The View: Lying about war worse than oral sex?

David Edwards and Muriel Kane Published: Tuesday March 11, 2008 |
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When the panelists on ABC's The View took up the question of "What kind of flaws are acceptable in a candidate," most of the attention was focused on former President Bill Clinton, until host Whoopi Goldberg turned the conversation to "lying to the country about going to war."

"The reason I brought this up is that I was at this dinner party Saturday night," began comedian Joy Behar. "They were talking about Bill Clinton and his little ... escapade. ... The men seemed to be much more against and angry about what he did, and the women -- how shall I put this? -- they blew it off. ... Then I said, well is that a worse flaw than, let's say, John McCain supposedly has anger issues. ... How many flaws will we tolerate?"

"I think we should look at them kind of like as if you're dating them," commented former reality show contestant Elisabeth Hasselbeck. "Are there deal-breakers in a relationship?"

"If you are willing to lie and keep things from your partner, and that's a commitment that you made before God ... then what makes me think as a person who nominated you into that office that you're not going to lie and keep things from me?" asked actress Sherri Sheperd.

"Would you say that lying to the country about going to war sort of balances that out?" asked host Whoopi Goldberg. "There were no weapons of mass destruction and -- I'm sorry -- Osama bin Laden was not in Iraq."

"But is that a lie?" Hasselbeck asked.

"Yes, it's a lie," replied Golderg.

"I don't believe it. I don't think there was," insisted the reliably pro-administration Hasselbeck. "I think that there was a response based on intelligence that was appropriate at the time, and everybody felt that way at the time"

But Goldberg wouldn't accept the claim that "everybody felt that way." She pointed out that she herself was all gung ho to go after al Qaeda following 9/11 but "we didn't go where he said we were going. ... I woke up the next morning, we were in Iraq."

This video is from ABC's The View, broadcast March 10, 2008.