Controversies are why foxnews loves her
On August 2, 2006, Hasselbeck got into a heated debate in which she strongly opposed the Food and Drug Administration's plan to sell the "morning after pill" as an over-the-counter drug. Hasselbeck stated, "I believe that life begins at the moment of conception..." She said the pill should be banned in cases of rape and incest, because "that life still has value." Hasselbeck argued that advocates of the drug use the "rape or incest" exception as a "bait-and-switch" distraction from the goal of making it universally accessible. She argued if the "rape or incest" exception was all advocates cared about, they would not support its over-the-counter status.[13]
On May 23, 2007, Hasselbeck was involved in a heated on-air argument with co-host Rosie O'Donnell concerning the war in Iraq, which she supports and O'Donnell opposes. When O'Donnell rhetorically asked, "655,000 Iraqi civilians dead. Who are the terrorists?"[14] she was criticized by conservative commentators for her question. O'Donnell complained about Hasselbeck's unwillingness to defend more strongly O'Donnell's statement following the media attention after her comment. Hasselbeck said "Defend your own insinuations" and responded that she shouldn't have to defend anyone else's words for them, especially when she has a forum with which to defend herself.[15][16]
In September 2007, Barry Manilow canceled a scheduled appearance on The View because of his dislike of Hasselbeck and her conservative views. Manilow said, "I strongly disagree with her views. I think she's dangerous and offensive. I will not be on the same stage as her." He added, "I had made a request that I be interviewed by co-hosts Joy (Behar), Barbara (Walters) or Whoopi (Goldberg), but not Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Unfortunately, the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request, so I bowed out".[17]
On October 3, 2007, Hasselbeck and The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg got into a discussion about Hillary Clinton's new $5000 baby entitlement which became heated due to Hasselbeck stating that it would lead to fewer abortions due to women wanting to keep the money. Goldberg told Hasselbeck to "back off a little" and asked her if she "had ever been in that position to make that decision".[18]
On January 21, 2008, Hasselbeck and her The View co-hosts were discussing the idea of whether it is harder to elect an African American or woman President. When asked "Is the country more racist than sexist?" by co-host Joy Behar, Hasselbeck was quick to respond with "Don't we have the answer already? Wasn't a black man able to walk into a voting booth long before a woman?" Co-host Whoopi Goldberg responded by saying that a woman was able to vote long before an African American.[19] The historical question is controversial. The first African American to vote under the 15th Amendment was Thomas Mundy Peterson in 1870 while the first woman to vote under the 19th was Marie Ruoff Byrum in 1920. On the other hand, some women were able to vote in various states long before either the 19th amendment or the 15th amendment and, due to Jim Crow laws, the 15th amendment did not effectively grant suffrage to African Americans on a national scale the way the 19th amendment did for women. Even so, at the time of the ratification of the Articles of Confederation in 1777, five states--Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina--permitted free blacks to vote.
On March 24, 2008, Hasselbeck commented on Rev. Jeremiah Wright's recent statements. After Hasselbeck said of Rev. Wright, "I would never continue to be friends with someone who was a racist,"[20] co-host Sherri Shepherd responded, "Can I say something? Because this man- 20 years he’s been preaching and he’s done so much for the community and I think, you know, to say that this man is racist, and you haven’t had the full text of what he said, that’s just really extreme, Elisabeth." Hasselbeck responded and used what she said was an "extreme" example to make her point; "Now, would you say, and I’m going to go to an extreme now since we’re going there. I’m sure at some point, Jeffrey Dahmer ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Does that make the fact that he then ate people less wrong?" Co-host Whoopi Goldberg asked, "How do you equate those two things together? I’m sorry, I, I-" [laughter][21][1][22] To refute Hasselbeck's accusation of Wright, co-host Joy Behar read dictionary definitions of "racism": "The second definition is, this is what I was driving at, 'a policy, a system of government based upon or forced such a doctrine of discrimination.' So it comes from the ruling party, the ruling class. It doesn’t come from the oppressed. It comes from above."[21]
