Glenn Responds to The View Debacle

Related Video  Glenn ambushed on 'The View'

GLENN: And so anyway, so I was just a little uncomfortable. I get home and I'm just sick as a dog. I'm running a fever. I get home. My wife tucks me in, we talk about the day, I tell my kids a story, I get up and I ride and I say, I just can't, I just can't go in to TV today or radio. I'm just, I'm too sick, but I'll honor the commitment to The View. Ooh, what a mistake that was . What a mistake that was. 

STU: They seemed to be ‑‑ look, they seemed to have a warm reception for you. 

GLENN: Yes, like hell? 

STU: That is, that's a warm place. 

GLENN: That's a very warm place. 

STU: That's a very warm place. They seemed to not have, like, an agenda or anything. They didn't seem to ‑‑ 

GLENN: Oh, I didn't sense an agenda there, did you? 

STU: They seemed to, like, want to let you get your side of the story out. 

GLENN: Yes, yes. 

STU: They seemed to be open to anyone disagreeing. 

GLENN: Liar! No, you know what? You know what, I will tell you this about Whoopi Goldberg. In the end Whoopi Goldberg came up to me and I said, you know, Whoopi, I was actually coming out to compliment you on what you said in the previous break. Because I don't remember what it was, and God forbid I misquote anybody on The View. But it was something along the lines of, you know, the Republicans and the Democrats, we just have to start telling the truth. We just all have to, you know, we have to put our differences aside. And I said, I was actually coming out to compliment you to say, you know, I couldn't believe that. That's great. That's going to ‑‑ and she said ‑‑ now see, again I don't know if I said that first or if she said what she said first. 

STU: Uh‑oh. 

GLENN: I don't want to mix up ‑‑ 

STU: Liar! 

GLENN: ‑‑ who said something first. But she said, you know, I would just ‑‑ this is in the past. I would just appreciate it if you would call me, you know, in advance before you would say something about me. And I said, okay, sure. And she said because, you know, we could disagree with things but we can be friendly and we can be friends. And she was actually very, she was actually very nice afterwards. After my head was in the basket, she was very nice.

STU: This is after on national television she called you a lying sack of dog mess. 

GLENN: Yes. 

STU: You would say this is the ‑‑ 

GLENN: Yes. 

STU: This is afterwards. 

GLENN: Uh‑huh, uh‑huh. 

STU: There was that moment on television. 

GLENN: She was very upset. I'm not sure ‑‑ 

STU: Then you're saying off air she was kind enough to say something like that.

More Proof?  Email records show Glenn wondering who would be on the train in the 'reserved seats'...

GLENN: Call me. Which I still don't have her number. So I don't know how to call her, but I'm sure people know how to call her people. 

STU: Yes. In all honesty, you look at someone like a Whoopi Goldberg, she probably ‑‑ maybe she, you know, feels like, you know, you had a ‑‑ you met her on the train, it was nice and then she thinks you're trashing her for whatever reason. 

GLENN: I think that's what it was. I think with Whoopi Goldberg, I think that it was that she thought maybe we had a nice moment. 

STU: Yeah. 

GLENN: I mean, maybe. 

STU: And then, you know, she sees this clip of you. She gets essentially like out of nowhere someone sends her a clip and you're talking about her. 

GLENN: Right. 

STU: I don't know what she thought exactly. 

GLENN: I don't know what Whoopi Goldberg believes and I wasn't afforded the time to ask what exactly I was lying about or reply or defend myself or anything. But so I don't know exactly what her deal is. I told the TV staff, call her, invite her on the show. I'd love to talk to her on the show. 

STU: But she seemed like a normal person afterwards, at least.

GLENN: Yes, yes. 

STU: Cool. That's good. 

GLENN: Yes. 

STU: And you are not going to ruin Elisabeth for me, are you? Because you know I love her. 

GLENN: Elisabeth, I don't know what the deal was with Elisabeth. She was very nice but she wasn't ‑‑ she wasn't helpful but she wasn't hurting at all. 

STU: She wasn't allowed to talk. 

GLENN: I think she was just ‑‑ I notice, I watched it last night and I noticed that she was ‑‑ it really was, it was the two ends, it was Whoopi and Barbara Walters. 

STU: I saw Elisabeth a couple of times trying to say stuff. 

DAN: What's she going to do? It was a he said/she said situation that she wasn't in. 

GLENN: I'm not saying that she wasn't helpful intentionally. She was just ‑‑ but what is she going to do? She's not going to stop that train wreck. It was an absolute ‑‑ it was a setup. It was an ambush. I walked off the set and the producer ‑‑ and I'll tell you later, but the producer was getting an earful from Adam who I've never seen Adam ever upset. And my wife was giving an earful to somebody else as well. My wife wasn't even on the set. She was giving an earful to somebody else because Adam and my wife and Adam's wife were all there. And I walked off the ‑‑ because the green room is actually on ‑‑ this is enormous stage and so right behind the set of The View is the makeup room but it's not a separate room. It's, they're fake walls. And then right behind that is another fake living room kind of set and that is the green room. And everybody sits in the green room. And apparently Adam said the temperature dropped ‑‑ you know, he said it's like in the cartoons where you can just hear everything freeze and just, the ice go (crackling noises). He said, it got very cold and very, very quiet in the green room and at one point when I was walking out, Adam was at that walkout curtain. You know where the curtain is? He said, "I almost came out there myself." And I believed him. I've never seen him like that. I've never been treated more poorly than I was treated ever. And I've been treated poorly before. I'm used to going into places and being treated poorly. 

STU: Yes, it's a hostile environment most times when you go on shows. 

GLENN: Yes, yes. I mean, I have done hostile shows before. I've worked in hostile environments before. I have never been treated in a more unprofessional, 4‑year‑old sort of way than I was treated at The View. And I tried to be ‑‑ I tried to be very nice. I tried to be a gentleman. I don't believe in going on into somebody's house and peeing all over their furniture. I've had other people do that on my set. You don't do that. 

STU: There was a point there I was ‑‑ I should have just whipped it out. 

GLENN: I considered it. I considered it. I'm glad I didn't because I think ‑‑ I mean, well, I don't know. I don't have any intention of making enemies, but I'm not going to also hold my tongue. I will say what I believe. This is what I do. 

You know, I mean, Barbara Walters, "So you call yourself an investigative journalist." No. Don't you ever do your own homework, Barbara? Don't you check your facts? No, I don't call myself an investigative journalist. I'm nothing of the kind. 

STU: In fact, in five million interviews you can read that exact quote, that you are not a journalist. 

GLENN: Right. And I'm not a journalist as a badge of honor quite frankly. 

STU: Even more after that interview. 

GLENN: I am a ‑‑ exactly right. I'm more of what Whoopi Goldberg does. 

STU: Right. 

GLENN: I'm a storyteller. I'm somebody who just kind of reflects on what happens in life. I tell you my point of view on what's going on. 

STU: Right. And she tried to get ‑‑ like it's typical media self‑congratulations as she says to you, "Oh, you are not a journalist?" 

GLENN: Don't use a voice on Barbara Walters. 

STU: You're not a journalist? 

GLENN: See, this isn't going to go well. 

STU: And you say no. And she says, well, then you don't check any facts? No. See, people who aren't journalists care about the facts, too. In fact, as I've learned over the years, sometimes a lot more than the actual journalists. 

GLENN: I wonder if the journalists like Barbara Walters called my office to check on my facts because I have four witnesses. No, no. No, she didn't. She didn't call to get my side of the story before she put me on national television and called me a liar. 

STU: That's so... that's so ‑‑ 

GLENN: But it's not ‑‑ see, this isn't ‑‑ but you know what? It's okay for her not to check her facts but to the apparently for me. And I'm sorry, and I apologize. And Whoopi, I told her at the end, she said, you know, if you have a ‑‑ if something like this happens again ‑‑ and I'm thinking to myself, I don't think this is going to happen again. "But if something like this happens again," she said, "You just call me. Just call me." And I wanted to ‑‑ 

STU: That's a rational response. 

GLENN: It is. And I wanted to say, "Okay, I don't have your number." And I didn't know ‑‑ I mean, it doesn't occur to me. These people who are in this ‑‑ I was thinking about it last night as, you know, Mary said, "My gosh, they just tore into..." Mary's my daughter, my 20‑year‑old. And I walked out of the room and I'm like, I've just been torn to shreds by a person that was in the movie "Ghost." You know what I mean? 

STU: Jumping Jack Flash was much better. 

DAN: Sister Act, too. 

GLENN: No, but what I'm saying is these guys are ‑‑ they are in those circles. I don't consider myself in those circles. I don't call Whoopi Goldberg up. You don't even consider that. 

STU: Just to follow Whoopi's logic here for a moment and again, you know, it's nice that she said something good to you off the air afterwards, after the interview but the ‑‑ 

GLENN: See, I think she was genuine. I could be wrong but I think she was genuine. 

STU: I'm legitimately serious because at least you can have disagreements on the air about something, you can scream at each other. You get off the air and you are actually civil, I think that's respectable. But to follow her logic, she could have called you before putting you on the air and accusing you of a liar. You know, she says ‑‑ 

GLENN: Right, exactly right. 

STU: She says call me next time. How about you call me? I'm the schlub here. You're the person who everybody knows. 

GLENN: How about Barbara Walters? Barbara Walters. I don't even know if they were accusing me of lying about who walked up to whom first. This is how stupid and ridiculous this is. 

STU: Oh, my god. 

GLENN: I mean, this is national television time. The dollar is falling through the ground. You know, we're talking about Gitmo and torture and everything else. I would have rather talked about American Idol who, by the way, the producer asked me prior to who's going to win, and I got it right. But we could have, we could have talked about that. Instead we talk about a stupid train on who approached who first. 

STU: I mean, and in all honesty, I mean, we can talk about how ridiculous it was the way they treated you, but there has never been a more pointless seven minutes of television. 

GLENN: No. It was ridiculous. 

STU: I'm talking you can include every Japanese game show and you'd still not come up with seven minutes of more pointless television. 

GLENN: And you don't even speak Japanese, yeah. 

STU: No. I still learn more. You are talking seven minutes about whether you properly characterized ‑‑ 

GLENN: Can I tell you something? 

STU: ‑‑ the order of introductions on a train trip. 

GLENN: Here's the thing. And you know, I don't really even ‑‑ I don't care because Barbara Walters made it very clear that I was not to make fun of her. 

STU: What did she say? Did she say that? 

GLENN: Stop. 

STU: But I wanted to ‑‑ 

GLENN: Stop. So I'm not making fun ‑‑ so I'm not going to make fun of her. Look, she is a woman who accomplished an awful lot in her life, in the many, many, many storied years of her life. She has accomplished an awful lot. She broke ground for women way, way, way, way back. 

STU: Yep, especially the wife of a particular senator she ‑‑ 

GLENN: So I'm not going to make fun of her. I am going to say this. I did have the feeling she was Norma Desmond. Now, if you don't know who Norma Desmond is, just remember this one line: I'm ready for my close‑up, Mr. DeMille. It was almost ‑‑ because it was creepy. It was creepy. She was extraordinarily hostile. When she asked me ‑‑ and we'll play this back. She was doing a stare‑down. Like she was like 8 years old. She was doing a stare‑down with me. And I thought to myself, what are you doing. And I felt, I actually ‑‑ in the end I feel bad because I feel like she ‑‑ maybe is she sensing that she's ‑‑ you know, I felt like Jerry Seinfeld: Do you even know who I am? You know what I mean? You know that moment with Larry King where you're like, hmmm, wow, are you ‑‑ hello?

Stu's 2 minute investigation

More Proof?  Email records show Glenn wondering who would be on the train in the 'reserved seats'...

GLENN: I think it was, I think it was that I said ‑‑ but I wasn't really even sure. I think it was that I said that I walked up to Barbara Walters. Because I remember I listened back ‑‑ what was it, three days ago, two days ago? I listened back to it on the air on this program. And I said, no, no, that's not exactly true; I didn't walk up to her. Remember? 

STU: Yeah, you were going into the investigation. 

GLENN: Oh, you have an investigation? 

STU: There's a full‑fledged investigation on this. 

GLENN: Oh, hang on just a second. We have an investigation. Hold on, Steve, this is good stuff. Go ahead. 

STU: Yes, this is another in a series of Stu's two‑minute investigations where I do approximately two minutes of work to prove an entire story false. 

GLENN: This is great because this is the two minutes that apparently the press won't ever do on stories. 

STU: Yes. 

GLENN: There was a big ‑‑ what was the big Internet scam that happened? Oh, it was on the tea parties. It was on the tea parties and the 9/12er that was like, hey, we should burn all the books. And nobody spent two minutes. So Stu, what he does is he caps himself: I'm only going to do two minutes of work on this. What did you find in a two‑minute investigation? 

STU: Well, first of all I had to answer the question the caller just asked which is what were they accusing you of lying about. 

GLENN: Yes. 

STU: Two things that I came up with. Number one, that their seats on Amtrak were not reserved. Now, they were saying they were not reserved but the Amtrak employee was saying that they were.

GLENN: Yes. 

STU: Okay? Now, I am doubting that Whoopi Goldberg or Barbara Walters called 1‑800‑Amtrak or in Barbara Walters' case picked up a phone and waited for an operator to ask where they want to call and say Amtrak, please, that whole thing. But if they did not ‑‑ 

GLENN: "Hey, ring up the train." 

STU: Crank the phone. 

GLENN: Call the choo‑choo. 

STU: Right. So, you know, now I don't know how ‑‑ again we're going to go into this in a second, how exactly you knew before the stop that these were going to be reserved. But we'll get into that in a moment. 

GLENN: Yes. 

STU: But let's go into the second lie because this is the more easy one to prove. 

GLENN: This is the one, I think this is the one that they were going after. 

STU: You said Barbara called you over and it was the other way around. This was the accusation of that, okay? 

GLENN: Yes. That she said that, "Glenn Beck, come hither" or whatever. And then I walked over to her. Which is not the way it happened. 

STU: Right. Now, if that were true, what difference would it make to the story, first of all? 

GLENN: No difference. 

STU: No difference. Has no relevance whatsoever. Was it some of the worst, most pointless moments on television? 

GLENN: Yes, it was. 

STU: Yes, it was. But the consensus is that you did say something wrong here. Even you conceded this point multiple times, on The View and on Fox last night. You conceded that you said something wrong. 

GLENN: And I also said it on the air before, I believe.

AS SEEN ON TV  The Insider Webcam, an exclusive feature available only to Glenn Beck Insiders. Learn more...

STU: Right. 

GLENN: Yeah. 

STU: So here we go. Upon further investigation ‑‑ this is again the two minutes. 

GLENN: This is two minutes. 

STU: Where I actually listened to what you said. 

GLENN: Okay. 

STU: We've come up with an incredible truth. This is Cut 4, Dan. You didn't say that at all. Never did you say anything like Barbara came over to me. Listen for it and listen very closely. When you hear this: 

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) 

GLENN: Now, as the train took off and Barbara said, Glenn Beck. And I said, yes, Mrs. Walters, how are you? I walked up, so you know, I walked up to Ms. ‑‑ because she was looking at me. And I don't know if she was just looking at me and thinking about somebody else or, you know, just ‑‑ you know how sometimes you'll just be staring at people and you just don't even know you're staring at them? 

STU: Right. 

GLENN: Okay, stop. 

(END AUDIO CLIP) 

STU: So this is the retelling of the story. 

GLENN: Which is before The View. 

STU: So you clarify it. But if you listen to the audio, Dan, if we could play the stuff they played on The View, then you can clarify. You clarified something you didn't need to clarify. At no point did you actually say that Barbara came up to you first. Listen to the audio. 

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) 

GLENN: And so there were four seats at this table and it was empty. So we get in and we sit down at the table and the lady says, no, no, no, no, you can't take those. Why not? They're reserve. They're reserved? I didn't ‑‑ you can't reserve ‑‑ no, no, these are reserved. 

Now, I'm thinking Joe "Amtrak" Biden is getting onto the train because you cannot reserve a seat on Amtrak. They don't do it. Well, all of a sudden the police enter. "Clear the path." It's Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg, oh, and Steve Kroft. How did they reserve seats on Amtrak when you can't reserve seats on Amtrak? Now, as the train took off and Barbara said, "Glenn Beck." 

(END AUDIO CLIP) 

STU: Okay, that's all you need to hear, but that's the whole point. So the train takes off and Barbara says something to you. 

GLENN: And she didn't ‑‑ okay. So here's the way it happened. She didn't say, "Glenn Beck." I said, "Ms. Walters, Glenn Beck." And she said, "Yes, you're going to be on The View coming up." That's what she said. 

STU: Why didn't you say what the Amtrak conductor said during that time? 

GLENN: Because he may have said, "Tickets?" He may have said that. 

STU: Now, is it because "Tickets" isn't relevant at all to the conversation? 

GLENN: Yes. 

STU: So what you are saying is you may have jumped in to a relevant point in the conversation. At no point did you say Barbara came over to me. You just said the train left and Barbara said this. 

GLENN: Right. 

STU: Not, and the worst part is in the very odd case that it may have implied that Barbara came up to you, for no good reason later on the radio, you clarified it, as we played earlier, and you said, oh, no, Barbara actually didn't come up to me; I came up to her. 

GLENN: I believe that Whoopi Goldberg does not think that those seats were reserved. I don't think she, I don't think she calls to have them reserved. I just, this is my speculation. We never got to this part. We never got to ‑‑ we never got to any of that. Any reasonable people would have sat around and said, "So wait a minute, they told you what?" And we would have laughed about it. As my wife said last night, "Women." And I said, what does that mean? And she said, do you think, Glenn, if you would have gotten on television, it would have been a bunch of guys, you would have said, what the hell was up with that? I didn't do that. It wasn't reserved. Really? Wasn't reserved? And you wouldn't have had a conversation about it. She said this is what women do. And I said, no, I just think this is what people with an agenda do. But so we never really had an actual conversation on this. I believe that Whoopi also doesn't believe that she had any kind of special treatment, that they didn't reserve those seats. 

STU: That was the point of the whole monologue. 

GLENN: Right. Somebody reserved those seats because we were not allowed to sit in them. They had them all covered with papers and we couldn't sit in them. When we got onto the train, they walked in. Steve Kroft did not sit with them. The police walked them up to those seats. Barbara said, "You want to sit here?" They sat there. But that's where the police were standing, standing right there. That's when the person who told us they were reserved took all of those papers up and moved them off. I mean, so now, does Barbara even know? This goes back to my point that Barbara has been living in such an elitist sort of world for so long and, you know, she's, you know ‑‑ and I think that she has now gotten to the point to where she doesn't even know. She doesn't even know. "I think that's the way I always, I just happened to find those seats there." Somebody called to reserve those seats and if it wasn't Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg that were supposed to sit in those seats, who was it? Who was the celebrity that was supposed to ‑‑ now, I haven't done my journalistic , you know ‑‑ because I'm not a journalist. I didn't call Amtrak to find out who it was, what celebrity didn't sit in those seats. But the lady who said they were saved, for someone in New York and you would see when we got into New York who it was and you'd be all excited and then she looked at us and she kind of like went, huh? You know, I just thought it was ‑‑ it's at least who I believe the Amtrak lady thought was sitting there. 

STU: Right. So as we look at this, we learned that when you say something that they said was wrong, they called you a liar, okay? Now, when you ‑‑ when they came out and said, "Oh, well, you kept saying Barbara came over here; that's a lie." By their own definition, they're lying when they say that. So you didn't ‑‑ we looked at the audio. You have not said that. We've listened to it all. So you didn't say the supposed lie they accused you of. They didn't do the fact checking of actually listening to the audio of what you said. Then they didn't do the fact checking of finding out if you had further clarified it on another radio show, which you had. 

GLENN: Aren't they journalists? 

STU: Why? Is it because no one sent Whoopi a link to that particular audio clip? That's the bottom line is no one happens ‑‑ 

GLENN: See, again I'll take ‑‑ I'll stand up for Whoopi Goldberg. 

STU: No, no, Glenn ‑‑ 

GLENN: Whoopi Goldberg is not a journalist. Whoopi Goldberg does exactly what I do. They talk about the thing. They talk about the things in life. Barbara Walters, however ‑‑ 

STU: Oh, exactly. 

GLENN: Is a different story. 

STU: So I don't know what they're doing. They're either ignoring or incompetently look looking for your, as it turns out, unnecessary clarification. So there are a couple of questions to ask Ms. Barbara Walters. 

STU: Yes. 

GLENN: And I think she said it best, when she said this! 

(AUDIO CLIP PLAYS) 

STU: I don't know, Barbara. Do we check facts, Barbara? 

GLENN: I don't know what kind of tree I'm supposed to be when I'm on your show. Am I a tree that doesn't check facts because that's not what trees do? But you instead, you check your facts but yet you don't check your facts? Wow. Good job, investigative reporter Barbara Walters.

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David Feherty shouldn't get pass for tasteless joke - but neither should Wanda Sykes

Double Standard - If a Conservative Made Jokes Even Half This Tasteless They Would Be Crucified By The Media!!

Simon/Pool

Comedian Wanda Sykes has President Obama in stitches as she performs at Saturday's White House Correspondents' dinner in D.C.

Mouths That Roared… Tastelessly!!  -  Since when are jokes about 9/11 and death okay??  It seems that the answer is when they are aimed at conservatives.

What did you think of the jokes made by David Feherty and Wanda Sykes?

Their comments were tasteless, and both should apologize.

Feherty deserves punishment, but Sykes' comments were fine considering the setting.

It was all in good fun - neither should be reprimanded.

Here is what David Feherty, a golf guy who poses no threat to the memory of Lenny Bruce, wrote in a Dallas magazine recently:

"If you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama Bin Laden, there's a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and Bin Laden would be strangled to death."

Not funny. An old joke, tastelessly retold. Feherty of CBS - who once wrote a book called "Somewhere in Ireland a Village is Missing an Idiot" - is drawing fire because of it. But you have to wonder how a similar joke might have played at the White House Correspondents' dinner on Saturday night, as long as it was about a Republican.

Because here are a couple of jokes Wanda Sykes wrote and then delivered to that crowd:

"You know, you might want to look into this, [President Obama], because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was just so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight. ...

"Rush Limbaugh hopes the country fails? I hope his kidneys fail, how 'bout that?"

Somehow Ms. Sykes got laughs with this material, and draws no fire. It is all supposed to be about the setting, or so we are told. President Obama was there, the dinner is always the Washington version of a Friars Club Roast, just without the Sopranos language.

So Sykes, a comedian, gets a pass because of where she was, and whom she was talking about. And maybe who she is. David Feherty, who fancies himself a bit of a comic himself, doesn't, at least not so far. As always, the rules on all this change from day to day like baseball's strike zone.

This isn't about condoning what Feherty wrote. It sure isn't about running interference for Limbaugh. He has become the clown at the right-wing circus and has had the bully pulpit for a long time, not just banging away at people who think like President Obama - or Wanda Sykes for that matter - for a long time.

Limbaugh is another gasbag in this country who has gotten rich on meanness, and so if he is getting a taste of his own medicine now, prescription or otherwise, that is probably just swell with the people he has trampled on the way to the buffet table. Then the bank.

But what if Limbaugh, white talk show host, goes on the air and says that Sykes, black comedian, is about half-a-terrorist and that, oh by the way, he hopes she dies? Is he allowed to say he's just an entertainer, and tell everybody to lighten up?

Feherty? He has been condemned by representatives from Pelosi and Reid and even the PGA Tour. CBS issued a statement that said, "Feherty's column for a Dallas magazine is an unacceptable attempt at humor and is not in any way condoned."

A poll was taken by the Daily News… 68% of the participants said both Feherty and Sykes’ comments were tasteless and both should apologize!

Double Standard - If a Conservative Made Jokes Even Half This Tasteless They Would Be Crucified By The Media!!

Updated Monday, May 11th 2009, 8:34 AM

Letterman Rude, Oblivious and Condescending, Calls O'Reilly A Goon -- To His Face

Calling your guest a goon is bad host etiquette under any circumstances,  yet David Letterman did exactly that to Fox News's Bill O'Reilly, on Tuesday's "Late Show" 

He also told the "Factor" host, "You're too smart to believe what you say." 

And some actually said 'all in all, it was a friendlier encounter than might of been expected', the following lowspots not withstanding:

• Dave began his negative comments about O'Reilly, and how he (Letterman) would react to O'Reilly, while O'Reilly was still backstage.
• After O'Reilly gave his background before becoming the "Factor" host, Letterman responded, "When you say working your way up, does that really apply to Fox?"
• Holding up O'Reilly's best-selling book, Letterman chided, "Here's what breaks my heart about this: In my mind, I think of you as a goon! But then, when you look at, look at this picture, look at how sweet and adorable that kid is, and it breaks my heart because I have a sweet, adorable kid like that, and I think, 'Oh, great, what if he too becomes a goon?"
• When the discussion moved in the direction of whether or not Rush Limbaugh is now the head of the GOP, O'Reilly asked Letterman why he wanted that to be the case. Letterman responded: "Well, he's tubby. He's, he for a long time had his housekeeper buying illegal drugs. And I thought, 'Well, if this is what the Republican Party needs, there you go.'"
• Still on Limbaugh, Letterman said: "It just seems to me that he's too smart to believe what he's saying. And I feel the same way about you. You're too smart to believe what you say."
• When the discussion moved in the direction of former President George W. Bush, O'Reilly said, "Obviously, he presided over an economy that collapsed. That's on his sheet." Letterman quipped, "Presided or ignored?"

As the segment wound down, Letterman made a truly telling admission:

As ignorant as I am, and there are few people more ignorant than I am, I didn't, I didn't realize the deficit that this country had established for itself, or had been forced into for eight years until the previous tenant left the House...the state of the United States globally, until we got a guy in there who was actually, and who knows if he's doing the right thing, but at least he's doing something. But to me, the United States government was essentially closed for eight years.

Amazing.... 

• How Letterman was oblivious to everything that occurred in Washington, D.C., until Obama was inaugurated... 
  
• How Letterman thought it was okay to insult a guest on his show, let alone a man that was being honored for being the number one Cable News Program for 100 months in a row or... 81/2 years.
• How Letterman and other Hollywood types and show hosts think it is their right to use their show and fame as a forum to continuously spout off about their politics and opinions, even when they are totally uninformed.
• How Letterman went off on this man and then ultimately admitted that he had never even watched his program.
  

Or maybe not so amazing?!?

The question is... why would anyone want to go on Letterman's show and take the chance of being treated that way?  Letterman was rude, obviously oblivious to what goes own outside his narrow minded world, condescending and showed his ignorance.  In fact, Dave's finest moment was admitting that he was ignorant, but it didn't keep him from blabbing on!  Tells you a lot, (about Letterman) doesn't it?

By:  Marion Algier/Ask Marion for Daily Thought Pad

Thought For The Day - 9.13.08

"When people talk, listen completely.   Most people never listen."
…Ernest Hemingway, American novelist, writer and journalist

  You already know to listen. But do you truly know how — it’s the one skill that separates extraordinary friends from ordinary friends and exceptional employees from average employees. For listening isn’t simply done with your ears — it takes your eyes, your body language, your mind, and your heart. You see, great listeners absorb the other person’s thoughts and feelings and empathize with the person’s situation. Rather than simply hearing the words, you need to hear their purpose.

 Most people are too busy thinking about what they are going to say next, to really listen, really care or learn something.  

But as the old saying goes… “God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason.” 

Somebody might have told the rude crew ofThe View that…  When you are too busy talking yourself to hear or learn anything and too self-righteous or have so totally made up your mind to even let your guest finish a sentence… that you don’t need a guest on at all.  I guess they are confused and think talk show means:  only they talk… and only their views are allowed? 

And then there is Oprah… the talk show Queen who professes the empowerment of women but won’t even have Republican Vice Presidential Sarah Palin on her show?  

 I guess this tells us a lot about all these women! 

John McCain appeared on “The View.” (Photo: Steve Fenn/Reuters, via ABC)

Senator John McCain bounded onto the set of “The View” this morning, perhaps expecting a fun session chatting with the ladies about the softer side of his presidential campaign.

But once he settled onto the couch, he got a pretty good grilling — on earmarks, on his erstwhile image as a “maverick” and, of course, about his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin. He also defended his ads against Senator Barack Obama, saying “they are not lies,” and his wife, Cindy, who appeared later, declined to answer a question about how many houses the McCains own.

Mr. McCain also had some kind words for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who may have been the first choice for president among many viewers of “The View.” The show is watched by 3.4 million people, according to Nielsen, 78 percent of whom are women and whose median age is 56 years old.

A visit to “The View” is becoming a rite of passage for candidates as they try to shore up their appeal among women (Mr. McCain also taped a segment today for the Rachael Ray show.)

Anyway, Ms. Walters led off the questioning of Mr. McCain, and right away set the tone for the rest of the interview.

It was not the questions...  It was the lack of listening, the rudeness and what seemed like disinterest of the ladies of 'The View' in what McCain had to say!  They took turns asking questions and then rudely interrupting him before he could fully respond.

She first asked Mr. McCain to defend his earlier statement that Ms. Palin was “the greatest vice presidential candidate in the history of the United States.” Was he perhaps overlooking John Adams or George H.W. Bush?

“We politicians are never given to exaggeration,” Mr. McCain began with a smile, but then turned more serious. “The fact is,” he said, “I think she’s a great person, she’s a great governor, she’s the most popular governor in America, she understands the energy issues.” (That phrase about being the most popular governor refers to her approval ratings in Alaska, which have consistently been quite high, including a poll in July that put her approval rating at 80 percent.)

Ms. Walters also noted that Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin have said that her job will be to reform Washington. But, she pointed out, Mr. McCain has been in Congress for 22 years, the Republicans have been in the White House for eight years, so who, exactly, is Ms. Palin going to reform?

“The Democrats have been in charge of both houses for the last two years,” Mr. McCain replied.

Pressed, he added: “The Republicans, the Democrat party, even the independents. She’ll reform all of Washington.”

How?

“By doing what she did in Alaska.”

What, exactly?

“First of all, earmark spending, which she vetoed a half a billion dollars worth in the state of Alaska.”

But she also put earmarks in, Ms. Walters noted.

“Not as governor she didn’t,” Mr. McCain said.

But as governor, she did. As the Anchorage Daily News, among others, has reported, in Ms. Palin’s first year as governor, she requested 52 earmarks valued at $256 million, and this year, her office asked the Alaska delegation in Washington to help land 31 earmarks valued at $197 million. Also, Citizens Against Government Waste ranks Alaska as having received the “most pork per capita” of all states this year.

Barbara Walters with John and Cindy McCain. (Photo: Steve Fenn/Reuters, via ABC)

Mr. McCain went on to say that Ms. Palin was “a reform governor,” had taken on and beat the incumbent governor of her own party, “she sold the plane, she fired the chef.”

Ms. Walters noted that she sold the plane at a loss.

“You wanted her to keep it?” Mr. McCain asked.

“No,” said Ms. Walters, “I wanted her to get her money back.”

Mr. McCain said that Ms. Palin “freed Alaska for the first time,” saying she “took government out of the hands of the special interests and the oil companies and the old-boy network and gave it back to the people of Alaska” and “that’s what we have to do in Washington.”

But what exactly will she do?

“The same thing,” Mr. McCain replied. “Break the old-boy network, the special interests that control our agenda in Washington.”

After that exchange, Joy Behar lamented to Mr. McCain that he used to be more of a “maverick” but now he’s in “lockstep” with the Republican Party and President Bush’s policies.

“I don’t see the old John McCain that used to really buck the system as much,” she said, then kind of undercut her own question by adding, “and I understand why — you want to get elected.” The audience applauded and Mr. McCain smiled.

“I’m the same person, and I have the same principles, and I have the same issues,” he said. “I’m the same guy.”

Ms. Behar brought up two of his recent ads against Mr. Obama, one suggesting that when Mr. Obama had used a colloquial expression about putting “lipstick on a pig,” he was referring to Ms. Palin and the other suggesting that Mr. Obama wanted sex education for children. “We know those two ads are untrue, they’re lies,” she said, and yet at the end of each, Mr. McCain’s voice says he approves of those messages.

“They are not lies,” Mr. McCain said. “And if you’ve seen some of the ads that are running against me…”

The conversation broke off in cross-talk, and Mr. McCain then rejoined to say that Mr. Obama “chooses his words very carefully and he shouldn’t have said it.”

He added: “This is a tough campaign.” He also said that if Mr. Obama had agreed to go around the country with him and do town-hall meetings together, the campaign would have a more elevated tone.

On the topic of abortion, Mr. McCain said that Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in 1973, was “a very bad decision.” He said he would not impose a litmus test on any of his nominations to the Supreme Court “because that’s not fair to the American people.” But, he said, he would nominate justices who would interpret the constitution as it was written and not legislate from the bench.

This prompted Whoopi Goldberg to worry that if he wanted to return to the constitution as it was written, and not as it was amended, she would be returned to slavery.

“I understand your point,” Mr. McCain said, as Ms. Goldberg theatrically fanned herself as if recovering from a big scare. “An excellent point.”

He then said that while he is “pro-life” because he believes that life begins at conception, “I also respect the views of those who don’t.”

That prompted Ms. Walters to ask, “So, you believe in choice?” but before he could answer, they all agreed to move on to other topics.

Shortly thereafter, Cindy McCain, the candidate’s wife, arrived on the set. She was asked if she agreed with Ms. Palin that there should be no exceptions for abortions, even in cases of rape and incest. (Ms. Palin has indicated that she would allow an exception only if the mother’s life were at stake.)

“We disagree on that issue,” Mrs. McCain said.

So, there are exceptions? “Yes,” Mrs. McCain said, adding, “John and I agree on this issue.” Mr. McCain has said he favors exceptions for rape and incest and to save the life of the mother.

Mr. McCain swooped in at this uncomfortable moment for his wife and said he would appoint all kinds of people to his administration, including Democrats. Asked if that included Mrs. Clinton, he took the opportunity to pay homage.

“I know that she wants to stay in the Senate, but I will work with Hillary Clinton because I’ve worked with her in the past, we’ve traveled together, Barbara, you know that, we have a working relationship that’s of mutual respect and frankly, appreciation,” he said. As she comes back to the Senate, he said, “she will be one of the most influential and powerful members of the Senate. You got to work together.”

This brought a big round of applause.

Then it was quickly back to the meat grinder, with Ms. Walters asking Mrs. McCain how many houses she owned.

Mrs. McCain didn’t answer that question.

“You know something, that’s not part of this campaign,” Mrs. McCain replied. “We’re fortunate enough to come from a family, particularly my dad and mom, who worked very hard to give me the best that they could and we are fortunate to be able to live a good life and share and give to other people who are not so fortunate.”

This too won a big round of applause.