Hasselbeck agreed questioning if this story "undermines the intelligence of the individual" adding "it’s pretty ridiculous." Sherri Shepherd joined the consensus opining "a lot of black women are very angry" adding she wants "the best person who’s going to lead the country."
Predictably, Joy Behar dissented adding "all things being equal" she would vote for the woman over the man. Hasselbeck continued that she just sees "the individual."
GOLDBERG: Who will you vote for, someone white or someone black?
BEHAR: No, see I would never think that way, but as I said yesterday, all things being equal, I would vote for a woman just because I would. Because if they’re equal, has to be, otherwise no.
HASSELBECK: Which they will never be.
BEHAR: Otherwise you pick the other one that you think is better. That’s all. I would hope that, that’s the way anyone would vote really.
HASSELBECK: You know, I, I don’t even see, I don’t see race. I don’t see gender. I just see, I see the individual.
Behar also added that many white men vote for white men because of the predominance of white men in politics.
The entire transcript is below.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Now, this is a question that we sort of talked about before. But this has been coming up, and CNN did a thing, whether black women will vote for race or sex. Because apparently CNN put up a thing on their network which said that black women were torn to vote for Obama because he’s black or vote for Hillary because she’s a woman.
HASSELBECK: Don’t you think that undermines the intelligence of the individual?
GOLDBERG: Duh!
HASSELBECK: You know, it’s like all black women are going to vote this way, and all women are going to vote this way, and all white men will vote this way.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, it’s very odd!
HASSELBECK: It’s pretty ridiculous.
BEHAR: What, what was the reaction to that by the CNN poll?
GOLDBERG: Well, it pissed me off.
SHERRI SHEPHERD: Well, you know, a lot of black women are very angry because-
GOLDBERG: Sure a lot of them were angry.
SHEPHERD: They’re very angry because it’s like we’re looking at the issues, just like you are looking at the issues, so I think that’s secondary. I want the best person who’s going to lead the country.
BEHAR: Well, the commentators add to this because they say that Obama will take South Carolina because there’s a huge black vote there. And so they add fuel to the fire on that particular point.
GOLDBERG: Well, everybody keeps trying to be genteel about race, but it’s right there.
BEHAR: Yes, I know.
GOLDBERG: It’s like the elephant in the room. Now you as a white woman...
BEHAR: Yes
GOLDBERG: Who will you vote for, someone white or someone black?
BEHAR: No, see I would never think that way, but as I said yesterday, all things being equal, I would vote for a woman just because I would. Because if they’re equal, has to be, otherwise no.
HASSELBECK: Which they will never be.
BEHAR: Otherwise you pick the other one that you think is better. That’s all. I would hope that, that’s the way anyone would vote really.
HASSELBECK: You know, I, I don’t even see, I don’t see race. I don’t see gender. I just see, I see the individual.
SHEPHERD: You don’t see that he’s black?
HASSELBECK: No, I see-
[laughter]
BEHAR: What do you think- can I say something? Wait, I just want to continue that point. To that point, why do you think that white men have always been in office? Because other white men vote for them. That’s why. They see a white man and they say "hey-"
GOLDBERG: Women have done it too.
BEHAR: White women have done it too. But I mean-
GOLDBERG: And black people.
BEHAR: But, that’s my point. People do vote for people who look like them a lot, just because they look like them.
GOLDBERG: If you have, if you have an array of people, we’ve never actually had an array. We had possibility, which was what I was talking about with Colin Powell yesterday because he’s the cat that would have united everybody. And then we had Shirley Chisholm, and everybody kind of just went "he, he, he," like that wasn’t going to happen, like that was real. But this is the first time when there’s actually been a array of people to think about, different people. It’s kind of exciting.
SHEPHERD: I have to say as a black woman, I am very proud. I’m looking at this black man running for president, and I’ve never seen it before. And this is a black person, it does-
BEHAR: You feel proud, sure. Why shouldn’t you?
SHEPHERD: I do feel proud. And like I said, I have older people in my family who go "I am voting for Obama because he is black." And in my lifetime I never thought, they said they never thought that they would see a black man running for office. So they do want to see-
BEHAR: You know, to the point of Shirley Chisholm, who was a Congresswoman I believe in New York? She said that she, she was a black woman, she suffered more from misogyny and sexism than she did with racism.
