The talk turns to the dastardly Fox News, which gave a good review to Michael Moore’s new movie about the American health care system but just can’t get a break in regards to it’s coverage of Rosie.

***

Elisabeth: See I told you Fox was fair and balanced
Rosie: Did you watch what they said about me? Did you watch them this weekend?
Elisabeth: I was away for the weekend
Rosie: They said “Rosie O’Donnell thinks our troops are terrorists.”
Elisabeth: Hmm
Rosie: What do you think about that?
Joy: They said something like that on MSNBC too
Rosie: Did you watch it?
Elisabeth: No I didn’t watch this weekend- No I wasn’t here this weekend because I was in Boston with my brother
Rosie: But you were here when we talked about it. So do you think that that’s what I was saying in that conversation?
Elisabeth: Were they referring to- I’m trying to go back to the conversation
Rosie: Here’s what they said: “Rosie O’Donnell thinks our troops are terrorists”
Elisabeth: Is that because you asked the question “Who are the terrorists if 655,000 Iraqis are dead after we came in there and invaded a sovereign nation? I’m just trying to
Rosie: Yeah, that was the conversation
Elisabeth: maybe that they drew the link there- I don’t know
Rosie: They drew the link or they misrepresented what I said in order to twist it to make it seem what they want

***

People should go back and listen to what she said. She absolutely implied the American presence in Iraq represents terrorism to the Iraqi people. Rosie refuses to acknowledge that the terrorism in Iraq is instigated at the hands of the fundamentalist Muslims who want the US to leave so they can regain control of the country. American forces are not torturing and killing Iraqi civilians at the direction of George Bush. In fact, our troops are dying and getting injured because they are trying to clear the roads to protect the Iraqi civilians. Our troops are trying to safeguard the Iraqi government, which was elected by those innocent civilians. Our troops are trying to train the Iraqi police and military to defend Iraq from the insurgents who are acting on behalf of neighboring countries who fear freedom will take root in Iraq and thrive. (Rosie- Have you heard of Iran? Or Syria?)

They go on:

***

Elisabeth: So, so I would clarify it to them now because you have the opportunity cause I did read that a lot of people were thinking that you said that
Rosie: So you want me to say it again?
Elisabeth: Answer your own question
Rosie: I just think that it’s interesting that the network you support takes such joy in twisting my words and distorting them. I do no think our American troops are terrorists. I want our American troops home, able-bodied. I don’t want them to invade countries that have done nothing to us. I don’t want them to die at the hands of a republican administration that doesn’t care enough about them to give them healthcare (her finger up, shushing Elisabeth) when they return. I love our troops and will work for our troops and no matter what you say (several words were silenced) that’s the truth Change it around as you want
Elisabeth: Rosie, when you say, when you asked the question when you pose that question – what is the answer to that question then? Who are the terrorists?

***

Apparently, Rosie can not answer her own question because if she did, she would have to say what she thinks- which is
that this Republican administration is a terrorist group and that troops who are republican are terrorists and then by de facto reasoning, republicans in general who support the administration are terrorists. Rosie absolutely is clear in what she says- she just wants to say it in a convoluted way so that she can’t be quoted directly.

Many of the troops believe in what they are doing. They are not dying at the hands of a republican administration.

Her reference to the problems at the Veterans Administration hospitals point out a decades long problem that continues to worsen. She is right that the troops deserve better. The problem is that the government can not effectively run any program well. The issues at the VA should cause Americans to seriously think about what a government run healthcare program could be like. And they should vote against any candidate who wants to federalize healthcare.

Barbara wants to salvage the discussion. She should have left well-enough alone:

***

Barbara: Can I just say something because I listened the other day and I think that sometimes you are confusing the word terrorist, because you said “who are terrorists?” implying that the terrorists could be us, terrorists could be someone. What you really mean, I think, is “jihadists.” We are talking about a particular group of people
Rosie: I am talking about a word “Terrorism” that the administration has used to terrify this country
Elisabeth: No
Rosie: They are terrorizing Americans by using the word terror and taking away our civil liberties
Elisabeth: All countries, all nations, use the word terrorist to describe those who in the name of Allah will blow someone else up will blow children up
BW: Those are jihadists

***

Rosie was not confusing anything, and Barbara should not try to put words into her mouth because she will only dig the hole deeper.

Rosie now defensively tries to explain that the administration has totally over reacted to the threat of terrorism and that the administration is trying to manipulate the American populous by over stating the threat of fundamentalist Muslim extremists.

Please be clear that Rosie will be the first person in line to criticize those fear-mongering Republicans if they fail to stop a terrorist attack. Rosie wants it both ways. She wants to be blissfully ignorant of the problems but totally protected from any consequences of the policies she would like to push on the American electorate.

Does this remind anyone of the time when she helped organize the several thousand moms to march on Washington DC to protest gun ownership but had a bodyguard who carried a gun to protect her and her family? She didn’t need a gun, personally. She had enough money to hire a bodyguard to carry her weapon. Bodyguards having guns is very different from individuals having a gun.

Rosie is unable to defend her logic. She is unable to answer the question she poses because she will have to reveal her true feelings, which run counter to the beliefs of the vast majority of the American people. While there are many who don’t support the war in Iraq, very few people would ever say that our troops, or the Republican administration, are comparable to terrorists.

***

Elisabeth: Those are jihadists, they are extremists. Islamists who are trying to use their religion to justify killing hundreds of thousands –but when you ask
Rosie: All I am saying is do you not think that we have killed hundreds of thousands?

***

Again, Rosie can not accept that the terrorists are killing the innocent Iraqi civilians. If only Elisabeth could articulate this point. She tries to cull Rosie’s lack of reason for some kernel of logic:

***

Elisabeth: In the name of what?
Rosie: Invading Iraq
Elisabeth: So are you then calling us terrorists?
Rosie: No, I just said it Elisabeth. Are you not able to hold two concepts at once? Do you think we are only

***

This is a new low for Rosie. She is calling Elisabeth stupid. Rosie refuses to answer Elisabeth’s question and then belittles Elisabeth for being tenacious about wanting an answer. Elisabeth actually shows some serious backbone:

***
Elisabeth: I can hold more than two actually. I can hold more than two if you would like me to. I would like you to hold the idea that there are people out there named terrorists
Rosie: There are pregnant women in Iraq just like you and I will speak for them and you
Elisabeth: They are not terrorists. They are nice women
Rosie: So we shouldn’t be over there killing them
Elisabeth: So are we terrorists for being there?
BW: That’s a different story than saying Americans are terrorists
Rosie: But I didn’t say it. You know who said it- those crappy cable shows said it. The ones Elisabeth watches. Those shows
Elisabeth: I watch all cable news, number one. I watch all of them because that’s part of my job and as an American citizen I try to broaden as many concepts as possible by watching all of those news programs. Okay. I do obviously like certain shows – I’ll throw them out if you want me to- Like Hannity and Colmes- they are one of my favorites because they hold debates, they hold debates on that show and that is like what we do here only you know we have four women and I think it is special here but to say that someone can’t hold two thoughts at the same time just because I believe in terrorism when there are democrats out there running for office who don’t want to believe in terrorism and they want to treat it like the boogeyman. How are they going to protect us (from) something that they don’t believe in

***

Thank goodness for those crappy cable shows (i.e. all the shows on the Fox News Channel) that hold people like O’Donnell accountable. Rosie wants a total pass on her behavior and can’t accept responsibility for either her behavior or her language. Rosie does think that many Americans act like terrorists and her comments have clearly been in support of that position.

***

Rosie: You’re treating it like the boogeyman. I think they have used it to polarize people
E: Have you seen them? Have you seen footage?
BW: There are people, there are jihadists whose life work, and will die for it, is primarily to attack the west.
Rosie: So when Ron Paul says “Why is that?” Do we have any role in that Barbara? Why is that? He’s asking the question
BW: We cannot go back to the mistakes we made at the beginning of the war. We have to learn from that. But that does not mean that there is a whole body of jihadists, not necessarily Muslim, you cannot say that, of jihadists whose life and death is wiping out the west
Rosie: But they’re not innocent civilians in Iraq. There are innocent civilians in Iraq
Elisabeth: of course there are
BW: But they’ve killed innocent civilians in other places. Look what is happening in Iraq- I think everybody believes is horrific and we don’t know how to get out of it but that does not mean that there are not jihadists, terrorists, who are out to harm us and we must be aware of it.
Joy: But when people say that people like Jimmy Carter are irrelevant or Ron Paul are irrelevant, that’s wrong too. We must look at Mideast policy over the last 25 years and that’s what we are talking about too. Name-calling is irrelevant at this point. That’s what’s irrelevant.
Rosie: And I love the troops America. Like it or not I want them home safe

***

Rosie is on a rant that does nothing but demonstrate her inability to be rational in her arguments on the View. She should stop quoting Ron Paul- the guy is a bit of a nut- and begin having a dialogue with actual troops in Iraq. They may know better what the truth is in Iraq.

Also, a note for Joy: We should go back just slightly longer than 25 years when we consider policy options available to the United States in regards to the Middle East. We should be sure to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of Jimmy Carter’s presidency if for no other reason to be sure that we don't repeat his mistakes.

To all of the women: Listen to Elisabeth. She understands the threat we face from the terrorists. I will use the word "terrorists"  because that is what they are.

I know that the threat posed by these radical fundamentalists is the greatest threat to the world in our history.  

By the way:  I love the troops and want them home as soon as safely possible.