On Wednesday’s The View on ABC, co-host Joy Behar defended author Joe McGinniss’s decision to purchase a home right next door to Sarah Palin as he plans to write an unauthorized biography of her, and his recent comments on NBC's Today show comparing her criticism of him to the behavior of Nazi troopers of the Third Reich. Behar found no agreement from the other co-hosts, and faced stiff resistance from Elisabeth Hasselbeck, in particular. Behar: "He's not saying she's a Nazi. He's saying the tactic was Nazi-like. ... This is the inference Ms. Palin put on her Facebook: ‘Wonder what kind of material he'll gather while overlooking Piper's bedroom?’ ... so now she writes something like that, she unleashes hatred among the Palinites who are very dittohead-ish and carry guns..."
Hasselbeck objected to being called a "dittohead," prompting Behar bring up Rush Limbaugh embrace of the term as a description of audience members, but also mocked Hasselbeck by calling him and Palin her "idols."
Sherri Shepherd also jumped in to criticize McGuinniss: "I don't follow Palin, and I think what he's doing is despicable because I think, he says that he got this house, he said that he got the house for $1,500 and it was a really good deal, but you know morally what you're doing. You know this woman's kids are in the backyard. You know good and well. He said he moved to Alaska so he could interview the people in Alaska. Well, move your behind downtown and interview people in Alaska!"
After guest co-host Mario Cantone also chimed in against McGuinniss, Behar continued: "Look, she's always yelling, she's always yelling it's a free country. Well, it's a free country, the guy moved next door."
Whoopi Goldberg held back until the end and wrapped up the discussion by attacking both McGuinniss and Palin: "He's a bonehead, too. She's a bonehead. They're both boneheads."
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Wednesday, June 2, The View on ABC:
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Now, listen to this: Author Joe McGinniss, who moved next door to the Palins while writing an unauthorized biography about her, told the Today show the Palins are the ones being aggressive. Take a look:
JOE MCGINNISS, AUTHOR, FROM TODAY SHOW: I think it’s probably a lesson for the American people of the power Palin has to incite hatred and her willingness and readiness to do it. She has pushed a button and unleashed the hounds of hell, and now they’re out there slobbering and barking and growling, and that’s the same kind of tactic – and I’m not calling her a Nazi – but that’s the same kind of tactic that the Nazi troopers used in Germany in the 30s, and I don’t think there’s any place for it in America.
SHERRI SHEPHERD: Why is everybody using Nazi?
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: Dude, you just moved in next door to her peeping over, she had to build a fence, you’re making her life completely uncomfortable, and it’s unnecessary that you’re there, and you’re trying to nab her with a Nazi label? Get your story straight!
JOY BEHAR: He’s not saying she’s a Nazi. He’s saying the tactic was Nazi-like.
HASSELBECK: You know what? To even put the inference there, he’s a smart man, he knows exactly what he’s doing.
BEHAR: This is the inference Ms. Palin put on her Facebook: "Wonder what kind of material he’ll gather while overlooking Piper’s bedroom?"
HASSELBECK: Wait a minute, let’s take this away-
BEHAR: Wait minute, so now she writes something like that, she unleashes hatred among the Palinites who are very dittohead-ish and carry guns. ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ... That’s his issue.
HASSELBECK: ... You can’t make a comment saying anyone who follows Palin or wants to hear what she has to say is a dittohead. A, B-
SHEPHERD: I don’t follow Palin, and I think it’s a bunch of bull what this guy is doing. I don’t follow Palin.
BEHAR: Rush Limbaugh, your other idol, he says-
HASSELBECK: No, he’s not my idol, and neither is Palin. I idolize God, that’s all, thank you very much, amen to the church.
BEHAR: Limbaugh is in that same camp, and he appreciates the dittohead label, so I think she might also.
SHEPHERD: Wait a minute. I don’t follow Palin, and I think what he’s doing is despicable because I think, he says that he got this house, he said that he got the house for $1,500 and it was a really good deal, but you know morally what you’re doing. You know this woman’s kids are in the backyard. You know good and well. He said he moved to Alaska so he could interview the people in Alaska. Well, move your behind downtown and interview people in Alaska!
BEHAR: Listen, she’s the one who put out the publicity.
SHEPHERD: Because he’s over, he’s next door to her.
HASSELBECK: Joy, you’re a mom, you know, hang on, you know if some guy moved next door to you-
BEHAR: He’s not some guy, he’s an author.
HASSELBECK: Oh, he’s an author. He’s a smart, brilliant, creepy author. He’s a creepy author. He’s an author.
SHEPHERD: I’m not even for Sarah Palin. And we join hands together as mothers.
MARIO CANTONE, GUEST CO-HOST: I don’t like the woman at all, but if someone’s going to write a book about you, you move right next door, that’s a little, and he’s like, "Oh, what’s going on next door?"
BEHAR: Look, she’s always yelling, she’s always yelling it’s a free country. Well, it’s a free country, the guy moved next door.
CANTONE: You don’t have to move next door to someone to write about them.
GOLDBERG: He’s a bonehead, too. She’s a bonehead. They’re both boneheads.
