This is a rush transcript from “Hannity,” January 19, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: In recent weeks, the notion that political rhetoric may have contributed to the tragedy in Tucson has been completely discredited. Still, there are some on the left and in the mainstream Obama mania media that are arguing that words like targeting, and job-killing and crosshairs should be removed from the world of politics. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN, JAN. 18)
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Before we go to break I want to make a quick point, I want to make a quick point. We were just having a discussion about the Chicago mayoral race just a moment ago, my friend Andy Shaw, who now works for a good government group out there, used the term “in the crosshairs” in talking about the candidates out there. We’re trying to get away from that language. Andy is a good friend, he’s covered politics for a long time. But we’re trying get away from using that kind of language. We won’t always be perfect. So, hold us accountable when we don’t meet your standards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, that unusual apology was hotly debated topic this morning on “The View.” Let’s take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM “THE VIEW”)
ELISABETH HASSELBECK, CO-HOST: I think, in an opportunity that the left actually had to have a real sincere conversation about the Second Amendment, we’ve now flipped it to talking about the First Amendment. We can’t say anything right now and this is a sad state for this country. The wrong conversation is being had. And it is ironic because it’s the left who’s actually flipped it.
(CROSSTALK)
JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST: You cannot assault a word.
SHERRI SHEPHERD, CO-HOST: Assault? What are you trying to say?
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Exactly, I mean, you go on stage as comedians, we go on the stage and they say how did you do? Well, I killed. You can’t say that any more.
SHEPHERD: Crosshairs has been under fire — excuse me. Oh, geez.
(LAUGHTER)
SHEPHERD: I give up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right. And here to continue the discussion is the co- host of “The View”, she’s also the author of the no New York Times best- selling book, “The G-Free Diet,” which is available in paperback in stores everywhere, the one and only Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Hi, good to see you.
Thanks for having me on.
HANNITY: Welcome back.
HASSELBECK: Good to be here. One of my favorite places to be, Sean.
HANNITY: Well, thank you. Look, I tell you every time you’re here, I love the show and I’m a fan of the show and I watch it a lot. I like to watch it while I’m running on my treadmill. And I agree with everybody here. This is scary. It’s a little unusual.
HASSELBECK: It is scary. Did Joy agree with me there? Shocking.
HANNITY: Actually, before we are done with you tonight, I am going to defend Joy Behar.
HASSELBECK: I don’t believe you.
HANNITY: No, I promise, I’m going to do it.
Look, one of the things I like about your show, it’s passionate, debate, it’s all sides, it’s the hot topics of the day. You know, I fear we are getting to the point, you can’t say anything — you can’t say war room, you can’t say targeting. You can’t, you know, say, we are going to put a bull’s-eye on a map.
HASSELBECK: Yes we can say that. And I will use yes we can. And this is why I believe it, I think the more that we link and say, we cannot say anything — I mean, look, I grew up in a family that was based on speak kind words as much as possible and if you don’t, apologize. Work hard and operate with integrity. That goes without saying. I think most civil people in the United States of America agree that you shouldn’t go outside of those boundaries.
Right now to even say that we have to curb what we’re saying only links any rhetoric to what happened in Tucson. There’s no link. We haven’t found a link. There’s no evidence that man even watched cable news, that he heard Sarah Palin say anything or saw the map with crosshairs. None. So the more that this conversation continues, in my opinion, it is a weak link that is trying to be strengthened by the left to Sarah and this man again.
Full Coverage: Arizona Shooting
HANNITY: It is very sinister to me because I think there’s an effort here to silence opposition voices. And, you know, to exploit a tragedy within two hours the way Paul Krugman did. Now, you rightly point out, this guy worshipped skulls, he is an atheist, he read Mein Kampf, The Communist Manifesto and smoked dope, and never listen to talk radio according to friends and never watch political debate and hated George Bush. But the narrative has been blame conservatives.
HASSELBECK: But we never heard any of that for the first four days. You know, the left-wing media, unfortunately Sean, and I’ve been trying not to have to blame anybody in this situation for, you know, wrecking what the American people heard by unfortunately, they were so drunk on this cocktail of trying to convict Sarah Palin, that they neglected — when I say neglect, that is with a huge bat that I will say that, neglected to give the American people information because they weren’t searching for it. They had already found their killer.
They had already given a man total justification for taking a gun and taking the lives of several human beings and then trying to take the lives of more. Awful, I mean, today we are blessed with the news, right? We have great news about Giffords. And I think that that should have been their first priority, giving us the news, making sure that we understood that the rest were safe. They had the killer. But if you are a crazy person out there, and you know that you have an automatic out to blame it on a politician, what do you think you are going to do? They are lucky that not one more person went out on a spree that day.
HANNITY: You know, and the interesting thing, the president lectured us, the media lectured us in the Major Hasan shooting. Don’t rush to judgment on this, we don’t know — we wait until all the facts are in. Why the distinction, why the difference in that case?
HASSELBECK: You know, it wasn’t in their favor. I mean, here they had the ultimate villain. And they had her already. They wanted to — what I can’t figure out is, is she a woman who can’t put two sentences together, some numbskull from the middle of nowhere who appeared out of the middle of nowhere like Samantha from “Bewitched” or she a brilliant woman who has an actual place in politics right now, which one is she?
HANNITY: Well, if you listen to, you are talking about Governor Palin?
HASSELBECK: Yes.
HANNITY: I got it. Why — this raises a question — conservative women and in particularly her. You got Michele Bachmann, you have been, you know, beaten up pretty bad at different times in your career. Why is it that conservative women are tacked as viciously about their clothes, their kids, their families, everybody is attacked and Sarah Palin has been attacked more than any other public figure out there?
HASSELBECK: It is strange.
HANNITY: Why?
HASSELBECK: It’s really strange. Most of my best friends are liberal women and I think we appreciate one another’s comments. But unfortunately, when you get into this grand scheme of sort of media television et cetera, the conservative woman is now judged. I thought women were now liberated to be who they wanted to be, to actually voice their opinions. You know what I call those who don’t appreciate a conservative woman’s voice? I call them chauvinists. And there are a ton of female chauvinists out there right now.
HANNITY: It’s a great point. And, you know, Ed Koch of all people, former mayor of New York, pretty liberal guy actually said, wait a minute, Sarah Palin is a role model for somebody who is fearless who will speak out on anything and never back down. And she is a role model to boys, girls, men and women that are fearful, that would back down, that would shy from the debate. And she said to me the other night, I’m not going anywhere, I’m not going to be shut up.
HASSELBECK: I’m sure her heart was broken like so many others about this. And the fact that she had to take blame. I mean, I understand that she had a right to be angry in her response. I think, it was a lose-lose situation to be quite honest. And I think, it is unfortunate as well that the media, you know, really, I will dare to say, shot themselves in the foot. We had an opportunity to have a bipartisan conversation about gun control in this country. Why this man was allowed to into one Wal-Mart, be denied for ammo, go to another and then purchase it. And instead now, we are talking about things we can’t talk about in the United States of America? What’s going on?
HANNITY: All right. Now, when we come back, I’m going to defend one of the most controversial things that your co-host said, Joy Behar, who —
HASSELBECK: I will believe it when I hear it, Sean.
HANNITY: And of course, she called me dangerous once, I’m dangerous. Joy, if you are watching, I’m not that dangerous. More with Elisabeth Hasselbeck coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And we continue now with the co-host of “The View,” author of The New York Times best-seller, “The G-Free Diet.” Now, available on paperback and bookstores all across the country. And by the way, we’re going to get to this in a minute. This is a special, this is an invention by Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
All right. Let’s start with the debate. We’re just talking about Governor Palin and the debate that you and your co-workers, your co-hosts on “The View” when you were talking about Sarah Palin and the crosshairs issue. Here’s that debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM “THE VIEW”)
BEHAR: What is Palin’s thing about the fact that I don’t really know all of the gun lingo but isn’t it got to do that the crosshairs were exactly connected to a shooting?
BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST: And she should have never been blamed.
BEHAR: She took it down the next day also because she must have felt it was wrong, otherwise why would she take it down?
HASSELBECK: There’s been no link, here’s my problem with this whole Loughner – – there’s been no link to him saying yes I followed her. Yes I watched her. He didn’t even watch cable TV as far as it has been reported and investigated. So it is a problem for that the real motive has just been sort of ditched by the media. Why are they not still investigating his why?
BEHAR: They are.
(CROSSTALK)
HASSELBECK: Really? They missed a good four days of —
BEHAR: The mental health discussion is discussion now.
HASSELBECK: Now is the operative word.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right. By the way, you and Barbara were dead on right about this — I can’t say dead on, excuse me.
HASSELBECK: No you can’t. Shoot, shoot, you can’t say dead on.
HANNITY: Yes, I got to be — this is how ridiculous it is. You mean, you guys were right about this. Here’s where I’m going to defend your co- host, in one of the more controversial heated moments during the campaign Joy Behar had very harsh words, made a lot of press. I was critical of her at the time when she said this about Sharron Angle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM “THE VIEW,” OCT. 26, 2010)
BEHAR: I’d like to see her do this ad in the south Bronx, come here (BLEEP) come to New York and do it.
(APPLAUSE)
SHEPHERD: We’re praying for you.
HASSELBECK: Even Joy is praying for you.
BEHAR: I’m not praying for her.
SHEPHERD: I’m praying for everybody.
BEHAR: She’s going to hell! She’s going to hell this (BEEP).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Go the hell this B-word. All right. Here’s my defense. I want Joy Behar to be able to go on “The View” and say that. I want to live in a society where she’s free to say that. I want to live in a society where Barack Obama can say, if they bring a knife I bring a gun. I don’t want to live in this hypersensitive PC world that is now being created.
HASSELBECK: And it is not necessary, Sean. We are an intelligent nation. I think that the majority of people understands metaphor and simile and with something being used as an illustration to prove a point. American people get that. I don’t think we need to curtail our speech, just someone who may be off enough to go on a crazy shooting spree, we should never have to live that way. In fact, we become prisoners in our own country.
HANNITY: Right. Now, look, do I think it would be in Joy’s best interest maybe not to say that — you know, the interesting thing that I said at the time was, if I called Hillary Clinton or Barbara Boxer, any Democratic politician which I would never do, any of those names, what do you think would happen? As a conservative saying that about a Democratic woman.
HASSELBECK: In office?
HANNITY: Running for office, in office.
HASSELBECK: You mean, the backlash would be incredible.
HANNITY: Maybe fired.
HASSELBECK: Depending on where you are. Maybe fired.
HANNITY: I may be fired, right?
HASSELBECK: You maybe. I think, look, obviously, I think respect should be expected. And I think everyone does have a valiant effort to try to maintain integrity in their job. It is our position, as professionals to give our opinion. I don’t think that we should have to pull the reins and I don’t think that we should have to pull back if indeed it’s not our intentions are not to cause someone or incite harm. You know, I don’t think our intentions are bad. They consider intent in all criminal cases. And it is always considered especially during trial and it should be consider here too. There was no intention.
HANNITY: This is what I love about the show. I mean, I like the free exchange. I don’t want to put a muzzle on anybody. You know, Joy Behar wants to be outrageous, let her be outrageous, let her be funny, outrageous, say whatever she wants. But, you know what? It’s got to be fair across the board. Conservatives need to be able to say what they want and then not have boycotts in efforts to silence and intimidate or false charges or exploitation like we saw in this case.
HASSELBECK: That’s why I love, I truly love “The View” because of that. You know, we are able to come out there and talk about what we believe or what we’ve researched or feel and experienced. And I do, I love the opportunity to do that. It is a fair table there. So, I always thank Barbara Walters for that.
HANNITY: All right. So, you wrote this book, it became a huge best seller. Two of my best friends swear by it. It saved their lives. “The G-Free Diet,” now you developed that this is a no G. Hasselbeck’s no-g. It says right on the book. No gluten, this is chocolate peanut butter and caramel crisp.
HASSELBECK: Yes. It’s no gluten, high protein, all natural bar that I was really searching for as a celiac. But it is great for anybody who has gluten sensitivity. Wants to have a great —
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Wow! This is. —
HASSELBECK: Tim eats it all the time, former NFL player, so it’s —
HANNITY: This is great.
HASSELBECK: I’ve been working really hard on the product.
HANNITY: I’m not going to be able to talk for the rest of the show.
HASSELBECK: Joy might like that.
(LAUGHTER)
It’s from Joy, actually. But I do think, you know, I’m glad the book has helped. G-FreeDiet.com is been a place where people can go and learn about ways to sort of navigate the world if they want to be gluten-free and I’m thankful for the opportunity to share it.
HANNITY: And you’re healthy now because once you discovered that you had this.
HASSELBECK: I’m healthy as ever.
HANNITY: You’re healthier than ever.
HASSELBECK: Yes, I was able to conceive before — it is. Chocolate peanut butter. You know, in terms of having kids, in terms of being able to be fit, you know, run marathons, train hard and be a mom of three kids that has a few jobs going.
HANNITY: You run marathons? How long does it take you to run a marathon?
HASSELBECK: It takes me a few years to run a marathon. I run them mile by mile, year by year. But I do, I try to train for some races and I couldn’t do it without the way that I am now. Not an option for me. I’m a celiac.
HANNITY: Honestly, I don’t know. This is delicious.
HASSELBECK: Thanks, Sean.
HANNITY: I’m going to order boxes of them. This is great.
HASSELBECK: You can go to G-FreeDiet.com.
HANNITY: It is low in calories?
HASSELBECK: It is. It’s actually smart calories. It’s impactful calories. So check it out.
HANNITY: Good, I can’t get my stomach any bigger.
HASSELBECK: You’ll be able to keep your physique.
HANNITY: Yes, my physique.
All right, all the best everybody. Thank you for being with us. Congratulations on the book.
HASSELBECK: Thank you, Sean.
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