McCain gets grilled on 'The View.'

When I first heard that John McCain and his wife were going to be on 'The View,' I didn't really have the urge to watch it. I'm not a big day-time talk show kinda gal, I don't revolve my day around making sure I catch Oprah's newest crazed celebrity guest or Martha's new shoe whitening technique. Not on purpose, I stumbled upon the interview on television and I was completely surprised by how intriguing it was. I had never actually seen an episode of 'The View,' combining it in the category of mind-blowingly pointless talk shows, yet I shouldn't of judged it so fast. Lead by Barbara Walters, this group of women really let McCain have it, and didn't hold back! These were some of the first 'balls to the wall' questions I've heard so far, and I was very happy to see them call McCain out on certain issues. Here are some of the questions and responses from the show:

- SARAH PALIN

Ms. Walters led off the questioning of Mr. McCain, and right away set the tone for the rest of the interview. She first asked Mr. McCain to defend his earlier statement that Ms. Palin was “the greatest vice presidential candidate in the history of the United States.” Was he perhaps overlooking John Adams or George H.W. Bush?

“We politicians are never given to exaggeration,” Mr. McCain began with a smile, but then turned more serious. “The fact is,” he said, “I think she’s a great person, she’s a great governor, she’s the most popular governor in America, she understands the energy issues.” (That phrase about being the most popular governor refers to her approval ratings in Alaska, which have consistently been quite high, including a poll in July that put her approval rating at 80 percent.)

Ms. Walters also noted that Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin have said that her job will be to reform Washington. But, she pointed out, Mr. McCain has been in Congress for 22 years, the Republicans have been in the White House for eight years, so who, exactly, is Ms. Palin going to reform?

“The Democrats have been in charge of both houses for the last two years,” Mr. McCain replied. Pressed, he added: “The Republicans, the Democrat party, even the independents. She’ll reform all of Washington.”

How?

“By doing what she did in Alaska.”

What, exactly?

“First of all, earmark spending, which she vetoed a half a billion dollars worth in the state of Alaska.”

But she also put earmarks in, Ms. Walters noted.

“Not as governor she didn’t,” Mr. McCain said.

(But as governor, she did. As the Anchorage Daily News, among others, has reported, in Ms. Palin’s first year as governor, she requested 52 earmarks valued at $256 million, and this year, her office asked the Alaska delegation in Washington to help land 31 earmarks valued at $197 million. Also, Citizens Against Government Waste ranks Alaska as having received the “most pork per capita” of all states this year.)

Mr. McCain said that Ms. Palin “freed Alaska for the first time,” saying she “took government out of the hands of the special interests and the oil companies and the old-boy network and gave it back to the people of Alaska” and “that’s what we have to do in Washington.”

But what exactly will she do?

“The same thing,” Mr. McCain replied. “Break the old-boy network, the special interests that control our agenda in Washington.”

- MCCAIN'S AD CAMPAIGN

Ms. Behar brought up two of his recent ads against Mr. Obama, one suggesting that when Mr. Obama had used a colloquial expression about putting “lipstick on a pig,” he was referring to Ms. Palin and the other suggesting that Mr. Obama wanted sex education for children. “We know those two ads are untrue, they’re lies,” she said, and yet at the end of each, you say you approve these messages. Do you really approve these?"

“They are not lies,” Mr. McCain said. “And if you’ve seen some of the ads that are running against me…”

The conversation broke off in cross-talk, and Mr. McCain then rejoined to say that Mr. Obama “chooses his words very carefully and he shouldn’t have said it.”

-ROE v. WADE

Hasselbeck asked, "There has also been a question burning amongst voters and actually our viewers, and that is the question of Roe v. Wade. And as president, if you were, no softballs coming from me, even though you have my vote. Would you as president work to overturn that? And then would Sarah Palin be working to overturn Roe v. Wade?"

John McCain responded, "I think what we would be doing is appointing or nominating justices to the United States Supreme Court and other courts who strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States. We would not impose a litmus test on any issue because that's not fair to the American people. But they would have to have a clear record of strict interpretation."

Barbara Walters responded, "That's kind of the other way of saying people who would want to overturn Roe v. Wade."

John McCain agreed with the insight. "That, that, well, that is saying that, I believe Roe v. Wade was a very bad decision, Barbara. I think it was a bad decision. I thought other, I thought other decisions of the United States Supreme Court were bad decisions. But I want people on the Court who, quote, "do interpret" and not just on the issue of Roe v. Wade, but on other issues."

This prompted Whoopi Goldberg to worry that if he wanted to return to the constitution as it was written, and not as it was amended, she would be returned to slavery.

“I understand your point,” Mr. McCain said, as Ms. Goldberg theatrically fanned herself as if recovering from a big scare. “An excellent point.”He then said that while he is “pro-life” because he believes that life begins at conception, “I also respect the views of those who don’t.”

That prompted Ms. Walters to ask, “So, you believe in choice?” but before he could answer, they all agreed to move on to other topics.

-THE GOD QUESTION

Whoppi asked the question that I thought was one of the best-asked questions of this election. It started by her asking if he believed in the separation of church and state, and he answered yes. Seeing as Palin is very religious, Whoppi asked, “Does it make you pause to know that Sarah Palin does not have the same beliefs as you, and god forbid anything happen to you, knowing she doesn’t have the same beliefs, should she run our country?” McCain went on to say that he was a religious man, and that he respected our founding father’s view on God; how our country was built on Christian beliefs, we have god in our everyday society, etc, but that he respects that not everyone believes in god. Then Whoppi asks THE question: “ Knowing that you are a man of strict faith, will you govern this nation as god would have you do it, or do you govern this nation for the greater good of the people in it?” He responded in part, "God has a plan for the world and that we should do what we can to lead as good a lives as we can..."

-THE WIFE

Shortly thereafter, Cindy McCain, the candidate’s wife, arrived on the set. She was asked if she agreed with Ms. Palin that there should be no exceptions for abortions, even in cases of rape and incest. (Ms. Palin has indicated that she would allow an exception only if the mother’s life were at stake.)

“We disagree on that issue,” Mrs. McCain said.

So, there are exceptions? “Yes,” Mrs. McCain said, adding, “John and I agree on this issue.” Mr. McCain has said he favors exceptions for rape and incest and to save the life of the mother.

Mrs. McCain also went on to say that the greatest thing about women is “we put our family’s first.” (Interesting seeing how Palin’s family is currently on the back burner during this campaign, see previous ‘Nutshell’ entry)

All in all I think McCain perhaps expected a fun session chatting with the ladies about the softer side of his presidential campaign, but once he settled onto the couch, he got a pretty good grilling which I feel was much needed. Kudos to the women of ‘The View.’