Behar exclaimed it’s "the end of his life" because "he’s married at 17" (Johnston is actually 18, which is the legal difference between a child and an adult) When Elisabeth Hasselbeck asked "why isn’t that the beginning of another [life]?" Joy Behar, implying Republicans are racist, rebutted "if this was a black teenage couple, you wouldn’t be saying it so easily. Not you, but the Republican party would be all over that." Behar subsequently added "they’re white, they’re Christian. Everybody loves them on the right wing."
Later in the broadcast Joy Behar read a letter to the editor making a bizarre apples and oranges comparison. The "New York Times" reader declared it hypocritical of the McCain campaign requesting privacy in Bristol Palin’s pregnancy, but "the Republican party spent 30 years making policy on women’s bodies." Behar had trouble recognizing the difference between protecting at least a potential life and condemning excess gossip from the media.
Also of note, Whoopi Goldberg praised Sarah Palin for sticking with her daughter and not disowning her as some parents have done. Whoopi also recounted wishing at the time her then pregnant teenage daughter would have an abortion, but did not. Whoopi conceded "it worked out."
"God bless this woman for sticking with her kid. Because there are a lot of kids out there who get tossed out, thrown away, who are on their own. And so I tip my hat, and I’m a pro-choice person. I tip my hat. My kid made her decision to have her baby. Wasn’t the choice that I would have liked her to make at 15, maybe not. But, you know, it worked out. Thank you God.’
The relevant transcript follows.
JOY BEHAR: The boy, I just feel bad for this kid. I don’t have a son, but I would not like it if he got some girl pregnant and the next thing I know he’s married at 17 years old and that’s the end of his life too.
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: Why isn’t that the beginning of another? I think sometimes we’re only hearing that.
BEHAR: Come on, let’s get real.
HASSELBECK: Let’s get real.
BEHAR: He’s 17.
HASSELBECK: Let’s get real.
BEHAR: If this was a black teenage couple, you wouldn’t be saying it so easily. Not you, but the Republican party would be all over that.
HASSELBECK: Don’t paint them.
[applause]
BEHAR: Come on! Get real!
HASSELBECK: Joy, that is completely-
BEHAR: They’re white, they’re Christian. Everybody loves them on the right wing. But if this was a black teenage couple-
BARBARA WALTERS: Joy, the boy’s mother said they did plan to be married, but, but not yet.
[...]
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: God bless this woman for sticking with her kid. Because there are a lot of kids out there who get tossed out, thrown away, who are on their own. And so I tip my hat, and I’m a pro-choice person. I tip my hat. My kid made her decision to have her baby. Wasn’t the choice that I would have liked her to make at 15, maybe not. But, you know, it worked out. Thank you God.
[...]
BEHAR: To the point of, you know, privacy and why we dig into people’s personal information and all of that stuff. I agree with you because I don’t want anybody in my business. So there’s a letter to the editor today in "The New York Times" that really said it I think. It said "To the editor: I love how the pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s daughter is according to John McCain’s campaign ‘a private family matter.’ This after the Republican party spent 30 years making policy on women’s bodies. Why can’t Republicans recognize that reproductive choices are private for all American women?" [applause] Her name is Claire Bushie, Claire Bushie which I thought was ironic that her name was a Bushie.
HASSELBECK: I think the privacy that they were talking about is specific to the election. Like we are, we are allowed to dive so far into people’s-
BEHAR: But isn’t it the same idea Elisabeth?
HASSELBECK: -private lives during an election.
BEHAR: Stay out of my uterus. Stay out of my e-mail. Stay out of my blog.
HASSELBECK: I’m not going to change your mine. You’re not going to change mine. I’m pro-life. I believe in the right to life. I believe when that little life begins at conception. I’m certainly not going to change your mind.
WALTERS: You think there should be laws to govern this.
HASSELBECK: I think they should be protected. What Sarah Palin’s daughter is doing is remarkable and I think that it is. I, I am pro-life, but I’m not here to change your mind on that
