Recently for Good Morning America, contributor Elizabeth Hasselbeck reported a story on a growing trend of stay at home mothers supplementing their family’s income by becoming phone sex operators. Today on The View, Hasselbeck and her co-hosts discussed and Whoopi Goldberg revealed that she herself had spent some time on the other end of the phone.

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.

Michael Moore appeared on the set of The View today promoting his new book Here Comes Trouble. Perhaps predictably, Moore brought trouble with him when the conversation turned to the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden when he very specifically suggested that the Navy SEALS should have brought the al Qaeda leader back to the United States to be brought to trial. Elisabeth Hasselbeck vociferously disagreed.

Whoa. In just this five minute clip of The View, there were enough soundbites for about 10 posts. Yes, folks, this is why the media is so in love with the Birther issue. As Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Joy Behar, and Sherri Shepherd all railed against the topic, they took Donald Trump and the Birthers to task for a number of things, accusing him of alternately of racism, insulting the President, and hurting the country’s reputation.

The controversial abortion comments from young pop superstar Justin Bieber continue to reverberate as Rolling Stone attempts to clarify the statement and now with the ladies of The View weighing in too. Given Bieber’s pro-life stance, it might not be surprising that liberal Joy Behar and conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck disagreed over the appropriateness of his comments.

One of The View co-hosts, Elizabeth Hasselbeck stopped by The Factor and told Bill O’Reilly she wasn’t happy about Sheriff Dupnik continuing to blame right-wing rhetoric for the Arizona shooting tragedy. She also revealed despite being the only conservative voice on The View, she doesn’t feel like she’s ganged up on.

The hosts of The View were still discussing the ongoing media brouhaha between NPR and Fox News over the firing of Juan Williams. Barbara Walters opened the discussion by discussing the current state of media – from opiniotainment to straight up journalism. Co-host Joy Behar predictably stepped in to defend NPR and used an odd way to explain their value, claiming that NPR’s been ‘vetted by objective ‘Media Matters’ people.”

Kathy Griffin went on The View this morning to promote the upcoming season of her Emmy-winning show (which premieres tonight on Bravo) and talk about the stunts viewers should expect to see in the new episodes, like entering herself in a children’s beauty pageant and receiving a very public gynecological exam. It was co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, however, who provided the self-proclaimed self-promoter with the best press for the premiere: an onstage host spat.

Early this morning, television icon Barbara Walters announced to the audience of The View that she will be taking a break from the program this summer to undergo heart surgery. She and her co-hosts then had a long discussion about the surgery, her health, how the issue was discovered, and whether she was frightened. Video of the exchange after the jump.

Who’s prettier, more conniving and more ambitious: the characters from the CW’s Gossip Girl or the media elite? Both live in worlds of ambition, access, even backstabbing, and some might say it’s all one big popularity contest. But it’s not just beauty and a knack for spreading news quickly that unite our favorite teen-soap and the media figures whose every move we track. Spotted: Our favorite Gossip Girl characters and their real-life media counterparts.