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The View Has Emotional Tangle Over Abortion Recipients Being Required To View Ultrasounds

James Crugnale — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:50:31 +0000

On The View Wednesday, a politically volatile discussion erupted over a Texas judge’s decision to uphold an anti-abortion mandate that requires women to see the ultrasound of their fetus before they can terminate their pregnancies. Elisabeth Hasselbeck spoke passionately in favor of the requirement. “To me, it doesn’t make sense why you wouldn’t!” Hasselbeck exclaimed. “Why you would ask for an X-ray for those things or an ultrasound but not in this case? ” “It is such a tremendous decision,” Walters fired back. “I think that in order to even think about having an abortion, to give up a child that is obviously unwanted, that’s why you’re doing it…with so much fear of what you’re doing and guilt…then to have to go and be forced to hear, to see the fetus, to hear the heartbeat, to put more guilt on you, I think is heartbreaking.”

Joy Behar was furious at the decision, calling it “totalitarian.” “It smacks of forcing somebody to confront something that they have already decided they don’t want to deal with,” Behar opined.

Hasselbeck defended her rationale for supporting Texas’s policy.

“I’m going to take my personal feelings about abortion out of this, but from a medical perspective- and I’ll ask this of anyone- you wouldn’t necessarily go in to get, I don’t know, say, a cyst removed or tooth extracted or a kidney that had to be, you know, examined and have surgery on, you would never go through any medical procedure without looking at an ultrasound!” Hasselbeck explained. “Seeing an X-ray and the physician by no means want to do that procedure, go ahead with it without looking at the scientific evidence.”

“Here’s what bothers me,” Whoopi Goldberg interjected. “With an elective surgery — got to take my gallbladder out — they’re not going to show you the gallbladder! If you want to see stuff, you ask your doctor. The thing that bothers me is what Barbara said, women who make this decision, it is not easy…sometimes they have to have an abortion because they can’t afford it. This does not come with anyone saying, you know, if you keep the baby we’ll help you out financially.”

Sherri Shepherd candidly shared that she had experienced multiple abortions and that society was sending mixed signals to women.

“The thing that concerns me with this is like you said, it’s a very difficult thing, but you have so many people out there protesting and they go ‘we don’t want you to have a baby.’ A lot of girls out here have babies and then we say ‘we don’t want you to have a baby’ but then they don’t have that abortion, they see the fetus, they go back home but we let you go. We don’t want you to go to Planned Parenthood to get birth control. We don’t — we want to — hold on a second. but then, you know, do we want you to have the safety net of food stamps? Then we’re the same ones that keep saying you keep having these babies and you’re not taking care of the babies. We stop at the picket signs so it’s so difficult — I’m speaking as a girl who had a lot of abortions and I swear to God if they had showed me a fetus I possibly would wouldn’t have but I would have put my child in a lot of situations that wouldn’t have been good because I didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with having a child. It was real difficult…it’s such a hard thing.”

Watch the segment below via ABC:

Jimmy Kimmel Invites Gary Oldman To Perform Dramatic Reading Of Jersey Shore Recap

Frances Martel — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:36:33 +0000

The comedy genre “serious actor delivers dramatic reading of frivolous thing” has certainly expanded in volume of works in the past few years more than it had since William Shatner invented it with his reciting of “Rocket Man” (incidentally, he probably single-handedly revived it with the Sarah Palin tweet collection). And while it appears that the greatest work in the category of 2011 will forever be John Lithgow‘s performance of the Homeric Hymn to Newt Gingrich his spokesman wrote this summer, 2012 already has a very solid entry with “Gary Oldman Reads A Jersey Shore Recap.”

This installment comes to us from Jimmy Kimmel, who noted at the top of his show last night that this Thursday’s Jersey Shore was particularly “low-brow,” even compared to the status quo of the show (there was a lot of mismanagement of human waste, to say the least, and an inability to remain fully clothed). Oldman delivered in his crisp English accent, with a less-is-more black backdrop behind him as he explained that Deena admitted to never washing her hands after going to the bathroom.

The clip via ABC below:

Donald Trump Claims He Doesn’t Know What Tax Rate He Pays

Alex Alvarez — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:08:19 +0000

Political mastermind and reality TV star Donald Trump visited the set of Good Morning America, where he discussed GOP candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, particularly where their personal wealth is concerned.

Trump, for one, believes Romney is right to be proud of his work at Bain Capital. On the issue of taxes, Trump is primarily concerned with “where our money is going” and what the government is doing with it.

When asked whether he pays 30 percent on his taxes, Trump told host George Stephanopoulos only that he pays “a lot of tax, I can tell you that.” When asked point blank what his tax rate is, the TV star would only say that it is “substantial.” Ah.

Have a look, via ABC:

Dan Abrams Admits Fascination With Baby-To-Be’s ‘Weiner’ On Live With Kelly

Alex Alvarez — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:55:25 +0000

As regular readers know by now, Mediaite founder Dan Abrams is looking forward to being a first-time dad soon, something he was more than happy to talk about Monday morning as he co-hosted Live! With Kelly alongside seasoned mom Kelly Ripa. And, surprise, he’s going to have a bouncing baby boy!

(Which, you know. Aw. “Babyite” just doesn’t work as well on a little dude-baby.)

Abrams told the story of how he and the mommy-to-be went in for an ultrasound. As the technician went over the growing baby’s different organs, Abrams kept asking “is that the, the… pe… You know. Is that it?”

“You can say it,” said Ripa.

“Penis?” whispered Abrams.

“Or private. Or wiener…”

“I’m going to go with… Penis.”

Oh man. We can’t WAIT ’til Baby Abrams turns into Easily Embarrassed Pre-Teen Abrams and watches this segment! “Daaa-ad!”

Ripa reminisced about her own ultrasound experience, and gave Abrams a bit of parenting advice. While she doesn’t like to gender stereotype, said cautioned, the differences between baby boys and girls “are phenomenal.” Basically, she said, (We’re paraphrasing here.) girls are pretty much better at everything. But, you know. Dan kind of already knew that.

Oh, he also had an issue with our photo choice for his baby announcement post. Ah, the truth comes out.

Have a look at all the babyness, via ABC:

Newt Gingrich To GMA: George Soros Said ‘He’s Perfectly Happy With Either Obama Or Romney’

Alex Alvarez — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:10:06 +0000

GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich gave an interview to ABC’s Good Morning America, where he told host George Stephanopoulos, where he invoked the words of none other than influential liberal magnate George Soros.

The tension between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich has been heating up as the two prepare for the Florida primary, prompting Gingrich to “bring out the big guns” — the fact that George Soros recently shared wouldn’t exactly move to Canada over the idea of a Romney presidency.

“I think Romney’s problem,” Gingrich told Stephanopoulos, “is that the big truth beats the big lie. George Soros in Europe yesterday said publicly in a Reuters interview on video that he’s perfectly happy with either Obama or Romney, that they’re the same people. Minor differences. He said “Gingrich, now, that would be a real change.’”

Romney “can bury me for a very short amount of time with four or five or six times as much money, most raised of it raised on Wall Street from the guys who got bailouts from the government,” Gingrich added. “In the long run, the Republican party is not going to nominate the founder of RomneyCare, a liberal Republican who is pro-abortion, pro-gun control and pro-tax increase. It ain’t gonna happen.”

Have a look, via ABC:

‘Food Stamp President’ Obama Tells Diane Sawyer That Most Of The Food Stamps Came From Bush

Jon Bershad — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:08:36 +0000

In an interview with Diane Sawyer airing tonight, President Obama laughed off Jan Brewer’s claims that he with aggressive with her, joking that he’s “usually accused of not being intense enough” and pointing out that it’s always good for a Republican to tell people they fought with him. However, there was one accusation that he didn’t seem ready to laugh down and that was Newt Gingrich’s “food stamp president” insult.

After telling Sawyer that he hasn’t watched the Republican debates (sigh, what a lucky guy), she brought up Gingrich’s comment and Obama was quick to respond:

“First of all, I don’t put people on food stamps. People become eligible for food stamps. Second of all, the initial expansion of food-stamp eligibility happened under my Republican predecessor, not under me. Number three, when you have a disastrous economic crash that results in 8 million people losing their jobs, more people are going to need more support from government.”

Obama didn’t, however, want to get into the beliefs of some that Gingrich’s comment and others of its kind was racially tinged.

Sawyer brought up complaints by some constituents who were wondering why all his work on jobs hadn’t come sooner and he disagreed with the notion that they hadn’t, telling her that “we’ve done a lot in three years” before talking up the auto industry. She asked him if he had any regrets and he admitted that of course he’d made mistakes (“Look, I make a mistake every hour, every day”), but that it was a learning position.

Damn, Mr. President! What are you thinking admitting to being human during a campaign year! RNC, get your sound bites here.

The full interview will air tonight on ABC World News. Watch a clip of it below:

(h/t Breitbart.tv)

Dan Abrams On Rape Allegation Against Greg Kelly: DA Knows Very Well That ‘The World Is Watching’

Alex Alvarez — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:26:55 +0000

ABC legal analyst and Mediaite founder Dan Abrams spoke to Good Morning America about the rape allegation against Greg Kelly, host of Good Day New York and son of New York police commissioner Ray Kelly.

The unnamed woman says Kelly raped her at the law office where she works, although Kelly has denied the allegations though his attorney and says he is cooperating with the District Attorney’s investigation.

Abrams noted that Kelly has yet to be formally charged by authorities, and that woman’s allegations constitute a formal complaint, not a charge. He added that Kelly’s legal team will likely focus on three things: The time lag between when the alleged crime occurred and when the alleged victim filed her complaint against Kelly, the fact that the two continued to communicate after the alleged crime, and the woman’s angry boyfriend. Because the world is watching (and because of who Kelly’s father is), he added, the DA will likely be extremely careful about keeping everything above board and by the book.

And in this particular case, he said, it isn’t so much that a high profile name will be given the benefit of the doubt so much as is case will be given extra attention and care.

Watch, via ABC:

Hasselbeck Fed Up Over NBC’s Handling Of Debate: ‘Dare We Not Let Anyone Applaud For A Republican?’

Alex Alvarez — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:58:45 +0000

The View‘s Elisabeth Hasselbeck is none too happy with how the folks at NBC handled last night’s GOP debate in Florida, calling the debate “crappy” and accusing the network of displaying an anti-Republican bias.

Echoing comments made earlier today by Newt Gingrich, Hasselbeck felt the network had been trying to stifle the debate’s Republican audience:

The American people deserve something better than a crappy debate. That was the worst debate I’ve ever seen, and I’ve watched all of them. Number one — I love this — like, dare we not let anyone applaud for a Republican. [...] I don’t like that idea. I think the American people sitting there to say, or express, how they believe peacefully. Number two, I am annoyed that they didn’t even get to the topic of jobs until near fifty minutes into that debate, when we are in the most devastating job situation in our nation.

Have a look, via ABC:

As Major Companies Plan Blackout Protest, Where Has The Mainstream Media Been On Coverage Of SOPA?

Josh Feldman — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:41:28 +0000

Congress is set to return later this month, and one of the most hotly contested pieces of legislation it will be facing is the Stop Online Piracy Act. The bill was authored by Republican Lamar Smith, and has received bipartisan support and opposition in the House. There has been a lot of talk about internet- and technology-based companies that support the bill, including GoDaddy (up until recently) and the video game industry.

But what about the giant media conglomerates? Well, we know where they stand. OpenCongress lists all the big companies that support the bill, including the following:

NBC Universal
Comcast
News Corporation
Time Warner
Disney
CBS Corporation

Et cetera. The list goes on. But what’s particularly notable about these companies is that they own news organizations. And with SOPA being the big story that it is, one would expect news organizations to start picking up on it. And to a certain extent, you could say they have.

A CNN.com search for SOPA reveals the site has run two stories about the bill, and the bill is mentioned in a third one titled “Doh! The top 10 tech ‘fails’ of 2011.” But in none of these stories is it disclosed that Time Warner, parent company of CNN, supports the legislation. MSNBC.com covered the bill in a November article, which did not disclose its parent companies’ support of the bill. FoxNews.com features more coverage of the bill than its two rivals, and in one article it does mention News Corporation’s support of SOPA.

Now, it’s quite possible the authors of these articles were not aware they had any such disclosure to make. But all the media companies listed above attached their names to a letter sent to members of Congress in September, urging them to pass the SOPA bill into law. And what about the on-air presence on these networks? Surely this important piece of legislation must have warranted at least one story on the nightly news.

Well, apparently not, because according to a study conducted by Media Matters, there has been a virtual media blackout on the airwaves over the past few months in regards to SOPA. The study used LexisNexis figures to calculate just how many times the bill has been reported in the primetime hours on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ABC, CBS, and NBC. None of these networks gave any nightly news coverage to the bill, with the exception of CNN, where it was brought up briefly during a segment on The Situation Room. Media Matters notes the study does not, however, take into account these networks’ daytime programming, nor is Shepard Smith‘s nightly broadcast factored in.

A quick perusal of statistics from the website TVeyes also finds that in the past week, the biggest networks to give any mention to SOPA were Bloomberg and CSPAN. In fact, the co-founder of Reddit (a website that has quickly mobilized SOPA opposition) was interviewed on Bloomberg just a few days ago. But still, the major news networks are silent on the issue.

And before you start crying foul that this is a Media Matters study, keep in mind that SOPA not only has bipartisan support, but bipartisan opposition. In fact, RedState’s Erick Erickson proposed a bipartisan coalition to take out any member of Congress who supports the bill. As Erickson succinctly put it:

This battle is so important — and is one of those rare fights where the left and right are united against Congress — that I suggest the left and right unite and pledge to defeat in primaries every person named as a sponsor on H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Normally, this is the kind of legislation that might rile up Rachel Maddow or Bill O’Reilly, so why is there such a deafening silence on this issue that both liberals and conservatives have found common ground in hating?

There are one of two possibilities at play here. Either the network brass is pressuring the news division to not cover the legislation at all (the more conspiratorial point of view), or news anchors are simply avoiding their stories so as not to put their jobs on the line. Some will argue that, perhaps, news anchors are avoiding the story because there is so much more on their platter– why spend an entire segment explaining the serious consequences of a convoluted bill when you have a ten-second soundbite of Rick Santorum maybe saying the work “black“? Whether the possibility exists or not, it does not exonerate reporters from their responsibility to report. And so, of the first two, the latter seems to be the more realistic one. As Eric Boehlert explained to The Register on Media Matters’ findings:

“I don’t think there’s been a top-down edict on this, but the data is interesting… People are smart when it comes to their careers, and may feel that raising the story isn’t a good way to get along with their parent companies.”

Fox News’ lack of coverage is particularly remarkable, because last week Rupert Murdoch personally came to Capitol Hill last week to lobby members of Congress to pass SOPA and its Senate counterpart, PIPA. One might then, logically, expect Fox News to cover SOPA with the best positive spin since, as its critics say, the network gets its marching orders and sticks to it. But what we’re witnessing here is complete silence on the issue. I suspect the networks are smart enough to understand that no matter how much you try to put a smiley face on it, alarm bells go off in people’s heads when they hear the phrase “regulate the internet.”

Luckily for those of us who care about media dissemination of critical information, several big websites are considering a one-day complete blackout to raise awareness about the bill so more people can be informed about it. Now, you might be asking yourself, “Well, what are the chances a few websites are going to make a big impact on public opinion?” Actually, quite large. Here are the companies on board for a possible blackout:

Google
Facebook
Twitter
Wikipedia
PayPal
Zynga (creators of Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc.)
eBay
LinkedIn
IAC, which owns these websites:
- Dictionary.com
- Ask.com
- Dictionary.com
- Match.com
- CollegeHumor
- Dorkly
- Dictionary.com
- Vimeo

If all those sites were taken away from people for a 24-hour period, you’d better believe there will be riots in the streets to stop SOPA from passing.

But I’d bet that if the mainstream media had been doing their jobs on this from day one, there would be zero talk of a blackout. Earlier today, I wrote about Rick Santorum‘s comments on the SOPA bill and online piracy. The YouTube video of Santorum was posted two days ago. A Google News search shows Santorum’s remarks were picked up by only two websites: NewsOK.com, which only mentioned SOPA in passing, and Death & Taxes, which uses over half the article to connect the story somehow to Santorum’s Google problem.

Media organizations no longer have the luxury of pretending certain stories don’t exist. More and more people get their news via online news sources, and avoiding a story because the people that own you wouldn’t like it gets noticed these days. Absence makes the heart grow more pissed off, basically. These people in the media who gladly embrace controversy on a regular basis (hell, Lawrence O’Donnell hasn’t had a problem with ruffling a few executive feathers before) need to explain why they’re staying so silent on this issue. There’s nothing wrong with having an honest debate on a topic like this.

But then, perhaps you have better things to do, like insulting people you disagree with and laughing at viral videos of confused animals. You know, news.

Rob Lowe Predicts The ‘New Republican Ticket’: Romney/Santorum

Jon Bershad — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:46:00 +0000

With all the talk of the ongoing battle between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, at least one person thinks the two will be able to patch it up. That person is Rob Lowe who predicted that the two front runners would become “the new Republican ticket” when stopping by Good Morning America.

Lowe was guesting on the morning show to promote his new Lifetime movie in which he makes an amazing transformation from being an incredibly handsome actor to being an incredibly handsome guy wearing Drew Peterson’s clothes.

The actor, once a big Democrat but now moving steadily towards the center, was asked about his interest in the politics and he responded that he was thrilled to be on the show at the same time as all the Iowa results were being discussed. When questioned about the results themselves, he predicted Romney and Santorum would end up running together.

He did, however, admit to maybe stealing the prediction from George Stephanopoulos who was sitting off to the side.

Watch the clip from ABC below:

New Promo For This Week Features GOP Candidates And Obama, All In Agreement

Alex Alvarez — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:48:18 +0000

George Stephanopoulos is returning to ABC’s This Week this weekend, right in the middle of election madness.

Stephanopoulos, who is coming back to host the Sunday morning show as former host Christiane Amanpour balances the role of global affairs anchor with a new show on CNN International, is being touted as one person who will actually allow viewers to see “the whole picture” when it comes to politics, not merely one side.

How do we know this? Because the GOP candidates (Michele Bachmann noticeably absent among them) and Barack Obama tell us so!

Check out the promo, courtesy of ABC:

ABC’s David Muir Was The Most-Used Reporter On Broadcast News In 2011

Nando Di Fino — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:12:25 +0000

Regular viewers of the three big broadcast news shows — ABC World News, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News — have probably come to admire some of the reporters and correspondents featured on air each night. But have you ever stopped to wonder which reporter has logged the most airtime?

Andrew Tyndall, the man behind The Tyndall Report, a site that monitors the weekday nightly newscasts of the three American broadcast television networks, has released his list of the most-used reporters, by air-time. And the winner is… ABC’s David Muir, who was used for 343 minutes in 2011. In second was ABC’s Jake Tapper (283 minutes), NBC’s Richard Engel (246), NBC’s Chuck Todd (226), and CBS’ Nancy Cordes (226).

The win ends Tapper’s two-year reign atop the list, and was likely extra-satisfying for Muir, as Tapper had beaten him out by just one minute (335 to 334) on Tyndall’s 2010 report.

You can view the full list of the 20 most-used reporters at The Tyndall Report.

Mitt Romney Talks To GMA About Rick Santorum, ‘Angry, Disappointed’ Newt Gingrich

Alex Alvarez — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:06:43 +0000

Former Massachusetts governor (oh, and the winner last night in Iowa) Mitt Romney told Good Morning America‘s George Stephanopoulos just how his experience differs from that of “runner up” candidate Rick Santorum, noting that there is “nothing wrong” with the fact that Santorum has spent “most of life in the governmental sector,” but that “it’s very different, I think, if you want to get the economy going again.”

Romney beat Santorum in Iowa by only eight votes, even though, as Stephanopoulos notes, he “outspent the former Pennsylvania senator by a 50 to 1 margin on television ads.” Romney says this is because, unlike his rival, he is focusing his efforts on a national level:

Rick has focused his effort, and I think in a wise way, entirely on Iowa. I’ve been campaigning in other states, putting together the kind organization which I believe will get me the 1150 delegates I need. So let me tell you I’m going to take every win I can possibly get and get every delegate I can possibly get.

Romney also responded, once again, to Newt Gingrich‘s comment that he is a “liar” and a “Massachusetts moderate.”

“Well, I’m sure he’s disappointed in the results last night,” Romney said, adding that he’s sure Gingrich will continue to mount a “spirited campaign.”

“I think he’s just really angry and disappointed,” he reiterated.

Have a look at Romney’s interview, courtesy of ABC:

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Ron Paul Angrily Rebuts Jake Tapper Over Question About 9/11 Conspiracies

James Crugnale — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:45:54 +0000

Ron Paul strongly rebuffed ABC News’s Jake Tapper on Sunday’s This Week, when he had brought up a quote by former senior campaign aide Eric Dondero, that claimed the Republican presidential candidate had engaged in 9/11 conspiracy theories. “Now, wait, wait, wait! Don’t go any further on that. That’s complete nonsense!” Paul exclaimed.

“It’s nonsense? It’s not true?” Tapper asked.

“No, I never bought into that stuff, never talked about it. About the conspiracy of Bush — of Bush knowing about this?” Paul responded incredulously. “No, no, come on! Come on! Let’s be reasonable! That’s just off-the-wall!”

Watch Paul shut down Tapper over the 9/11 conspiracy theory question below via ABC:

(h/t HuffPo)

Jenny McCarthy Makes Out With New York City Cop To Welcome New Year

Frances Martel — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:37:24 +0000

It is a long-standing tradition for many, particularly in Times Square, to ring in the new year with a kiss from a loved one or significant other or perhaps someone with whom sparks had flown throughout the night. The latter seemed to be the case for Jenny McCarthy on ABC’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, who the cameras caught in the first minute of the year locking lips with an NYPD officer she later explained just happened to be closeby.

As the cameras looked to every reporter and host on the show tonight, the cameras caught McCarthy making out with a uniformed officer. She later had quite a bit to explain, but it appeared to be a simple story: “I just happened to be standing with that hot cop… nice to meet you!” For those wondering, he rated the kiss a perfect 10.

The video via ABC below:

Christiane Amanpour Signs Off From ABC’s This Week

James Crugnale — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 19:30:32 +0000

On Sunday, This Week host Christiane Amanpour bid her audience farewell during her final broadcast as anchor, and wished George Stephanopoulos the best of luck when he takes over for her in the coming year. “It’s been an enormous privilege to anchor this prestigious program,” Amanpour said.

That’s our program today. And I want to thank you all for inviting me into your homes every Sunday for the past year and a half.

It’s been an enormous privilege to anchor this prestigious program, as we’ve traveled around the country, and parts of the world, together.

As I noted earlier, this has been the year of the people — you, and people like you from every corner of the globe, have made your voices heard.

And it is exhilarating to be able to cover and experience democracy in action, whether old or newborn.

In the new year you can find me off on new adventures, covering global affairs, and challenges here at home in this struggling economy.

I’ll be doing specials in prime time, and on all the other ABC News programs.

Finally, I would like to thank the dedicated staff of “This Week,” which works tirelessly to get this program on the air every week.

And they’ll be in good hands with my colleague George Stephanopoulos, who takes over this broadcast on Sunday, Jan. 8.

For all of us here, thank you for watching. I wish you all a joyful holiday and very happy New Year.

Watch Amanpour’s final comment below via ABC:

President Obama Admits To Barbara Walters: Deep Down ‘There’s A Laziness In Me’

Jon Bershad — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:18:11 +0000

Tonight on the 20/20 holiday special (that’s the one where Sam Donaldson buys a sickly Christmas tree for the pageant and everyone makes fun of him), ABC will air a special interview that Barbara Walters did with Barack and Michelle Obama in which, presumably, Walters explains to them just why they’re so much less fascinating than the Kardashians.

A few bits and pieces from the interview have surfaced (Barack apparently has no “peeves” about Michelle. Awwww!), but Politico is now reporting on what is probably the most interesting moment: Obama admitting that he has an ingrained Hawaiian “laziness” to him.

It’s interesting because we can only imagine that he said this while affixing a giant bullseye to his back and carrying a sign which reads “Conservatives, have at ‘em!!!”

From Politico:

“President Obama admits says his worst trait is that he’s a little bit lazy and blames his Aloha State upbringing for his penchant for taking it easy.

‘There is a deep down, underneath all the work I do, I think there’s a laziness in me,’ Obama said in his interview with Barbara Walters that airs Friday night on ABC.

‘It’s probably from, you know, growing up in Hawaii, and it’s sunny outside and sitting on the beach.’”

Ugh.

Does that sound entertaining to you? Well, if you’re a fan of right wing media, you better hope it is because you’re probably going to be seeing that clip about 5,000,000 times in the next week. Seriously, just imagining it is actually making animated Christmas specials starring the past and present hosts of 20/20 seem really palatable.

Watch the ‘laziness’ answer from ABC below:

Scut Farkus And Flick! Child Actors From A Christmas Story Visit The View

James Crugnale — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:56:09 +0000

Just in time for TBS’s annual 24-hour marathon of A Christmas Story, a few of the stars of the frequently-seen 1983 holiday chestnut joined the ladies of The View.

Zack Ward, who played “Scut Farkus” and Scott Schwartz, who played the tongue-stuck “Flick”, appeared in their fully grown up glory, and shared anecdotes from the film’s legacy.

“Once the movie hit and got traction, people got confused and actually started fights with me which was scary,” Ward exclaimed. “Later on, they wanted me to beat up their kids. For Christmas, people would hold them up and say, “beat the kids.” It’s the most bizarre Christmas blessing I could get.”

Schwartz, who is now a memorabilia collector, explained what he thought the movie’s message meant to him.

“It’s a relationship movie,” Schwartz said. “It’s a coming of age between the son finally getting dad’s respect. It’s also that you remember at Christmas — everybody remembers that one year when they wanted that one thing. No matter whether you’re 7 or 70, you remember that one thing.”

Watch the two Christmas Story stars all grown up on The View

Sherri Shepherd To SNL’s Fred Armisen: ‘You’ve Got To Get More Black People On That Show’

Jon Bershad — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:46:19 +0000

We don’t usually get two View posts in a day here at Mediaite but, while that fart thing was just BREAKING NEWS THAT THE WORLD NEEDED TO SEE, there was also another interesting moment on the show. Saturday Night Live‘s Fred Armisen appeared to promote the second season of his IFC series Portlandia ( a series where that hilarious one-man show sketch probably would have been better appreciated) and Sherri Shepherd pointed out an issue that’s been a problem almost since SNL‘s inception (and possibly the actual solution to Greg Gutfeld’s conspiracy yesterday); Lorne Michaels needs to hire some more damn black people.

The comment came during a discussion of the recurring View parodies on SNL. After everyone complimented Armisen’s great Joy Behar, Shepherd complained that there was no one there to play her.

What? You don’t think Jay Pharoah could pull it off? They’ve got a fat black guy and a skinny black guy. What more do you want, Sherri?

Watch the clip from ABC below:

Whoopi Goldberg, Ahem, ‘Clears The Air’ On Her Supposed Fart

Jon Bershad — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:56:57 +0000

Last Friday, the entire blogosphere went crazy because it was possible that Whoopi Goldberg farted on live TV (what can I say, bloggers just want to go home for the holidays too). Today during the opening few minutes of The View, Goldberg discussed the incident during some of the most ridiculously funny television you’re going to see all week. Seriously, I want every day to start with someone doing a Zapruder film analysis of a fart joke.

Whoopi Cushion: Did Whoopi Goldberg Just Fart On The View? Again!?

Goldberg explained that deep down she was a “little kid” who sometimes forgets she’s hosting a TV show and just wants to make fart jokes. To prove her point, she opened the segment with a string of fart puns good enough to enchant even the pickiest 12 year old. She then showed the original clip over and over again, zooming in to show that, indeed, she had made the offending noise with her mouth. Still, the news had gotten out there.

“The truth of the matter is, you know, listen, we got questions from all kinds of people. When we told them what we had done, what I’d done, they went ahead and printed it anyway. They ran with it anyway. You know what, look, I know there are times that I’m as silly as can be. Sometimes, it’s just appropriate. I was in the mood.”

The whole segment (which also included Goldberg’s thoughts on replacing the word “fart” with “tree frog” and a discussion of what sounds the View couch makes and why they didn’t make any when Tom Cruise jumped on the damn thing) was pretty hilarious.

You can watch the clip below. I also included the show’s opening because, like Whoopi, I’m a little kid at heart and hearing the View announcer tease this segment in his serious voice cracks me the hell up.

Whoopi Cushion: Did Whoopi Goldberg Just Fart On The View? Again!?

Alex Alvarez — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:15:10 +0000

Guys, I can’t even. Whoopi Goldberg, the breezy View co-host, added a veritable whirlwind of excitement to the show’s set today when she… Well. You’ll see.

Actress Claire Danes was sharing a bit with the show’s hosts when Goldberg shifted in her seat and… made a joyful noise unto the Lord. Her expression immediately turned to one of shock before she admitted that “I just blew a little frog outta there.”

Have a look and a listen, if you are so inclined, via ABC:

George Stephanopoulos To Return As Host Of This Week

Nando Di Fino — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:09:40 +0000

On Tuesday, ABC announced Christiane Amanpour would no longer be hosting This Week — she would stay on as a global affairs anchor, while returning to CNN to host a show on CNN International. While Amanpour seemed overjoyed (“This role is groundbreaking, bold and very different,” Amanpour said. “I am thrilled and honored”), ABC now had a role to fill. So they turned to the past, and announced Amanpour’s replacement: George Stephanopoulos.

Stephanopoulos taking over the show is somewhat significant, as he served as host from 2002 to 2010, before moving on to Good Morning America last year. In announcing his move back to This Week, ABC said that Stephanopoulos would stay on as host of GMA, but likely on just a four-day schedule.

This Week has lagged in the ratings this season, behind Face The Nation and Meet The Press. With Stephanopoulos returning, ABC hopes to give the ratings a boost, especially as the election in 2012 approaches.

Most of this entire scenario, it should be noted, was reported by the New York Post last Friday.

George Stephanopoulos To Return To This Week January 8

Frances Martel — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:39:56 +0000

Longtime host George Stephanopoulos is set to return to ABC’s This Week early next year with the news that current host Christiane Amanpour is set to return to CNN for a weekday show, and remaining with ABC for specials.

According to AP– and confirmed by ABC– Stephanopoulos will once again resume his duties at This Week on January 8, 2012. Like Amanpour, he too will have two jobs, as he will stay as anchor of Good Morning America, where he currently is. ABC notes, however, that in order to accommodate his work at This Week, Stephanopoulos will likely remain on GMA four days a week. Stephanopoulos hosted the program from 2002-2010, succeeding David Brinkley.

Amanpour Comments On New CNN Project: ‘Groundbreaking, Bold, And Very Different!”

Frances Martel — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:39:34 +0000

With several days of reporting and, today, a final official story on the departure of host Christiane Amanpour from ABC’s This Week (but not from the network entirely), the host herself has made the news official, and elaborated on her roles both for ABC and her weekly CNN International program– as well as CNN President Jim Walton responding to the news of her return.

Elaborating on the news earlier today, Amanpour noted that she would remain with ABC as a “roving Global Affairs anchor,” but was excited about her new project with CNN– a weekday show on CNN International:

This is an exciting and unique opportunity for me to take my love of story telling to primetime at ABC News with multiple specials, as well as becoming a roving Global Affairs anchor across all ABC platforms.

I am looking forward to getting back into the field to report stories on global issues that matter greatly to the American people. At the same time, I will be broadcasting once again to hundreds of millions of people across the world with a weekday show on CNN International.

This role is groundbreaking, bold and very different! I am thrilled and honored.

It’s been an incredible experience to have had a ringside seat to democracy in action at This Week. It’s been an incredible honor to anchor such a prestigious program and I thank all of you who have helped me on that journey.

CNN President Jim Walton also commented on her return and the relationship she would have with both CNN and ABC, and noted he “could not be happier” with having her back on the team:

Christiane Amanpour has been synonymous with international reporting and with CNN for many years. We could not be happier that through this unique arrangement with ABC News her experience and global perspective are returning to a nightly news broadcast for our international audience.

The details of the transition– and when the CNN show will begin– have yet to come down the line, though George Stephanopoulos is reportedly returning to the This Week seat on January 8.

New York Times: Christiane Amanpour Is Out As Host Of ABC’s This Week

Nando Di Fino — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:34:24 +0000

On Friday, the New York Post‘s Page Six column suggested that Christiane Amanpour was about to step down as host of This Week, and that ABC executives were “mulling over” who to replace her with. The column reported that Amanpour would return to CNN, the network she left to join ABC.

It was the last anyone heard of it until about 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, when Brian Stelter of The New York Times tweeted:

A minute later, Stelter said that the Tweet was meant to be sent as a private direct message. He then explained that he was following up on the Post story, and eventually said that the Accidental Tweet actually worked — “And now more sources are popping up,” he wrote.

So we learned a few things from this:

1. Amanpour is likely on her way back to CNN.
2. Stelter should be applauded for checking with multiple sources on stories before floating out would-be rumors (NOTE: This should, in no way, imply that the Post simply floated a rumor, as they obviously broke the story days ago and had sourced it out, as well. It’s simply meant to point out that the tweet revealed Stelter‘s methods of reporting).
3. A new way to get sources to pop up for stories in the future might be to “accidentally” tweet out a DM and see what comes back to you.

With the overflow of tweets he received, Stelter had a story up about an hour later, citing two sources that confirmed the rumor:

Ms. Amanpour, a longtime international correspondent for CNN, joined ABC about a year and a half ago to anchor “This Week.” There, she replaced George Stephanopoulos, who had moved to the network’s weekday morning program “Good Morning America.”

An ABC spokesman had no comment on Stelter’s column. If any comments come from their camp, we will update the story.

Whoopi Goldberg Graphically Discusses ‘Pudenda’ To Shocked View Audience

James Crugnale — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:05:47 +0000

Whoopi Goldberg explicitly dished repeatedly on female “pudenda” in a graphic discussion on porn with the panelists of The View as audience members laughed nervously. “I like porn, I think porn is good for — yes, I do. I think it’s good,” Goldberg acknowledged. “I will tell you what bothers the hell out of me, because this is something that I should have watched over the years. When you see where porn stars are– the women, what their pudendas look like, you can track what other women are going to be doing… there used to be a time when a woman’s pudenda — they looked like women. Then suddenly it became like a landing strip, and then it became bald, and I’m saying what’s wrong with that is they made it what a young girl’s pudenda looks like…it’s bad because I understand you want to do some grooming, but to make yourself look like you did when you were 12 or 13 sends a message to people that you want a kid’s body.”

“I like Hitler’s moustache as a look,” Joy Behar provocatively quipped, referring to her nether regions, to stunned silence.

Following Behar’s X-rated joke, Goldberg, sensing how adult the “hot topic” had become, immediately cut to commercial.

While body image obviously is an important subject matter for women, the shockingly frank talk about genitalia (and frequent use of the term pudenda) on network television perhaps went a little too far for many daytime viewers. ABC might want to consider airing a viewer discretion advised warning before such topics are discussed.

Watch Whoopi’s frank discussion of “pudenda” on ABC:

Regis Philbin Joins TV’s Other Longstanding Duo In Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘Regis And Butthead’

Jon Bershad — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:35:27 +0000

Last night, apparently jonesing for America’s approval real bad, Regis Philbin ventured back in front of the cameras in an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. While there, he discussed his plans for his next project and even showed a clip which was… well, I don’t want to spoil all the fun, so let’s just say he did some work with the only two guys out there that people are more surprised to learn are still on the air.*

Yes, through the magic of green screen, the always game Philbin traded places with Beavis from Beavis and Butthead. More importantly, while young people have been imitating those two voices for decades now, I’m pretty sure that was actually Mike Judge voicing his famous losers. The whole thing was a nearly perfect bit, although it would have been nice to see Kelly Ripa actually dealing with her new co-host. The Great Cornholio would rule at a cooking segment. Or this segment.

*Seriously, has anyone been watching the new Beavis and Butthead episodes? In this humble writer’s opinion, they’ve been kind of fantastic although I’ve been dying to know what honest-to-goodness teenagers think. If there are any honest-to-goodness teenagers reading this, please put down your damn video games and text messaging machines for a second to comment.

Watch the clip from ABC below:

Joy Behar: Jimmy Fallon’s Band Should Have Played ‘Don’t Know Much About History’ For Bachmann

James Crugnale — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:08:53 +0000

The View‘s Joy Behar took a swing Monday at Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann over her outrage about the song “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” which Questlove and The Roots played to introduce the Minnesota Congresswoman on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. “They should’ve played ‘Don’t Know Much About History‘!” Behar exclaimed to laughter and cheers from the crowd. “That would’ve been a better song.”

The panelists earlier discussed the hubbub over Questlove’s song selection.

Barbara Walters wasn’t familiar with the song, asking Whoopi Goldberg if there were any lyrics to it.

“Well, it’s familiar to us who know the song,” Goldberg noted. “Do you know all the words?” asked Walters. “Do you want me to sing ‘em?” joked Goldberg.

Goldberg added that she thought it was interesting that in response to the kerfuffle over “Lyin’ Ass Bitch”, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh jokingly introduced Michelle Obama to Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back. “Does this mean then, with all the things Rush has said, that he actually thinks Michelle Obama has a big butt? Is that what he’s saying?”

Co-host Sherri Shepherd thought that politics didn’t play a role in Questlove’s use of the song.

“Michele Bachmann says (the song was played) because she was conservative. I don’t think it’s necessarily because she’s conservative because I don’t think she has enough power,” she argued. “I think it’s disrespectful to her as a woman. If it were Laura Bush or Nancy Reagan, I think heads would have rolled.”

“The songs were not appropriate either way,” Goldberg concluded.

Watch Behar’s joke about Bachmann below via ABC:

This Week Panel: Newt Gingrich On Immigration Is The Latest GOP ‘Scandal Of Sanity’

Frances Martel — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:16:20 +0000

With Newt Gingrich nabbing a major endorsement in New Hampshire this morning, the panel on This Week assessed his strengths and chances of making it through to the nomination with a record like his. While agreeing that he was, among other things, “undisciplined,” they noted his comments on immigration could be a positive in the general, with Michael Gerson labeling yet another “scandal of sanity” in the GOP.

Panelist Jon Karl noted that the paper endorsing Gingrich, the Union Leader, was very strong support, as it goes out of its way to campaign regularly over the election season. With that in mind, host Christiane Amanpour wondered whether Gingrich was the “last non-Romney candidate.” That, added Cokie Roberts, depended on whether Gingrich would master his natural lack of discipline. “He’s one of the greatest strategists… so interesting, but he’s undisciplined!” Sam Donaldson agreed, adding that “he has five ideas a day: one or two of them are brilliant, one or two of them are okay, and one of them is terrible and he doesn’t know the difference.”

Gerson noted something strange about the fact that the answer on “immigration indicates Gingrich’s lack of discipline,” forming yet another “scandal of sanity, in which a Republican says something obviously true and they have to retract because of the conservative base.” The “gaffe,” he argued, proved “Gingrich unplugged can actually be quite admirable as well as undisciplined.”

The panel ended with a round of guesses as to who would win the Iowa caucus, with a surprising half of the panel suggesting Rick Santorum has a chance there. The segment via ABC below:

Colin Powell: Tea Party Will Not ‘Produce A Presidential Candidate Who Will Win’

Frances Martel — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 17:17:57 +0000

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has no faith in the Tea Party’s ability to produce a president. This he noted today in a discussion with Christiane Amanpour on This Week, where he lamented the “very tense” tone currently in Washington and attributed some of that to the obstinacy of the Tea Party.

“The tone is not good right now and the political system here in Washington… has become very, very tense,” Powell told Amanpour, arguing that this was not exclusive a Congressional problem, but a media problem. “The media loves this game where everyone is on the extreme– it makes for great TV.” The extremes, however, would not produce results, he argued. The media, he concluded, needed to “take some head out of political life in terms of the coverage, so that these folks can get to work.”

As for the rejection of compromise, he completely disagreed. “The Founding Fathers compromised on slavery,” he noted, “compromise is how this country was founded. The Tea Party point of view of no compromise whatsoever is not a point of view that will eventually produce a presidential candidate who will win.”

Powell is likely in the minority of Republicans who feel that the Tea Party is a liability and are vocal about it, and given his comments recently in support of Occupy Wall Street (in theory), this is likely not to go so well with the far right.

The segment via ABC below: