Joy Behar, who can not get the United States Constitution straight yet still claims to be smarter than the average American, considers talk show king Rush Limbaugh a "joke." On the September 18 edition, discussing the impact comedians can play on the presidential election, Behar cited her ideological companion Keith Olbermann frequently referring to Rush Limbaugh as a "comedian" noting that he holds influence among conservative voters. When Whoopi Goldberg disputed Behar’s assessment that Limbaugh is a comedian, Behar conceded "okay, he’s not a comic. He’s a joke."
The conversation then moved on to the news of Sarah Palin’s e-mail hacking. To their credit, all of the co-hosts expressed horror that someone would do such an act. However, Joy, after earlier mocking Palin’s intelligence, asserted that authorities can not trace the hacker’s e-mail and "it’s completely anonymous." Has she ever heard of an IP address?
At the top of the show, Whoopi Goldberg announced that former President Bill Clinton will appear on "The View" Monday. Joy giddily exclaimed "that is one politician I can embrace."
The transcript follows.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: And I wanted to let you know that on Monday, a very special guest is going to be here for the very first time, former President Bill Clinton will be on "The View" this Monday [applause] September 22.
JOY BEHAR: That, that is one politician I can embrace.
[laughter]
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: And Sarah Palin is here with us today, see?
SHERRI SHEPHERD: You are so funny.
HASSELBECK: I think so.
SHEPHERD: No, the hair girl Livette.
HASSELBECK: I like it.
SHEPHERD: Her hair is just like that. And I said I wanted my hair to be just like hers.
HASSELBECK: It’s adorable.
BEHAR: Like Livette or like Sarah? Because you look like a black Sarah.
[laughter]
SHEPHERD: I was actually going for the Audrey Hepburn.
BEHAR: Audrey Hepburn?
SHEPHERD: Yes.
HASSELBECK: Another one of my favorite women.
GOLDBERG: With those glasses?
SHEPHERD: I like it with the glasses because it’s kind of studious because I’m really trying to learn about these politics and who I’m supposed to vote for and where I’m-
BEHAR: Oh, oh, so you’re imitating Sarah, who’s also trying to learn.
[laughter]
[...]
BEHAR: Just one point, the comedian point, yesterday I was watching Keith Olbermann, and he was, he kept referring to- they laugh when you say his name- they kept referring to Rush Limbaugh as a comedian.
SHEPHERD: Really?
BEHAR: Now Rush Limbaugh, who I don’t think he’s funny in the least, but that’s my opinion. I mean, I would give it to him if he was funny even though I disagree with him on everything. They call him a comedian, but he is highly influential to the conservative base of the Republican party.
SHEPHERD: So why would they say-
BEHAR: Because he features himself as quite amusing, you know.
HASSELBECK: He’s not a comedian.
SHEPHERD: But you have somebody like Jon Stewart, who, you know, he does a lot of comedy on, you know, on the politics and people listen to him.
BEHAR: Yeah, but I’m just saying, to slightly disagree with you, Keith Olbermann would say he is influential on the right.
GOLDBERG: He is influential, but he’s not a comic.
HASSELBECK: He’s not a comedian.
GOLDBERG: You’re not going to go see Rush at, you know, Foxwoods. You’re not going to go see Rush at any of the clubs that you and I frequent.
BEHAR: I know, but you’re not going to see Tina Fey there either. She’s a comedic actress.
GOLDBERG: Yes, but he is not a comic. Rush Limbaugh is not a comic. He has never performed a comedy. He has not gone out, he has not worked on a comedic show. He’s not a comedic act.
BEHAR: Okay, he’s not a comic. He’s a joke.
GOLDBERG: Thank you.
[laughter]
SHEPHERD: Thank you. There’s a big difference.
GOLDBERG: But I’ll tell you something that Sarah Palin is not laughing at. Hackers broke into her personal e-mail accounts that she uses for official business as governor of Alaska. I mean, you know how I feel about e-mails and all of that stuff. I say as soon as you get an account, suddenly everybody has access to your stuff if they know how to break in. You know, and this goes for right, left, center, back, front, it doesn’t matter.
SHEPHERD: You know what’s so hard is in this age everybody uses e-mail. Look, I don’t even answer my phone. You can only get me through e-mail. And that’s very scary to think that somebody can pull my e-mail.
HASSELBECK: Number one, it’s illegal. It’s illegal to get them, hack in and then print them anywhere. So it’s, it’s illegal. It’s a federal offense and then you also-
GOLDBERG: It doesn’t matter.
HASSELBECK: It’s, it’s just such a violation and an attack on her privacy.
GOLDBERG: Anybody, not just her. This happened, this happened with McCain. This has happened with- this has happened with everybody. And we have lost-
HASSELBECK: Paris Hilton?
GOLDBERG: Yes! Yes!
BEHAR: Isn’t it also hard to prosecute? You don’t even know who’s doing it. I mean, when you think back to Watergate, they had to break in. They had to get the lock. They had a big, you know, do it with the flashlight. It’s in the night.
GOLDBERG: Oh the good old days.
BEHAR: It brought down Nixon. They can’t do that anymore. It’s really anonymous.