So you raise five children and provide foster care for 23 children, but according to HLN's high-priestess of intellectualism, you hate children.
Only from Joy Behar, host of a HLN show and co-host of “The View,” could offer such an assertion as fact to audience. On Behar's Oct. 12 program, she made the claim the Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and other so-called “Mama Grizzlies” were guilty of various misdeeds against humanity. She claimed the Republican Minnesota congresswoman was anti-children, but not before condemning her for not publicly rebuking Carl Paladino for his remarks about gay and lesbian issues.
“While Tea Party favorite Carl Paladino is making a lot of noise with his anti-gay comments, many on the right have been noticeably silent. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann side stepped the question this morning on today but it seems strange to me that a woman even on the right as far as she is wouldn't say something about equal rights. So where are Michele Bachmann and the other so-called ma grizzlies on this and other social issues?” Behar asked.
S.E. Cupp, author of “Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media's Attack on Christianity” [1] suggested to Behar that it wasn't Bachmann's job to police the speech of others who claim to fly the flag of the Tea Party movement.
“You know, I don't know that it's a congresswoman's job to defend a candidate,” Cupp said. “I think she can endorse if she'd like. She can comment. But she is not obligated. I think it's up to pundits to say what's what and someone like me, a conservative pundit, I am absolutely not defending a Carl Paladino. If someone like Ann Coulter wants to that is perfectly within her purview. But I don't leave it to Michele Bachmann to get up there and say aye or nay to every candidate gaffe.”
Behar abandoned that line of questioning and went after Bachmann for being a critic of the SCHIP over the years. According to Behar, this damaged her feminist street cred, which Cupp protested:
BEHAR: Don't you think it shows their true colors – these mama grizzlies so-called? I mean she is against a federal program to help poor kids get health insurance, Michele Bachmann. She is no mama grizzly. She is against children. Who is she fooling?
CUPP: That's a little – I think that's a generalization. Michele Bachmann –
BEHAR: That is a fact.
CUPP: I think is a woman to admire. I admire her, I know her well. She is I think an advocate for her state, for women, for men, for all different types of people. And the fact –
BEHAR: She is against children, the federal program helped at aiding income kids get health insurance.
CUPP: The fact that she is a conservative, the fact that she does not support gay marriage does not make her anti-woman.
BEHAR: No, but don't call yourself a mama grizzly when you're against children.
CUPP: She is not against children, Joy.
BEHAR: Yes she is.
CUPP: She is absolutely not against children. She has children. She stands up for children –
BEHAR: I'm sure they all have health insurance all her children.
CUPP: She thinks policy should – you can disagree with her politics, joy, but let's not paint her as anti-woman. This is a mistake.
BEHAR: Anti-children.
BEHAR: But she's anti-children.
CUPP: She is not.
Behar must have missed the fact that Bachmann has raised five of her own children and 23 foster children [2]. But why let facts get in the way of a good talking point?
Still, Cupp explained to Behar that the mentality of hers and the modern feminist movement is damaging its brand:
CUPP: This is why feminism is completely irrelevant today – because it completely misconstrues.
BEHAR: How? Explain.
CUPP: It pits people against each other. Gloria Steinem calling Sarah Palin the wrong kind of woman, which is essentially what you are doing now, is not feminism. It's not pro woman.
BEHAR: It is not patriotic to say that she is the real American Sarah Palin and we're not.
CUPP: We're not talking about patriotism. I'm talking about feminism.
BEHAR: Ok. I'm just giving you the other side of the coin.
CUPP: I understand but we're talking about feminism. And this is why liberal progressivism has not been able to compete with the likes of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann in terms of personality and popularity because the angry feminism and identity politics of the `70s is obsolete today.
This isn't new behavior from the HLN host. Behar has never been much of a fan of Bachmann, based on her pattern of behavior [3] that dates back several years.
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