Written by NEIL GODBOUT
Citizen news editor
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Thursday, 22 May 2008 |
It's 8 a.m. so it's time for Whoopi.
Goldberg, that is.
Boy, I bet she's never heard that joke before.
My sad humour is part of my sheepish attempt to find justification for watching The View on weekday mornings. I'm not a regular or anything but I like tuning in from time to time after my girls head off to work and school, watching the Eastern time zone feed rather than waiting for it at 11 a.m.
I never watch long enough to see the guests. I just like Hot Topics.
There's something wonderful about being the passive male viewer watching four brassy, opinionated women arguing with each other over the issues of the day.
On Tuesday morning, Elisabeth Hasselbeck mixed it up with the other three women over politics. For background, guys may know Hasselbeck from her stint as a contestant on the Australian outback edition of "Survivor" or that she's married to career backup NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck (Matt Hasselbeck, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback, is her brother-in-law). She's also known for her right-wing political views, including a speech at the 2004 Republican convention.
She briefly praised "the war hero" John McCain for his clear message since his signs say simply McCain on them. She then started in on Hillary Clinton ("her signs say Hillary -- is she ashamed of being a Clinton?") and Barack Obama ("He has change written large and his name is almost invisible. I think change is just too vague.") The other women mostly listened until she said Obama seems to want to "change America."
Both Goldberg and co-host Sherri Shepherd, who is also a black comedienne, jumped on Hasselbeck.
"I was with you most of the way, until you said that," Goldberg said. "Obama doesn't want to change America, he wants a change from George Bush."
After 11 years on the air, it still seems fresh and new and even a little risky to turn on the television on a weekday morning to hear smart, engaged women argue about politics and gender issues.
When former New York governor Eliot Spitzer was busted for his trysts with high-priced prostitutes, another of The View co-hosts, Joy Behar, fired with both barrels.
"Viagra is destroying our government," she charged to laughter from the audience. "Aren't you sick of men? I mean, I'm tired of men and their sexual proclivities."
Isn't that great? I'm particularly fond of it because no guy could ever go on the air and say "aren't you sick of women? I mean, I'm tired of women and their sexual hang-ups/constant nagging/thinking with their hearts and not their heads (or whatever condescending stereotype you would like)."
Leading into Hasselbeck's rant, The View women pointed out a similar double-standard. Apparently a fellow showed up at a Hillary event with a sign that read, "Iron my clothes." Goldberg complained how that's somehow OK, but there's no way you could ever have someone hold up a sign to Obama that said, "Shine my shoes."
As I often do when watching The View, I started debating the TV.
"Dude," I said as if the women could hear me, "you want a wealthy lawyer and career politician to iron your clothes? She'll wreck them, brother. Go ask your mom, moron. It's her penance for being stupid enough to raise you."
Whoopi asked me to come back after the commercial for more Hot Topics, but I couldn't.
I had dishes to do, laundry to fold and a house to vacuum.
Neil Godbout is The Citizen's news editor.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 October 2008 )
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