Back Off, Whoopi

Sometimes, I really wonder why Elisabeth Hasselbeck doesn't quit.

I don't know how she manages to wake up, drag herself to work, and face her colleagues on The View.

I couldn't do it. I wouldn't do it.

Tuesday, Hasselbeck had to put up with Nancy Pelosi and 78-year-old Barbara Walters talking about Whoopi Goldberg wanting to "do" Paul Newman and Pelosi's husband Paul. Goldberg volunteered that she'd also like to "do" Madame Speaker.

That's nauseating.

On Wednesday, Hasselbeck was subjected to worse than that disgusting drivel. During a discussion about Hillary's idea to give every baby born in the U.S. $5000, she had to hear Whoopi Goldberg pontificate about abortion, as the rest of The View ladies and the audience cheered.

Watch the video.

Transcript excerpt:

HASSELBECK: I was very- at heart, I’m very against this policy because I believe it’s more of a gift.

BEHAR: Are you against Social Security, too?

HASSELBECK: No. Against this policy, but then I realized that there is a benefit because I feel like this could maybe cause less abortions in the world. You know, people would keep having kids instead.

GOLDBERG: Elisabeth, Elisabeth, can I ask you one question–can I ask you a question? I just have to ask you this question since you opened this door.

HASSELBECK: Sure.

GOLDBERG: Have you ever been in a position to have to make that decision?

HASSELBECK: Never, never.

GOLDBERG: Okay, then back off a little bit. Back off a little bit. Very few people want to have abortions.

HASSELBECK: I’m sure they don’t.

GOLDBERG: See, I was listening.

HASSELBECK: I was just affirming what you said.

GOLDBERG: Most people do not want to have abortions. Most women do not have them with some sort of party going on. It is the hardest decision that a woman ever- wait- ever has to make. So, when you talk about it, a little bit of reverence to the women out there who have had to make this horrible decision. And one of the reasons that, that we have had to make this decision is because so many women were found bleeding, dead, with hangers in their bodies because they were doing it themselves. The idea of this was to make it safe and clean. That was the reason the law came into effect. That was why it was done.

Women who are so desperate that they resort to killing their babies deserve compassion and prayers, but they don't deserve reverence.

They aren't heroines. They aren't courageous. They aren't brave.

Choosing to end the life of one's baby isn't an act to be revered. Not at all.

On Thursday, The View continued on its especially controversial streak. The ladies took to slamming the Catholic Church. I wasn't impressed with Hasselbeck.

From NewsBusters:

Catholic-bashing was in vogue on ABC’s The View on Thursday. St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke’s announcement that he would not offer communion to GOP presidential contender Rudy Giuliani – an ardent supporter of abortion embarking on his third marriage – upset Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg."It seems that the Catholic God always says judge, lest ye be judged," complained Goldberg, who also complained the church should punish proponents of the death penalty and the Iraq war. Even Elisabeth Hasselbeck denounced Archbishop Burke as a publicity hound.

The View crew doesn’t seem to think anyone should be refused communion – even if by rejecting Catholic teachings, politicians like Giuliani and John Kerry are clearly not communing with the faith of their youth.

As a life-long practicing Catholic, I've known many priests. Not all would take Archbishop Burke's approach.

Whether or not Giuliani or Kerry or anyone should receive Communion is not up to me. I'm not commenting on that.

What bothers me is the way it was open season on Catholics on Thursday's show.

An example:

GOLDBERG: Yes, holy communion, you know what holy communion is. For the Catholic Church, you go in on Sunday, you've confessed everything on Friday or Saturday, you're clear, they give you the host, they say you're cool.

BEHAR: Then you get drunk and go out and have fun.

That's not cool.

Here's more:

GOLDBERG: It's very strange that when, when the Catholic God, you know, because there are so many different gods. I'll refer to the Catholic God at the moment. It seems that the Catholic God always says judge lest ye be judged. And always says if I-

BEHAR: They always say that.

GOLDBERG: If you come to me, I'm the only one who can forgive you. It doesn’t matter what everyone else says. And yet a priest, the mouthpiece to God, would say you can't --

BEHAR: There are amendments. Unless you do this. Unless you do that. (hand gesturing)

SHEPHERD: The priest has absolute say, because I don't know about Catholicism –

BEHAR: No the Pope does.

SHEPHERD: The Pope, okay.

HASSELBECK: No, the Pope does. The bishops are an extension of his, his abilities to say yeah or nay to certain things. There are a lot of rules in the Catholic, you know, Church.

One more excerpt from the long, gang rant:

GOLDBERG: I just find it very interesting that, that, you know, it's like closing churches. I don't understand people who close churches because there’s so many, you know, folks that go to church. You know, it’s really a big deal for a lot of people. How can you live at the Vatican and say we have to close these churches because there's not enough money when we could, like, sell some stuff?

BEHAR: Well, the Catholic Church is, is in debt now for paying off a lot of the pedophile cases and they have to close all these churches.

GOLDBERG: There's a lot of stuff they could be selling.

HASSELBECK: And they were handing out communion to all those men who were molesting all the boys out there and they didn’t have a problem giving them communion.

BEHAR: We were all raised Catholic here, so this is not some anti-Catholic rant that we're on. This is just factual information.

GOLDBERG: No, I’m a little bit on a rant. No you’re right.

BEHAR: You can rant. But I was raised -- I had communion every Sunday. I received my communion, my confirmation, all nine yards. My daughter’s been baptized, just in case, you know?

GOLDBERG: You are so funny.

BEHAR: And so this is just- these are facts about the Church right now that people have to either live with or reject.

HASSELBECK: That's one area. That's the Catholic Church. There are many other divisions of Christianity.

SHEPHERD: If you’re a Christian, you can do communion if you sin.

GOLDBERG: Not in the Catholic Church.

There's lots of offensive stuff here.

"[T]his is not some anti-Catholic rant that we're on. This is just factual information."

No, of course not. It's not a rant. Just the facts.

Yeah, right.

I really think some priests should be invited on The View to speak about Catholic teaching.

Fairness Doctrine.