Griffs Notes 5/21/07

I have a confession to make – I watch ABC’s The View almost daily. I suppose it’s mostly “train wreck television” in my case because I tune in to see if Rosie will put her foot in her mouth again – and I admit that’s my primary motivation for watching. And she didn’t let me down today.

The show is fascinating to me because it has four women with diverse opinions tackling everything from politics and international policy to movie reviews and wedding dresses. And co-hosts Rosie O’Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck have evolved into arch enemies over the war in Iraq, 9/11 attacks… and now FOX News itself. (In full disclosure, Elisabeth is a frequent guest on FNC.)

Rosie had actually made a public promise to tone the rhetoric down and take it a little easier on a pregnant Elisabeth, but I guess she couldn’t resist herself today.

The segment began with a discussion of the news that former President Jimmy Carter had called President Bush’s administration “the worst” in history – although we later learned that Carter back tracked from those comments calling them “careless.”

But as Elisabeth defended the WH’s point of view of the Carter comments, the conversation quickly turned cold and callous as Rosie began to unload about “what FOX News said about me this weekend.”

O’Donnell claimed that FOX News said, “Rosie thinks our troops are terrorists.” And so Elisabeth challenged her on it asking the simple question: Who are the terrorists?

Rosie took a shot at the Bush administration saying, “I’m talking about a word: terrorism that the administration has used in terrifying this country… they’re terrorizing Americans by using the word ‘terror’ and taking away our civil liberties.”

Ever the professional, Barbara Walters tried to rein in the ensuing catfight offering some clarity to this point saying, “There are jihadists whose primary job in life is attacking the west.”

Elisabeth kept challenging Rosie to clarify whom she is calling a terrorist when she continues to rant about Americans killing innocent Iraqis. That’s when Rosie went nuclear.

“I just said it, Elisabeth. Are you not able to hold two concepts at once?” Rosie barked.

But the insults didn’t stop there… she eventually found a way to bundle our network and Elisabeth together charging, “those crappy cable shows said it – the ones that Elisabeth watches.”

Poor Elisabeth! She did an outstanding job of defending “those crappy cable shows” noting that it’s part of her job to stay informed about current events.

I’m going to miss Rosie when her contract runs out because she is the perfect villain.

I don’t mind if she wants to attack our network – that’s her first Amendment right to do so. I just wish she’d stop saying that she supports the troops because ranting about killing innocent Iraqis is not our mission. Being supportive is not spreading mistaken generalities.

I doubt there are many people in America anymore who don’t feel like there have been enormous mistakes made in the war in Iraq and that we are having a difficult time figuring out how to get out of there.

But as Barbara Walters pointed out (her voice mostly drowned out by the catfight) there are actually bad people in the world who hate us and are seeking to destroy us… and they don’t work here at FOX News, Rosie.

I can be reached for questions or comments at Griffsnotes@foxnews.com.