War makes strange couchfellows:
(from the L.A. Times)
….On Monday’s show, O’Donnell complained that conservative critics had twisted what she said by claiming that she called the troops “terrorists.” She asked Hasselbeck if she thought O’Donnell believed the soldiers were terrorists. Rather than answer, Hasselbeck urged her to clarify what she had meant, at which point O’Donnell reiterated her support for the troops.
On Wednesday, O’Donnell initially appeared reluctant to be dragged into the debate again.
“Because here’s how it gets spun in the media: ‘Rosie, big fat lesbian loud Rosie, attacks innocent pure Christian Elisabeth,’ ” she said.
Hasselbeck called that “unfair,” adding: “I just don’t understand why it’s my fault if people spin words that you put out there or phrases that suggest things. And I gave you an opportunity two days ago to clarify the statement that got you in trouble on all those things.”
“That got me in trouble?” O’Donnell repeated sarcastically. “As a friend, you gave me the opportunity. That was very sweet of you. I was asking if you, who actually knows me, do you believe I think our troops are terrorists, Elisabeth?”
Hasselbeck hesitated.
“Do you believe that, yes or no?” O’Donnell pressed.
Hasselbeck raised her finger in the air. “Excuse me. Let me speak.”
“You’re going to doublespeak,” O’Donnell said. “It’s just a yes or a no.”
“I am not a double speaker, and I don’t put suggestions out there that lead people to think things and then not answer my own question, OK?” Hasselbeck shot back. “I don’t believe that you believe troops are terrorists. I have said that before. But when you say something like 650,000 Iraqis are dead, we invaded them … “
“It’s true!” O’Donnell responded.
“Let me finish!” Hasselbeck said.
“You don’t like facts!” O’Donnell retorted.
Hasselbeck’s tone grew angrier: “I am all about facts. You know that. You tell me not to use facts because you want me to go only on emotion. Guess what? I like facts.”
As the tone grew more heated, Behar and guest co-host Sherri Shepherd fidgeted uncomfortably and finally pretended to get up from the table to break the tension.
But the two kept at it, and the producers switched to a split screen to showcase their back-and-forth.
O’Donnell said she was hurt that Hasselbeck didn’t defend her.
“I am certainly not going to be the person for you to explain your thoughts,” Hasselbeck retorted, pointing her finger at her co-host. “They’re your thoughts. Defend your own insinuations! Defend your own thoughts!”
“Frankly, every time I defend them, it’s poor little Elisabeth that I’m picking on,” O’Donnell responded. “That’s why I’m not going to fight with you anymore, because it’s absurd. So for three weeks, you can say all the Republican crap that you want. I’m not going to do it.”
“It’s much easier to fight someone like Donald Trump, isn’t it?” Hasselbeck spat, alluding to O’Donnell’s much-publicized feud with the real estate magnet. “Because he’s obnoxious.”
The audience oohed in surprise and O’Donnell looked shocked.
“I think it’s sad because I don’t understand how there can be such hurt feelings when all I did was say, ‘Look, why don’t you tell everybody what you said?’ ” Hasselbeck continued. “I did that as a friend.”
“Every day since September I have told you that I support the troops,” O’Donnell shot back. “I asked you if you believed what the Republican pundits were saying. You said nothing, and that’s cowardly.”
“No, no, no!” Hasselbeck said furiously. “You will not call me a coward, because No. 1, I sit here every single day, open my heart and tell people exactly what I believe.”
“So do I!” O’Donnell said.
“Do not call me a coward, Rosie.”
“It was cowardly.”
“It was not cowardly, it was honest.”
Behar broke in: “Is there no commercial in this show?”
Hasselbeck continued: “I’ll tell you what’s cowardly. Asking a rhetorical question that you never answer yourself. That is cowardly.”
Behar had had enough. “Who is directing this show?” she said. “Let’s go to commercial!” …
Behar and Sheperd were visibly uncomfortable, but I imagine the show would have broken for an ad sooner had Barbara Walters been on today. Rosie’s off tomorrow, but Friday…?
BCB
It’s about time too!! I was so proud of Elizabeth and her lovely display of forensic skills! I have never, ever seen anyone cause Rosie’s big, fat, round, wide-opened mouth to just hand open…yet, wordless!
I’ve been waiting for this day for a year, and I’ve always known that if Elizabeth ever unsheathed her sword, Humpty Dumpty Rosie would come crashing down simple because she doesn’t have near the intellect, education, and especially CLASS that Mrs. Hasselback does.
Brrrraavvoooo! Bravo!
onemorecup:
Thanks for weighing in. Too bad the ladies were pre-empted today by a presidential press conference. I’ll be on the road for the holiday when they return, but I’ll get a blow-by-blow from someone.
BCB
onemorecup, I don’t know why you believe that calling Rosie big, fat, round makes your point. Do you side with Elizabeth because she is thin or because she is a Christian Fascist. I think the latter.
It is amazing that a dogma that prevents our troops getting adequate health care, adequate supplies in the field, denies them a pay raise and hides them when they get wounded or die then on top of that calls them unAmerican if they want to get out of an illegal police action where they are forced to kill men, women, children and babies then you dare claim you support the troops! The only person your fooling is perhaps yourself.
Shame on you.
Amen Sovereign John:
The Bush Administration has used the well-intentioned National Guard and Reserves in Iraq the same way they pimped the Christian Right at home. And the country is no “safer” (see my post above entitled “Homeland Secure?”).
BCB
A morning talk show has never made me so uncomfortable. I’m one who hates confrontation no matter if I’m involved in it or witnessing it. It was disgusting the way the director put them up on a split screen. The only point that was clearly made was that the director and producers only care about the ratings and not about the people in front of the cameras or the emotional turmoil they both are going through over this whole fiasco. I feel terrible for Rosie and admittedly less for Elisabeth given the topic and the lame retort Mrs. Hasslebeck offered. We are terrorists in the eyes of an Iraqi child who witnessed her home destroyed by bombs and who held her mother’s hand as she died. The fact that Elisabeth couldn’t for even a moment put herself in an Iraqi’s shoes goes to show what a close minded Republican robot she is. It was astonishing to watch.
I couldn’t believe my eyes nor ears. It was as gross as it was mesmerizing. The directors and producers clearly approved of the conflict and you could imagine them skipping around in the control room in Great-TV glee.
That said, Elizabeth actually held her own and Rosie got it in the teeth for once. I don’t think too highly of Lizzie’s views, but Rosie can be such a loudmouth bully. Rosie only has one gear: belligerence.
[...] Rosie and Elisabeth: The Transcript War makes strange couchfellows: (from the L.A. Times) ….On Monday’s show, O’Donnell complained that […] [...]
krymsonrayne:
While I empathize with your discomfort for confrontation, verbal disagreement is part of human nature (and beats the heck out of coming to blows). The production staff did let the fight run without cutting away because it’s deemed good t.v. (and great water cooler buzz the next day)- because I’m sure Barbara Walters must have called in at some point during the 10 minutes and asked for a pullaway. That phone call was ignored.
That said, not facing up to difference of opinion, or confrontation, doesn’t make it disappear. Shows like Bill Maher’s “Real Time” (and his cancelled “Politically Incorrect”) encourage it, as do the British Parliament, and Canadian prime ministerial debates (the latter in which candidates are allowed to interrupt).
The more dialogue about the invasion and failed occupation, the better. The president doesn’t like confrontation either- ask Cindy Sheehan.
BCB
onemorecup: why is it the overwhelming majority of O’Donnell naysayers pop off easy “fat” shots in their posts? You’re arming yourself with the intellectual equivalent of a cap gun when you do that.
“Unsheathed sword?” Uh huh. Headline: ***Hasselbeck skewers O’Donnell with plastic cocktail sword pick!***
BCB: Joy Behar initiated a rant on Dubya and his staff. It’s not part of your posted transcript, but it is what eventually triggered the most recent Hasselbeck-O’Donnell showdown. Behar would undoubtedly enjoy some spotlighting, but media spin has made her all but invisible.
O’Donnell and Shepard maintained a long stretch of silence while Behar spoke her mind. Hasselbeck, however, continuously interrupted the comedian. Behar was clearly frustrated by Hasselbeck’s typical ferret-on-a-double-espresso form. Some of the “visible discomfort” you noted on Behar’s end may have been a result of being pissed-off because her argument was hijacked.
And, yeah, onemorecup, your lovely forensic scientist started it by virtue of her inability to keep her tongue behind her teeth long enough to allow another host ten seconds of uninterrupted speech. You’d have to be a saint not to want to interject and shut the featherbrain up.
Why do O’Donnell and the other hosts who are critical of Dubya’s regime receive greater live audience support while Hasselbeck’s sputterings get next to no applause? Seems there’s really no debate on that noteworthy end as to who is right, wrong and most popular.
hgrim:
Yes, Joy Behar did initiate the debate by reading off a laundry list of reasons to unseat President Bush, and when Elisabeth talked over her a few times, Joy told her, “I let you talk yesterday.”
BCB
I think they are both self-centered windbags.
hgrim, the audience reaction is only a reflection of the fans of the personalities. There are more rosie fans in the audience, hence more hooting over her antics. Same thing goes for the daily show, etc. The audience is made up of like-minded people, so it is not necessarily a reflection of the general populace (tho, on the topic of Bush, he’s obviously unpopular with most right now).
Actually, I should just keep on walking except that is precisely the problem we have in America right now—apathy, contentment, and plain laziness.
Having said that the best possible way to illustrate the events of “Nuclear Wednesday” as Ms. O’Donnell now calls it is to look at what was said by all parties. It is a tribute to use other people’s words and in this case, Rosie, hgrim, and Sovereign John, all of you get top billing.
First, Sovereign John: Look up in the actual transcript please; how does Rosie describe herself? If I use her words, does that make me something other than paraphrasing her own words? Actually, I thought I was being much kinder. As for the other rubbish…save the judgment stuff for those who want it. I don’t; you don’t know me and have never seen me, yet in your ignorance you tell me how I am. Go figure.
Second, hgrim: Forensics by definition is the practice and study of argumentation; study of formal debate or legal proceedings for argumentation; I bring this forth only because your immature insinuation of “my little forensic scientist…” again shows magnificently just uninformed you are. You refer to forensics like “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”
What really bugs me is how a perfectly formed debate between two people (Rosie v. Elisabeth) turns into a political platform for anyone and everyone who hates Bush, or has some problems with others’ belief systems, i.e., Christianity. Rosie pulled this ploy against Elisabeth and got shot down. Why is it that when people who don’t curse, support our troops, and do good things for others, are suddenly “Christians” or “on the right”? Religion and politics never ever get discussed at a party. Oh yeah, sex too, but I dare mention that in this forum.
onemorecup:
Thx. f/ weighing in again.
If sex isn’t discussed, perhaps you’re attending the wrong parties. As for people who don’t curse, support our troops, et al, being labeled “Christians”, some might feel as strongly that people who oppose war, salute the flag, and treasure family values cannot be churchgoers themselves. Others may ask, why is it often assumed by pundits and pollsters that if an individual wishes to preserve the environment, grant women reproductive choice, and reform handgun laws they don’t believe in a Higher Power.
The sword of stereotype cuts both ways (and for every O’Donnell or Sarandon in Hollywood, there is a Mel Gibson, Charlton Heston, or Gov. Schwarzenegger).
BCB