In an interview with Vice President Joe Biden, ABC's The View co-host Joy Behar brought up rogue crowd members at a recent GOP debate who booed after a gay soldier asked a question of the candidates. After Biden condemned the action, Behar, host of a prime time show on CNN's HLN, slammed the Republican candidates for not rebuking the audience members.
"I thought it was reprehensible," Biden said of the booing, to which Behar added "And no one spoke up. The entire panel, not one person said anything."
Biden didn't respond, and a few seconds of silence ensued. He did hint earlier in the segment that he was less than impressed with the Republican presidential field.
Fox News' Megyn Kelly, who was a moderator at that debate, quickly picked up [1] on the segment and cast doubt on the notion that the hecklers were booing the soldier himself. Kelly claimed that there were only two members of the audience who booed at the question, and it was not for certain that they even booed the gay soldier, but rather his question.
"Well having actually been at the debate, I can tell you that there were perhaps a total of two boos in an auditorium of over 5,000 people," Kelly asserted. "Moreover, were the boos directed, as Ms. Behar contends, at the gay soldier, or at his question on the issue of gay rights in the military, which is very controversial?"
[Video below. Click here [2] for audio.]
A transcript of the segment, which aired on September 27 at 11:23 a.m. EDT, is as follows:
[11:23]
JOY BEHAR: Yeah, what do you think of Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry – who else is there, Romney –
SHERI SHEPARD: Huntsman.
BEHAR: What do you think of them?
Vice President JOE BIDEN: Well I think all of them, maybe with the exception of Huntsman, have the same sort of value set. They think that the way to move the country forward is in a fundamentally different way than we think to move it forward. So I don't see a lot of difference in terms – like for example, Social Security. They're beating up Perry for saying it's a Ponzi scheme, but yet everyone else on that stage wants to privatize it. So I don't see much difference. And the question is whomever the nominee is, I think there's going to be stark choices between the President and me and whomever their nominees are in terms of, you know, our –
BEHAR: But what did you – I have to ask you, what did you think of the booing that went on the other day, about the gay soldier. Did you have a visceral response to it?
BIDEN: I did have a visceral response, and I'm not sure it's because my son spent a year in Iraq, and I know my son and all the kids with him. Kids – they're grown men. I don't think they give a damn whether a guy firing a rifle to protect them is gay or straight. I don't think they care about that. And look, this kid risked his life, this kid is there for a year, and I, quite frankly, I thought it was reprehensible.
BEHAR: Right. And no one spoke up. That entire panel, not one person said anything.