Whoopi Goldberg got into it with Sunny Hostin and Meghan McCain on the return episode of “The View” Monday as the panel continues discussing the Democratic presidential candidates on the program.
This time, the clash was over front runner Joe Biden who has finally apologized for remarks made weeks ago where he appeared to give praise to segregationist senators he said he worked with during the 1970s with “some civility.”
“Was I wrong a few weeks ago to somehow give the impression to people that I was praising those men who I successfully opposed time and again? Yes, I was. I regret it. I’m sorry for any of the pain or misconception I may have caused anybody,” he said during a campaign event in Sumter, South Carolina, Saturday.
Further, the former vice president gave praise to former President Barack Obama, who he said he was “vetted by him and 10 serious lawyers he appointed.”
“I’ll take his judgment of my record, my character, and my ability to handle the job over anyone else’s,” he said.
Goldberg, who has long defended Biden, asked whether or not Biden got Obama’s approval should be taken into consideration.
“If the first Black president gives you the OK to serve as his VP, shouldn’t that matter?” she says.
Goldberg further said it “irritated” her that people were “picking at something you think is going to be meaningful.”
“Alluding to him having to work with racists — do you know how many people are still sitting in both houses that were there when a lot of these people we running?” she says. “We’d have to be pissed at everybody all the time.”
Hostin said that no one is deeming Biden racist but he “has certain racial blind spots that he has to address. He did have to address his working with segregationists.”
She also acknowledged the issue of Biden giving a eulogy for segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond and Sen. Robert Byrd, who was once a Ku Klux Klan member, as well as the 1994 crime bill Biden played a key part in drafting.
“He does have a history, while working with others, being very supportive of issues that have been reductive to the African American community and he has to address that … he finally apologized,” Hostin says.
After McCain chimed in and spoke on Byrd, whom she recalled Obama also eulogized, she said she dislikes the “dog whistle that somehow Joe Biden is a racist.”
Addressing Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris‘ remarks at the debate when she took on Biden’s opposition to the desegregation measure of school busing, McCain remained firm.
“I’m sorry, but if you have to say ‘I don’t think you’re a racist, but…’ it automatically puts someone on the defense that well, maybe you probably do.”
A frustrated Goldberg broke in to focus on what she saw as the bigger picture.
“No! … Everybody wants to get that guy [Donald Trump] out of the White House. But you cannot cannibalize each other to do it,” she says.
As her co-hosts continue to point out Biden’s issues, Goldberg irritably paused before giving her final two cents.
“The point that I’m making is that if you start to cannibalize because you want to win, we’re going to end up losing,” she says. “So everybody needs to get themselves in order, which is just my opinion.”
McCain said that Goldberg’s point “sounds like stuff I’ve been saying,” but the lead panelist hit back and said, “Actually, it doesn’t but I undersand the joke.”
“You missed the point, too,” she added.
