On The View Wednesday, a politically volatile discussion arose 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.”

Herman Cain might be out of the race but that doesn’t mean he’s going away! Following in the illustrious “Oh, are they still here?” footsteps of Christine O’Donnell (yes, she’s still here), Cain has taken to the airwaves to further push the 999 Revolution Solution, a plan which, we assume, won’t involve an actual revolution. Today he appeared on The View‘s first show of 2012 and spoke about his former rivals, taking the chance to defend Rick Santorum’s controversial “black people” comment.

In a stellar portrait of Jerry Sandusky’s wife, Dottie, Sara Ganim of The Patriot-News slips in a detail that seems somewhat innocuous, but might end up being a much bigger story as it develops. Ganim reports that the couple is considering speaking publicly about the accusations levied against Sandusky after the New Year to one of four major news personalities and programs: Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, Rock Center, or 60 Minutes.

Barbara Walters‘ interview with Barack and Michelle Obama aired tonight on ABC, and Walters got inside the heads of the president and first lady by asking them questions from Vanity Fair‘s “Proust Questionnaire.” She asked the president what his idea for perfect happiness would be. Obama said he’s at his peak happiness when he is doing things to make those around him feel happier, while the first lady said it was being surrounded by her family.

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 was they’re so much less fascinating than the Kardashians.

Donald Trump and Bill O’Reilly had a bit of a friendly scuffle tonight during a discussion about Trump’s policies and potential upcoming presidential debate. Trump took umbrage at O’Reilly claiming that Trump had wanted to be on the program and not that he was doing O’Reilly a favor and brought it up in the middle of an answer on China and OPEC. That prompted O’Reilly to question his thick skin, or lack thereof. “Are you the most sensitive guy in the world?” O’Reilly asked rhetorically, suggesting that Trump wanted to “kick butt everywhere” but wasn’t comfortable receiving attacks.

Despite her time as the GOP frontrunner seeming to fall farther and farther into the past, Michele Bachmann garnered a lot of headlines this past week. And all it took was for someone to call her a nasty B-word on television. That’s right, Whoopi Goldberg called her a “bonehead” on The View.

Wait, what? That’s not the B-word everyone was talking about? Oh, right.

Still, Goldberg was fairly forceful in her conviction that Bachmann did not have what it takes to run the country.

The controversial pepper spraying incident at UC Davis was a hot topic Monday on The View with Joy Behar comparing the police action to the Kent State shootings.

“A lot of people watching are too young to remember Kent State in this country, where the police shot a couple of students,” observed Behar. “It’s outrageous, this type of behavior cannot be tolerated by the police!”

Things got very, very uncomfortable today over at The View thanks to an appearance by Bill Maher. Last February on Real Time, Maher had made a joke that, were Hosni Mubarak to release the then-captured Lara Logan, they could trade him Elizabeth Hasselbeck. At the time, Hasselbeck had been furious, starting a mini feud that an unrepentant Maher seemed to have no interest in fighting.

Sparks flew on the set of The View on Monday, as the topic of Herman Cain‘s uncensored use of the name “N*ggerhead” in denouncing Texas Gov. Rick Perry inspired one reaction when Whoopi Goldberg quoted him, and quite another when Barbara Walters did. Goldberg seemed to applaud Cain’s choice, and argue against the euphemistic use of “the n-word,” but when Walters quoted Cain (again, uncensored), co-host Sherri Shepherd told Walters, “”I didn’t like the way you said it.”

The View discussed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie‘s potential run for the White House and the touchy subject of Christie’s weight took center stage. Whoopi Goldberg asked the audience if they could see him as president. The crowd unanimously responded no. When asked why, the Governor’s “heftiness” was cited as a chief reason.

As part of the promotional tour of his unauthorized and scandalous Sarah Palin biography The Rogue, author Joe McGinniss appeared on The View today. The discussion inevitably turned to rumors of whether or not Palin, in fact, the birth mother of young Trig Palin, as has been suggested by such notable “Triggers” as Andrew Sullivan, among others. To be clear, he doesn’t believe the rumors to be true, but he sure seems eager to discuss them.

Although it may seem like Bristol Palin has been talking about losing her virginity to Levi Johnston doing publicity for her new book forever, she isn’t quite done yet. However, after this interview with Barbara Walters and the ladies of the View, Palin might be considering heading back to Alaska because things are really starting to get awkward.

There may be only one person in the media that vocally supports Rep. Anthony Weiner, but given her profile, he lucked out. After calling his photos “flattering” on The View this morning, Barbara Walters visited Lawrence O’Donnell to reiterate her point, which O’Donnell also called “my position exactly.” This time, Walters called the pictures “disgusting” and the event a “tragedy,” but she refused to make a connection between his personal failures and his job.

Count The View‘s Barbara Walters among those not utterly horrified by the racy picture of Congressman Anthony Weiner‘s penis. While the women were discussing the photo, Joy Behar, being Joy Behar, asked whether or not the picture could have been of Andrew Breitbart, the one who, of course, first blew (sigh) the Weinergate scandal wide open.

Dr. Oz was a guest on yesterday’s episode of The View , and naturally, started talking about farting. “How many of you have passed gas already since you’ve been out here?” the daytime talk show asked the ladies of The View which elicited expected giggles and guffaws from the cohosts and audience alike. But it was Whoopi Goldberg who took things to the next level when she owned up to it. Daytime talk show hijinks focosed on farting? Who knew they were targeting the nine year-old boy demo?

File this under the “duh” category. The former aide to Sarah Palin and author of the new book Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years, Frank Bailey, is making the rounds promoting his tale and happily unleashing the most outrageous statements possible to draw himself attention and sell books.

As coverage of the upcoming Royal Wedding begins in full swing, Robin Roberts and Barbara Walters appeared on GMA this morning live from London, England to start getting this country excited for the big event. Whether Americans are that interested remains to be seen, but Walters’ interview with the outspoken singer Elton John did prove interesting.

What’s next for CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric? If all the chatter’s got it right, she’s giving up the anchor chair and darting back to more comfortable turf, probably daytime TV. So here was Couric, on daytime TV’s The View, sitting alongside Barbara Walters, who’s made a career out of squeezing information out of tight-lipped celebrities. Could she get Couric to spill? Not exactly. “Every day you pick up the papers, it’s another headline,” Walters began, and Couric immediately said “it’s boring.”

Mediaite founder Dan Abrams continued his welcome-wagon tour around the ABC family today and continued to win the favor of the female contingent by promoting his book, Man Down, on The View. The interview started off with a bang as Joy Behar asked the question everyone has been thinking: Did he just write the book to get laid?

Alex Jones, a controversial radio host and friend of Charlie Sheen, appeared on The View today to discuss Sheen’s strange behavior, however, Jones managed to squeeze in some very off-topic conspiracy theories that left co-hosts Barbara Walters, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Whoopi Goldberg struggling to maintain control. It’s not surprising that Jones does not have many fans on the right or the left, being a prominent 9/11 Truther and a peddler of other conspiracies, thus many wondered why he was invited to appear at all?

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is proving he’s not afraid of anyone on his media tour, and after escaping some recent comedic and serious interviews virtually unscathed, he was now ready to enter the lion’s den known as The View. The most interesting moment came when Barbara Walters may have caught Rumsfeld a little off-guard, as she twice asked Rumsfeld if he wanted to apologize to the families of soldiers who died during the Iraq war.

On The View, this week there are a series of “Where Are They Now?” segments featuring interviews with guests who were the subject of scandals in the past. Jessica Hahn, a woman who had a brief sexual relationship with televangelist Jim Bakker in the 1980′s, was today’s guest and may have just extended her 15 minutes of fame by rattling co-host Barbara Walters and receiving a scolding for bringing up Walters own sexual history.

Barbara Walters has chimed in regarding Ron Reagan‘s much talked about new memoir – My Father at 100 – in which he claims, among other things, that his father’s struggle with Alzheimer’s began while he was still in office.

Not surprisingly the topic of conversation on today episode of The View was the tragic events of this weekend in Arizona that saw six innocent civilians killed and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords put into critical condition. Almost immediately after the news broke of this event, many on the left pointed to an image put fort by Sarah Palin‘s PAC that included controversial cross-hair imagery on a number of congressional districts in play (including Giffords’.) Today Barbara Walters defended Palin, saying “I feel bad for Sarah Palin.”