Far left liberals will NEVER acknowledge that Bill Clinton brought his problems on by engaging in reprehensible behavior in the People’s house, lying about it under oath and encouraging others to lie about it, so as to influence the results of a lawsuit against him in regards to another episode of reprehensible behavior.

Joy’s contention is that if Linda Tripp had kept her mouth shut Bill Clinton wouldn’t have been distracted. Elisabeth responded with “operative words: mouth shut” meaning if Monica had kept her mouth shut…

Bill Clinton’s problems as President were not the fault of “snitch” Linda Tripp- although it is nice to have someone to blame.

The brilliant Goldie throws out her contention that it is crazy that people get so upset about Clinton’s behavior in the White House. She thinks it is naïve for people to think he was the first person to engage in this behavior in the oval office. She’s right- the other darling of the left, John F. Kennedy, couldn’t keep his pants on either.

People who turn in criminals are not snitches they are responsible citizens. They all agree, and they are right, that Americans need to pay attention to what happens around them and if they see something suspicious, report it immediately.

It would seem hard to be critical of the government’s handling of the foiled plot but just give Rosie a minute to undermine the success of the capture:

***

Joy: They foiled a plot in New Jersey. These guys were going to blow up our soldiers at Fort Dix and it was like a home grown type of terror cell. They did not have connections to Al Qaeda as far as they could see. These are guys who just want to you know do something for Allah as they said. It was great work done by an American Citizen who worked in a video store who happened to blow the whistle – there’s a difference between a snitch and a whistleblower.
Rosie: Yes, indeed
Joy: This is a whistleblower who called the FBI, I guess, and told them look – you better look into this and they caught the guys
Elisabeth: They were able to use post 9/11 techniques to really just surveille and be able to bust this whole group up
Rosie: How many were arrested, do we know?
Joy: 6 or 7
Elisabeth: 6
Rosie: Do you remember in London when they shut all the traffic down in London and they arrested those 23 guys.
Joy & Elisabeth: Yeah
Rosie: Do you know how many of them were ever charged with a crime?
GH: No
Rosie: 5
GH: Oh my G-d
Joy: Well these guys are bad guys. I mean I am sort of
Elisabeth: If you have to arrest 23 to get 5 do it. If you have to, I am just saying otherwise would have gotten the 5?
Joy: What did he say to you? (I think someone is feeding them info into their earpieces and now Joy is confused.)
Rosie: But Elisabeth- they charged 5- 5 were found guilty. 23 were arrested but you know I am saying these guys, it sounds like we got ‘em but in America, what’s the motto
Elisabeth (sounding fatigued): What is the motto?
Rosie: Innocent until proven guilty even if you are an Arab
Elisabeth: For everyone- apparently there is some pretty strong evidence against these 6 men
Joy: But if they got 5 out of 23, good

***

Rosie’s comparison of the arrest of 6 men in New Jersey to Britain’s capture of 23 men is a pathetic example of her distrust of America. Britain arrested 23 men in a big net to foil a terror plot. Out of the 23, they were able to convict 5. We don’t know why 18 were let go or found to be free of guilt. Were they in the wrong place at the wrong time? Was there a lack of evidence? There may be many reasons that we don’t know.

Does Rosie think everyone who gets arrested is charged with a crime? It is not uncommon for people to be arrested on suspicion of committing a crime or because there is a concern they are involved in a conspiracy to commit a crime. This is part of an investigatory process.

Ironically, Rosie may have proven the opposite of her suggestion. Perhaps the very fact that our government only arrested 6 people is actually evidence of it's effort to only arrest those people they knew were involved in the plot. Perhaps our government purposely used a smaller net to appease people like Rosie. We have to hope that they didn’t avoid a larger scale arrest at the expense of the safety of the American people.

If an associate of this group pulls off an attack in the future, Rosie will be the first in line to criticize the government for letting one get away.

Goldie Hawn, guest host

While she didn't mention the program by name, Goldie Hawn has established the Goldie Hawn Institute, "a vibrant center for the exploration,development and practice of sustainable mindfulness education for all children of the world."

Goldie has worked with a group of people to develop a curriculum to help kids turn their lives around. They have implemented the 12 week curriculum in 15 schools in British Columbia.

***
GH: These kids who were the worst kids in the class literally stopped seeing the principle at lunch.

She goes on: The program in mindfulness is you learn to breathe, you learn to center, there are centering strategies, these are focus awareness. So when you teach them to sit, you teach them to breathe what happens is, which is interesting, this is absolutely not, this is not secular, this is something that has to do with science- it changes neuropathways to the brain. It thickens the prefrontal cortex and the prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that actually thinks- the executive part. So when a kid literally gets to watch their thoughts instead of be their thoughts then they can sit there and breathe and feel some wonderful sense of well-being. Ready the mind for learning; correct inter-personal relationships, monitor, self-monitor their emotions, their anger. All of this happens when you just get them seated down

****

Hold on! Does she think if we just make kids sit down and breathe, all the troubles will just fall away! Wow! This won’t even cost money- deep breathing is a totally free activity. Maybe we should demand that in school across the U.S. require kids to sit and breathe before every class. Anything that might work would be worth a try.

Additionally, I was confused, or maybe she is confused, about this not being a secular program. I think it must be secular. Religion doesn’t seem to have anything to do with her curriculum. I don’t know if she understands the term secular or if she misspoke. Her muddled comments about this not being secular and being about science and impacting on the brain development were really disorganized.

One might think she would have a prepared shpiel to offer about this program.

The women went on:

***

Elisabeth: And do you think this will kind of counter the world that we’re in now where kids are on medications earlier and earlier now in schools
GH: No question-I think kids are put on medication- do you know the kids at risk, the most kids at risk are the kids the children of affluence
Joy: Why is that?
GH: The only supposition, which is you can figure I don’t know the answer completely except that I would imagine that you’ve got two parents that are basically going to work. You have both of them that are stretching. They are not paying enough attention to the children. The focus is that I have enough money so I have somebody to take care of the kids so I don’t have to come home. And then the kids feel hopeless because they’re not going make the same kind of money- there’s a hopeless sense about them
Joy: But poor kids have parents who both have to work also
GH: But what’s interesting is they have chores so they have resiliency
Rosie: And you learn lessons through hardships.

***

I have a different theory: Kids know when their parents have to work. They may not like it, but they understand it. Poor and middle class kids whose parents work don’t have to figure out why their parents aren’t with them. Those parents often don’t have a choice and most kids are smart enough to understand that.

Kids raised in affluence often have a totally different experience. Their parents no longer have to work- they choose to go to work instead of be with their kids. For those affluent families who have the luxury of not having both parents work, the kids are often left with a nanny. Some of these children spend almost all of their waking hours outside of school with a nanny while their parents may be off traveling, playing tennis or golf at some overly expensive country club or doing whatever else really wealthy people do to get out of the house.

If only these parents could begin to understand that every time they go on a two week vacation without their kids, they send a message to those kids about their relationship. Every time those parents choose to spend an entire weekend day golfing without their kids, they send a message to their kids about where their priorities lie. This doesn’t mean that parents can’t leave their children. It does mean that parents should at least consider spending less time away from their kids and more time without a nanny.

Kids want their parents to put them first. When kids realize they aren’t at the top of their parent’s list, their sense of importance is diminished.

No set of chores will help a wealthy kid feel valued by their parents.

They went on to discuss how great it was that Hawn and her family moved to Vancouver to help her son Wyatt play hockey. Vancouver is apparently wonderful- people there live an alternative lifestyle, they are normal, they’re not into the fake- it’s fabulous. These sorts of comments always interest me.

If Hawn had moved to International Falls, MN she would also find that people aren’t into all that Hollywood whatever it is. The same holds true in Grand Forks, ND and almost every other city on America. If people in Hollywood don’t like the phoniness of that culture, leave and commute to work. People do not have to move to Canada to find wonderful people in wonderful communities.

Elisabeth went to the white tie dinner at the White House. The best part of the night? A photo with the President and Queen.

Unfortunately, Elisabeth didn’t raise any of Rosie’s concerns with the President- there just wasn’t time. She reported however, that the President did give her a little pat on her back with a “good job” in the receiving line.

***

Rosie doing a Bush impression, shrugging her shoulders up and down: Sure. “you say I do everything right even when I don’t- hahaha”

***

She should work on her impressions. As they continued talking, Joy had to throw in a jab at the Bush twins:

***

Joy: Jenna and Barbara- also known as J & B

***

Her reference to J & B, a whiskey, serves to belittle the girls.

It is true that the twins, while in college, were caught drinking, on occasion. I am guessing this would be true of the vast majority of college kids in America, who are probably thankful paparazzi don’t follow them around chronicling their every move.

The last couple of years the twins have led quiet lives, choosing to stay out of the spotlight. Jenna has taught in a public school and is currently in Latin America working for UNICEF. She has a book coming out this fall about a young single mom from Panama who has HIV. All of her profits from the book will be donated to UNICEF.

Barbara Bush works at a museum in New York. Before taking that job, she volunteered with AIDS patients at clinics in Africa and South Africa.

These two young women, who do their best to stay out of the public eye while using their skills in very respectable professions, deserve better than to be the butt of Joy’s pathetic and old joke.

While the Bush twins work to improve the world, Chelsea Clinton is raking in the dough at a Hedge Fund.

*********************

Paris is going to jail- so sad for her.

96% of people want to see the pampered Paris in stripes.

On drinking and driving:

Joy’s solution: Put a breathalyzer in every car and require people to blow in it to start the car.

Sure, let’s pursue a policy that punishes the 99% of the people who behave to pursue the false hope that drunks will be deterred by a mechanism that can be fooled by having another person breathe into it on their behalf.

A better solution: First offense, confiscate the car and sell it, giving proceeds to charity benefiting the victims of drunk driving and a minimum jail term of one year. 2^nd offense: minimum of 5 years in jail. 3^rd offense: plan on staying in jail for the remainder.

The only way to deal with drunks, disease or no disease, is with the threat of harsh consequences. Jail may not solve the problem, but at least those particular drunks will be off the streets.

********************

Boarding School

Rosie is not talking to a friend who is sending her child to boarding school.

Sarah Ferguson asked her the location of the boarding school. Rosie’s response: “It’s not in her house.”

Rosie also doesn’t support sleep-over camps. Day camp is fine. College is the time for kids to fly the coop.

Surprisingly, Rosie and I are in complete agreement about this- kids belong at home with parents who know where they are and what they are doing.

On the Republican debate:

All eyes are on the "Republican" Strategist, who giggles at Barbara’s labeling of her.

When asked if she thought there were any winners, Barbara didn’t let her answer. Instead, she had to explain why the fact that Republicans still focus on abortion is problematic in 2007.

Holmes then shows her strong Republican leanings (whatever):

Holmes: It’s a passional, emotional issue for both sides, for both the Democratic party carrying the pro-choice torch and the Republicans carrying the pro-life torch and we have the Supreme Court in the balance but as of Thursday what I thought was most interesting and sort of a little frustrating- I like Giuliani, I’m pro-choice- ya know I think he is America’s mayor but when it came

BW: You’re a republican, pro-choice

Holmes: Well I’m actually a registered Independent but I worked for Bill Frist for three years so I did work for the Republican Party. Ah, but to see how uncomfortable Giuliani was at this stage of the game with issues of faith- even as someone who is not that religious this guy, I wanted to tell him like get in a church go to a big mega church in the mid-west or a Baptist barbeque down south

Joy: Because you won’t win without that

Holmes: Right, exactly

***

Where to begin…

At last the truth came out: She (Amy Holmes) is not a Republican. She may not really even be conservative. She is an “independent” which means she doesn’t want to let anyone know what she really thinks. She also is pro-choice and a big fan of Giuliani.

Next, the Democrats do carry the pro-choice torch but most Democrats don’t support the positions of the far left groups who run the party. Most Americans (probably most Democrats as well) would be comfortable limiting abortion after the first trimester. The far left couldn’t even accept the Partial Birth Abortion Ban and now are railing against the recent Supreme Court decision upholding that legislation.

The Republicans carry the pro-life torch but many Republicans acknowledge the reality that there is no way to get rid of all first term abortions. The best that can be hoped for today is that our government limits its availability, particularly in the first trimester of a women’s pregnancy. Many Republicans have begun to pursue the incremental victories in the abortion war as a way to turn people’s hearts on this issue. Many Republicans also believe that state governments should have the authority to regulate or not regulate on this issue and the federal government (and the Supreme Court) should stay out of the battle.

The Supreme Court doesn’t hang in the balance between the two political parties. More accurately it often stands at odds with the other branches of government. The Supreme Court creates the crosshairs by deciding an issue in a way that goes beyond its jurisdiction. The Supreme Court creates a mess when it oversteps in order to push a political ideology.

The Supreme Court has overstepped for decades. We have only just begun to minimize the damage done. With hard work and perseverance, the Supreme Court can affirm the Constitution and reclaim the meaning behind the text.

In the meantime, let’s hope that Holmes ceases pretending to be a Republican. The View doesn’t need more moderate liberals on the show. The View needs some strong Republicans to show up and make sure the Republican Party positions are front and center, being explained properly. That sort of show would be well watched and would help to educate people about what each party stands for over time.

Celebrity Idiots:

Paris Hilton:

Paris is going to jail- why would anyone feel sorry for this woman? She is an absolutely ridiculous woman who can not take responsibility for her behavior. She was warned and she ignored the rules. She believes she is above the law.

They should be sure she serves the entire 45 days.

The Century Regional Detention Facility for Women is in for fun. Maybe they could make some money by letting her film a few episodes of “The Simple Life” with Nicole Ritchie in the facility. It could be as great as Johnny Cash from Folsom prison. (by the way, she should have to pay for her incarceration. All criminals, to the extent they are able, should pay for their prison keep.

David Hasselhoff:

He told his daughter, who is 16 years old, to videotape him if he ever drank again. Lucky for him she is obedient. The video shows him at his worst in a drunken stupor. When she asks him why he does this he answers “I’m lonely” in a slurred voice. Perhaps he should have thought about that before filing for divorce from his wife.

Maybe watching this video will help him realize how serious this is and he will seek the help he needs to stay sober. When asked about the incident he replied he was in recovery and a part of recovery is relapse.

Interesting… I thought the point of recovery was to stay in recovery. Relapse is a failure of recovery.

The fact that he is trying to minimize the incident should be a red flag to the people in his life that he isn’t really “recovering” very successfully.

The women then go on to discuss his issue:

***

Rosie: He has the disease of alcoholism. It is a disease.
Joy: Of course
Rosie: So you know he has this disease and he had a relapse and in order to try to encourage him to stay sober he told his daughter to do this
Joy: All rehabilitation has a relapse
Rosie: It’s true mostly

***

When will this lunacy end? If alcohol and drug addiction are a disease then we should acknowledge that all the treatment in the world doesn’t matter. If it is a disease that can not be controlled then we should just be honest about it and demand these people all be placed in half-way houses where their behavior can be monitored and we can protect them from themselves. We should more regularly consider terminating their parental rights because children deserve better than this. If these celebrities were poor people, they would have child protection knocking on their doors and taking these kids from them.

If alcoholism is a disease that can be managed behaviorally, then we should demand that people, especially those with children, control their behavior. If their behavior can be controlled then the expectation must be that people control it.

If we start from the premise that everyone in recovery will relapse, we are creating an acceptance of the relapse.

This unwillingness to hold addicts accountable for their behavior has got to stop. People should be expected to take whatever steps necessary to control destructive behavior that interferes with their ability to maintain family relationships and/ or employment.

One would think these celebrities could just hire someone to keep them from drinking or behaving in all of the ways they do. It would seem like that would be a good investment for a growing number of them.

***

BW: You know in the Time magazine list that came out I guess today of the 100 most influential people in the world- Rosie is one of them. And the headline – and I wrote the love letter underneath- but anyways what it says under her picture is something like “The Lady Who Loves To Fight” something like that
Rosie: I don’t really love to fight. I just think you know a woman’s voice needed to be heard on network TV so I came and said my peace

****

Last week Rosie made a similar comment in reference to why the show hadn’t won an Emmy. Joy was clearly offended but Barbara went off on her:

***

Joy: Wait a second
BW: Just a second-We had nine years on the air when women’s voices were heard
Joy: What am I? A transvestite?
BW: What are we- chopped liver? For nine years we were on the air.
Rosie: I am just saying you have to admit I kicked it up fight-wise, right?
Joy: That’s true
Rosie: I kicked it up a notch- that’s all I meant. I don’t mean it to be insulting. It sounds insulting but I don’t mean it to be.

***

This is the real Rosie coming through. Her message seems to be that they are weak minded and unwilling to fight about principles. She sees herself as the person who has saved the show.

Ultimately, I do not think she will shed a tear if they have ratings troubles- in fact she most likely will revel in their troubles as proof that she really was the key to all of their success in the past year. The View could have been a one-woman show. In fact, I think she thinks it was a one-woman show with three people present to set up her diatribes.

It will be interesting to see how the show handles her replacement. Hopefully they will bring in a woman who has a strong intellect who can speak factually about cultural and political issues, as opposed to a person who, like Rosie, spews far-left, DNC talking point rhetoric.

Amy Holmes, Guest Host

I know Holmes is referred to as some sort of staunch Republican strategist and she is filling in for Elisabeth today to “ensure” there is a conservative view presented. Just because she wrote speeches for Bill Frist does not mean she has strong Republican leanings. I have only seen her a few times and have never been that impressed. I am guessing that is why she is on the View. They aren’t concerned about her going toe to toe with Rosie.

Rosie has decided not to fight with Elisabeth anymore because she is pregnant.

***

Rosie: Truthfully, I have a hard time yelling at Elisabeth because she is pregnant. I just refuse to do it because I think the baby trumps any kind - no offense- any kind of political argument because you know I don’t want her blood pressure to go. She keeps saying
Barbara: We don’t want the baby to you know say whatever is going on inside the baby says “what’s all that noise.”

***

If Elisabeth is not up to the job- which is really what Rosie is implying- then she should take a leave. Rosie is saying that Elisabeth can not take the arguing- Rosie thinks Elisabeth gets too upset.

That’s interesting because in general Elisabeth doesn’t seem to get that riled up. She generally stays calm and often gives a little on her points when things heat up. Rarely does she become noticeably upset.

It is Rosie who can’t control herself. She yells, cuts Elisabeth off and calls Elisabeth names like “robotic zombie” and patronizes her on a daily basis.

Rosie can try to control herself over the next 7 weeks. I doubt she’ll be able to do it.

Judy Gold guest hosted- she has a book out about Jewish mothers. She interviewed 25 Jewish mothers- they all had food for her and 80% of them talked to their kids every day.

The women then talked about the scale of homosexuality. Judy Gold thinks she knew she was gay when she was three or four. Rosie didn’t know she was gay until fourth grade. Joy asked if she really knew- Rosie said she was a tomboy so...

Most tomboys are not gay, but whatever.

JGs two sons are the result of sperm donation. She said the women who work at the donor banks rate the donors on their looks. They talked about how the sperm donors fill out a really long questionnaire about every detail of their life. Rosie asked if people could really believe their answers because:

***

“Because they get $50- I always think its like a one-eyed tiny person going “Give me my $50 and they’re writing ‘I’m 6’4”, I love Shakespeare…”

***

Short people with one eye unite! Don’t take this sort of critical commentary any longer!!!

They go on to discuss Ronald Reagan’s diary: Of all the things in the diary- they discuss an excerpt in which Reagan wrote about his son Ron hanging up on him. Three weeks later he wrote that he wasn’t talking to him again until he apologized for hanging up on him. I’m sure that this was the most important tidbit in the diary.

Joy: He’s credited with ending the cold war but he wouldn’t have hang up on Gorbachev.

Hey Joy- Reagan didn’t hang up on his son either. I wonder if Gorbachev ever hung up on Reagan... 

Rosie and Joy then go on to talk about Giuliani, who still leads the pack for the Republicans.

Onto Emmy talk:

Joy’s theory on the lack of an Emmy for the View: They express their opinions and people hate people who have opinions (like O’Reilly and the illegal aliens)

***

Rosie with the one- two punch: I think you’ve never won an Emmy because you’ve never talked about real issues like you have this year. You’ve never really got into it like this year
Joy: I don’t know about that
Rosie: No- you never had political arguments
Joy: That’s not true- we used to have them all the time
Rosie: That’s not true. I was here as a guest host and I remember saying to Bill “You’re gonna talk about lipstick when there were 27 marines killed last night” and he was like “We don’t do war” you know. That was the motto of the show before I sort of insisted. I am not taking credit, I’m just saying my personality is one that the topics I want to talk about are different

***

This would be a great segment to show a split screen a la letterman: What are Joy’s facial expressions as Rosie takes all of the credit for making the show a serious program about serious issues (if one could go that far)

Joy goes on to disagree because they really did talk about a lot of different topics. Joy was not looking very joyful during this conversation. And she really does want an Emmy.  She'd probably rather win it next year, when Rosie off doing her own thing, far away from the View.

Will Joy be sad when Rosie leaves? I’m thinking she is counting the days…

May 3 show (cont)

Joy brought up a report issued by Indiana University. The results have been spewed by Media Matters and other liberal groups: Bill O’Reilly calls people names every 6.8 seconds

***
Rosie: Yeah, there was an article in the paper- he insults someone or calls someone a name every 6.8 seconds.

***
If you actually read the study (click here to read) you will find that they didn’t actually study his whole show- they focused on the portion of the program called “Talking Points” which is an opinion portion of the show in which O’Reilly expresses his opinion of some current event or events. He doesn’t hold back in the 2 minute segment- he cuts to the chase to make his point.

What is name-calling, exactly?

Well in this study, on page 7, name calling includes: “The terms conservative, liberal, left, right, progressive, traditional, or centrist were treated as name calling, if they were associated with a problem or social ill or if coupled with a derogatory term.” It goes on to give a couple of examples of how extreme their definition of name-calling really is: The term “buried headline” counted as two incidents of name calling and “kool-aid left” counted as two incidents as well.

He goes after illegal aliens and terrorists a lot also. Those are two groups I really feel for…

There is no bias in this study?!?

No question O’Reilly is out there, saying what he thinks. But the “No-Spin Zone” offers liberals a chance to go toe to toe with him, if they can. If they believe what they say and have the info to back their positions up then they should go on the show and argue with him. Liberals hate him because they often can’t fight him, successfully anyways.

Rosie briefly mentions she did go on his show once because he disagreed with a Florida law that prevented gay people from adopting their foster children.

She then wraps it up by mentioning that issue she is not supposed to mention: the sex scandal referred to as “loofah”- wink, wink…

I wonder if Rosie or Joy looked up the study to read or simply got their quotes from the "Think Progress" blog...
***

After belittling O’Reilly for using his two-minute Talking Points to state his opinion in a blunt and clear manner, they move on to Imus.

They again defend Imus for making his comments about the women from Rutgers. Imus is suing CBS for firing him- His contract called for him to be outrageous and he contends he lived up to their request. Who could argue with this point?

The contract required CBS give him a warning prior to terminating him. The clause, called a “dog has one bite” clause, may be Imus’ ticket to receiving a very large payout. Imus seems to have a fairly good shot at this one which means that networks will be reviewing their contracts very closely now.

Whether through talking points or on a radio show, media personalities have a right to their opinions and to express them.  Rosie does this everyday without regard for other people. They do not have the right to have no consequences. Does Rosie have a bye in her contract that allows her to call the President a murderer and a torturer and a criminal?

I forgot- the rules don't apply to her.

As Rosie says, if you go into a horror movie don’t be surprised when you see some gore.

Letterman showed a clip in which they had removed the host to Joy’s right so only Joy was on the screen. The clip of Joy fiddling with her pen, saying nothing and making slight facial grimaces, went on for several seconds.

Absolutely hilarious!

Generally she is seated next to Barbara or Elisabeth and I always chuckle to myself when they show her with whoever is speaking next to her. Joy frequently looks bored and/or annoyed as she listens to the other hosts talk.

***

Rosie thinks it’s funny: At first I thought “Wow, Joy taped that for them” and then I realized they just whited out Barbara and that is your real expression when she’s talking.
Joy responds: It may be the only way to get rid of cross talk is for me to just sit there alone.

***

First, the point of Letterman’s joke was that Rosie and Elisabeth are leaving and that will leave the show with not much personality.

Next, Letterman’s staff did not remove Barbara from the screen. The segment shown was from May 1^st and it was a segment in which Elisabeth was talking about terrorism and September 11. Barbara wasn’t on the show on the 1^st.

Finally, the issue is not getting rid of the cross talk. The issue is whether or not anyone besides Rosie and Elisabeth has anything interesting to say. It will be interesting to see who the View brings on to replace Rosie- how about Peggy Noonan?- and then who will fill in for Elisabeth.

Joy will have to decide if she wants to actively stimulate and engage in the conversation or continue to sit around, looking bored.

Hysterical, really.

Then Rosie goes on to try to explain in her own convoluted opinion:

***
Rosie: I was more disturbed that he was thanking the American public for giving up their money when we’ve asked the American public for their money during every tragedy but you know $500 billion in Iraq but he wants to thank America for the $70 million out of their own pockets that they gave but he doesn’t mention the $500 billion that he spends in Iraq. I think its very distorted.

***

Rosie, since when have Presidents thanked the American people for paying their taxes. It is the unfortunate break of being an American- politicians pass bills to spend our money on all kinds of things. Each one of us is forced to pay for things we don’t like. I don’t think the federal government should spend over $260 million dollars on the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. I don’t want the federal government giving money to NPR. I could go on and on.

You can send your money to help elect Al Franken and every other Democrat you can think of to further the chances of democrats maintaining control in the Congress. You can support whatever far left Democrat you choose for the Presidency. If the Democrats take the White House in 2008, the Democrats can change the course America is currently following. That is what you can control.

You can also donate money to private charities or not- who knows what you do with your wealth- it is your business.

In the mean time, we all should thank our fellow Americans for rising to these occasions, and responding to requests for help, over and over again. The American people give more privately than any other population in the world. We should be proud of our willingness to help others voluntarily.

By the way, there are many, many Americans who support the President’s actions in Iraq.

My guess would be that if there were a poll of only those Americans who actually pay taxes to the federal government, it would find that more taxpayers support Bush than support Rosie, no matter how much the audience claps.

They go on:

***

Elisabeth: I think it was a great thing the American people did and to
Rosie: I think we’re asking a lot of the American people while we’re “wasting their money and not giving them enough to live on

***

It’s not up to Rosie to decide when the American people have had enough of helping others. The American people will decide when enough is enough. Clearly, the American people happily gave another $70 million last week.

Also, what is with this comment that “we’re wasting their money and not giving them enough to live on”?

The government does waste taxpayer money- that is why we should lower federal taxes and cut federal spending. The federal government should limit its spending to those things that are constitutionally required and then leave the rest to the states. This is how the American system is supposed to work. Not that Rosie cares about the Constitution.

Also, the government doesn’t give taxpayers money to live on. The government takes money from taxpayers. The government gives money to non-taxpayers in a redistributive system, also not what the Founders intended.

Barbara then chimes in on her perspective about the President and Laura Bush speaking to the American people:

***

Barbara: I think that is great but I think what Rosie is saying is there are so many things the President could come on and thank people for and perhaps we’ve been talking about how little money goes to service men who come home and who are wounded and to the families who have to struggle that I just think it’s sort of interesting that they go on the most popular television show.

***

It is times like this that I wonder who Barbara knew to get her start. Is she truly this naive?

He didn’t just decide to go on the most popular television show. The most popular television show led a telethon that raised $70 million dollars for charity.

I am pretty sure that if Barbara and Rosie want to host a telethon and it raises $70 million, the President and Laura Bush would offer to come on their show as well. Of course, Rosie wouldn’t let him on her telethon, but that is a different issue.

Oh- the next time we see a Democratic candidate for President courting the Hip Hoppers(those are the guys who like to sing the words that got Imus fired) , Rappers and Hard Rockers on MTV, we'll be waiting to see what Barbara says about that.