Less than 24 hours after Republican candidate Karen Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff by more than 1,300 votes in a special election for Georgia’s 6th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, the women panelists on ABC’s weekday afternoon program The View sought to console themselves on Wednesday, June 21, by generating excuses for the loss.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg said that she considers the loss as a sign of “slow progress” instead even though Democrats have lost three elections since Republican Donald Trump was elected president last November, and Joy Behar claimed that using Donald Trump as the basis for a campaign isn’t working.
Goldberg began the segment with an effort to comfort liberals by stating:
Democrats thought they’d be able to pull off a win, but it did not happen -- but he did not lose by much. People are saying, you know, "Oh, the Democrats can’t pull it off."
I just want to say that this race was much closer than anybody thought it was going to be, particularly in a state that has always gone Republican.
Co-host Sara Haines also tried to soften the blow by asserting: “I think things are moving. This was a district that hadn’t gone Democratic since the ‘70s, and the strides {Ossoff] made are more proof that there are people coming in and participating [and] making a difference.”
Joy Behar, a comedian and fellow panelist, was not consoled by these assertions.
“Yeah,” she noted, “but the fact remains that since Donald Trump won the election, since he was nominated, the Democrats have lost three elections.”
“So if you’re using Donald Trump as your basis for your campaign, I don’t know if it’s working,” Behar continued. “I don’t think people are going towards the Democrats in enough numbers. And it’s a problem, a big problem.”
Co-host Sonny Hostin viewed the loss from a different perspective since “this particular district” is “the most educated, wealthiest district in Georgia, and education means that they may be likely making more money.”
“We know that the Republican Party, certainly the tax cuts that the Trump administration has promised, is going to benefit that community,” she added, “so I don’t think we should be so surprised that they voted in their best interest.”
Behar responded by claiming: “Generally speaking, Republicans vote in bigger numbers than Democrats.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Hostin replied.
“OK,” Behar continued, “so the trick is to get these people to the polls. How do you get them there? You’ve got to have a clear message, you’ve got to have a charismatic candidate.”
Behar then angrily noted that Ossoff “didn’t even move into the district. The Democratic Party should have said: ‘Listen, you want to run, you want to win, move into the district,’” a comment that drew applause from the audience.
Jedediah Bila then joined the discussion by stating: “Not only did he not move into the district, but a vast majority of his donors live outside the state,” especially California, the home of Hollywood liberals.
Goldberg again tried to put a positive spin on the election defeat:
The bottom line is you can say it’s a loss. I don’t see it that way. I see that Democrats are coming out, and they’re not coming out perhaps in the numbers you them to come out in.
I’m saying I’m not looking at this as a loss. I’m looking at it as slow progress. (Applause)
Bila again pointed to the fact that “the vast majority of his donors came from outside the district. He had a lot of celebrity endorsements, and I think what was confusing for me was his messaging because when I would hear him, I would hear a heavy focus on Trump and anti-Trump, and then I would hear some conservative rhetoric about the debt and concerns.”
“When I look at the Democratic Party,” she added, “I don’t see a clear message, and I think a lot of voters in those areas of the country that didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton felt the same way.”
Behar then noted that Bernie Sanders -- the junior U.S. Senator from Vermont since 2007 who ran for president in the 2016 election -- had a clear message. He just didn’t get the nomination,” she noted to more applause from the audience.
“Look,” Goldberg interjected, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the message” of the Democratic Party. “I think that what’s happening is people have to make decisions. … They don’t want to see a lot of changes. People are tired of change, but this is America, and this is what we do.”
Conservatives and Republicans should hope that Democrats are consoled by the concept of “slow progress;” the slower, the better, especially if liberals keep losing elections, special or otherwise.
