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Joy Behar Page
Chaos in Egypt; Interview With Nancy Grace
Aired February 07, 2011 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOY BEHAR, HOST: OK. So, everyone was thrilled about the Super Bowl. For me it was no big whoop. Listen, if I wanted to see a bunch of sweaty, beefy guys in tight stretch pants bang into on each other, I hang out with the log cabin Republicans.
Instead I switched back and forth between Masterpiece Theater`s "Sense and sensibility" and the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet. I love puppies; the cute expressions, the feeding by hand. Wait, that was Cameron Diaz and A- Rod. Those two people need to be spayed, OK, and neutered. Let`s keep that population down, people. Ok.
And for the record I wasn`t the only one not paying attention to the game; Brett Favre kept texting the pictures of his junk all night. Well, it was either him or Ben Bernanke. It`s amazing how their junk could pass for twins.
But I did watch most of the commercials. The Darth Vader kid, cute. But his old man made him think he`s got super powers and now the kid`s going to fly out the window. OK.
And I`m a little ticked off about the "Go, Daddy" ad. They had the nerve to put Joan Rivers` head on my body. Here`s the original photo, OK? Eat your heart out, Kim Kardashian.
The chaos in Egypt is now in its 14th day and protesters say they`ll keep going until President Mubarak leaves. But will that happen? And after death threats, detainments and violence, is it safe for reporters to cover the story. Here now are David Muir, ABC News anchor for "World News Saturday", who has just returned from Cairo; and Hala Gorani, anchor for CNN International on the ground in Egypt.
Hala, let me start with you. Now it`s day 14. Some protestors are saying that they`re staying until Mubarak leaves. At this point, what`s the chance of that actually happening?
HALA GORANI, ANCHOR, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Well, there seems to be some sort of consensus at the top that Mubarak would stay at least for the foreseeable future and oversee a transition with the vice president who really seems to be the man calling the shots right now, Omar Suleiman. He`s held discussions with some members of the opposition, but it hasn`t been all inclusive.
It`s still a fragile process, but calls coming from the outside for Mubarak to step down right away are really few in number. You have this hard core group of protesters in Tahrir Square who are asking for that. The chances of that happening however, Joy, are rather low, according to many observers here.
Ok. Now, Mubarak, David -- Mubarak is saying that if he leaves, chaos will ensue. Do you think that`s true? There is chaos there any way.
DAVID MUIR, ABC NEWS: There is chaos and he said that this week with Christiane Amanpour from ABC, who obviously used to be a colleague of yours. And his contention was a little bit for his own best interest to say if there`s chaos here maybe people will not protest as heavily as they had been doing.
But much of the international community also believes that to be true, that if he were to step down immediately, there would be this political vacuum and that perhaps filling that vacuum would mean not necessarily a group of opposition groups but rather perhaps the Muslim Brotherhood or the people who are better organized.
BEHAR: Is that really true though? I keep hearing conflicting reports. On the one hand, they say the Muslim Brotherhood could step in. On the other, they`re a small percentage of people there and they don`t really have any clout. Egypt prides itself on being secular. So I mean, really, what`s the truth of that?
MUIR: Well, they`re best organized right now. When you hear Mohamed ElBaradei or some of these other opposition groups say we`re not going to take part in any discussions until Mubarak steps down, that`s not necessarily the smartest thing to do in their own interest. Because if they don`t start taking part in these transition talks, they might be left at the back of the line.
And we heard this from the White House. Secretary Clinton, over the weekend, President Obama just today again saying we want this transition period. We want the concrete timeline. But that doesn`t mean stepping down now because they`re afraid.
BEHAR: Ok. All right. Let`s talk about the journalists and the personal stuff that`s been going on. You guys were beaten, threatened, detained. Hala, you were roughed up in a crowd. Tell me what the scariest part of all that was for you.
GORANI: Well, I was actually trying to cover the beginning of the clashes. I actually arrived in Tahrir Square right before it got very nasty. You will remember that surreal scene of the camels and the horses charging into Tahrir Square?
BEHAR: Yes.
Gorani: At that point -- right -- at that point, clashes broke out. I was kind of shoved up against the gate, at that point, threatened by pro Mubarak supporters. And what`s interesting is I was kind of ushered out of there by another pro Mubarak supporter who helped me out and sort of defended me against those rioters, agitators -- whatever you want to call them -- who were kind of getting in my face.
Then the next day, I was traveling in a car and a mob surrounded the car, I was with another colleague, and broke the window, smashed the window. We really for several days there were threatened consistently and took care not to go after a while, so it did work in a way because we couldn`t go out in the streets with big cameras. We had to kind of operate a little bit on the down low after that.
BEHAR: Was the second car -- the people who surrounded you, were those pro Mubarak or anti Mubarak? Just curious.
GORANI: They were pro Mubarak lining the overpass overlooking Tahrir -- pro Mubarak.
BEHAR: Ok.
All right. Now, your ABC colleagues were hijacked and they told they`d be beheaded. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN HARTMAN, ABC NEWS PRODUCER: A man in a police uniform about as angry as I`ve ever seen anybody in my life, looking me in the eye, screaming -- he couldn`t control himself, he was so angry at the perceived media bias in the coverage. He felt that our coverage was so biased against President Mubarak. He said, so help me God, I will cut off your head. He was going like this. And all around there are other people saying, cut head now, cut head now. It was terrifying. We really, really thought that we were finished.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Wow.
MUIR: This was an incredible story.
BEHAR: How did they get out?
MUIR: Akram Abi-hanna, the photographer -- he`s a long time ABC photographer, a veteran of many wars. He was in that car with Brian Hartman who you saw right there, the producer. They were coming back from the airport. All of our equipment, all of the net works had their equipment, you know, held at the airport for days and so they called us almost euphoric that they had the equipment finally.
They`re on their way back when the next call we get was a frantic call saying, we`ve been surrounded and then the phones go dead. We don`t know where they are in Cairo. They`ve been taken down these back streets and they started the questioning process. Pulled them out of the car and Akram, using his Lebanese, using his Arabic and all of his war experience in the field. He looked at this angry mob and they`re telling them, we`ll slit your throats and these threats.
He finds an elder in the crowd and he walks up to him, gives him a kiss and hug. He says we are only visitors in your country. Egypt is better than this. Please, we`re here to tell your story. And it worked. It worked.
BEHAR: What a great story. Yes. Go ahead, Hala. Tell me what you were going to say.
GORANI: And Joy, I was going to -- I was going to say that many Egyptians have come up to me, Joy, and it`s important to really underline this for your viewers. Many Egyptians came up to me said, we are sorry about what happened to you. You did not deserve it. We want you in our country. This is not our culture.
I`ve been traveling in and of this region reporting for the past decade. This is extremely unusual for Egypt. It`s a very welcoming country. And very patient, likable people here.
I was struck by sort of them asking me for forgiveness for what had happened to us. I was very touched about that.
BEHAR: Yes. That`s very touching.
MUIR: And Hala and I were inside the square really at the same time. We were talking about this Joy, almost that medieval moment when the camels and horses come in.
BEHAR: Oh, my God. Those camels.
MUIR: Almost doing a stand up we call that, in the news business. Standing there and I`m taping something in the camera when these horses come by and there were no riders on them. And we wondered what had happened. And then they start dragging the men who can beat them through the crowd.
The folks were there. The protesters started pulling the riders off the horses to defend themselves against the thousands who were now infiltrating the square, these pro-Mubarak forces.
But I remember, I turned to my producer when we saw all these men pick up these concrete slabs beside us. And they smashed the concrete down and started arming themselves with big chunks of concrete to defend themselves. I thought, this is going to turn ugly.
As we all watch it unfold, as we saw there in the pictures, but it was interesting. We found an alley way to get out of the square and at the end alley way, a show of sort of support, a human chain, if you will -- a very feeble one to sort of stand up against these forces that were coming in to demonstrate.
But they flagged us in their direction and said, we`ll get you out of the square. It`s the same thing that we heard just a moment. Many of the Egyptian people are so apologetic that we as journalists from around the world, just trying to report this story found ourselves, you know, caught in the middle of it, in the middle of this anger.
BEHAR: You guys are heroic, really. I have to give it to you because I would be scared to go there. It`s the kind of situation you run from, you know? You`re right in the middle of that and Anderson had problems, Anderson Cooper, when he was there.
MUIR: Yes, it was extraordinary. He went into the square; that was the same day. That was the worst time period that one day in particular. He went in and he was near the national museum as we know and he had do get through some of those pro Mubarak demonstrators to get closer to the national museum.
And one of the things Anderson and I were talking about, was that it`s not like you`re dealing with a militia or a particular party. So you don`t know when you`re walking up to someone or if they approach you, whether they`re going to act upon it or not. Everyone sort of approaches you in the same way.
And he said these folks surrounded him and then just started as we had all seen in this video, you know, throwing punches. Anderson was punched 10, 12 times. And interestingly -- Anderson, a veteran of war zones said, I walked away carefully and as quietly as possible so as to not run with a passive --
BEHAR: Yes, yes, yes. That was smart.
MUIR: Yes, very smart.
BEHAR: Well, Hala, take care of yourself in Egypt. We don`t want to hear any bad news from you. Ok. Thanks very much guys.
We`ll be back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: She`s known as the tough talking former prosecutor who tells it like it is and that`s why we love her.
Take a look at this clip from her syndicated show, "Swift Justice".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HLN`S HOST, "SWIFT JUSTICE WITH NANCY GRACE": How old are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old am I now? 14.
GRACE: What are going to be when you grow up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Architect.
GRACE: What about you? What are going to be when you grow up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to be a pilot.
GRACE: You know incidents like fighting, calling names, leaving nasty messages can land you in juvenile hall and then you won`t be anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Oh yes. And where was she when Charles Manson was acting up? Here with me now is the host of HLN`s "NANCY GRACE" and also "Swift Justice with Nancy Grace". Welcome Nancy.
GRACE: Thank you for having me, as always.
BEHAR: It`s nice to be had.
(CROSS TALK)
GRACE: True -- truer words were never spoken.
BEHAR: So now, ok. I know that you had the health scare because we were talking about it on "The View" today. And I think that the scariest part of that is thinking that you have cancer. Which is like the C word that no one wants to hear, right?
GRACE: It really is. In fact, I -- I grew up in a town where we still say --
BEHAR: They still say?
GRACE: Yes we --
BEHAR: Is that because they`re ashamed of it?
GRACE: No I think it`s -- because you don`t want to think about it. No, no, say it out loud. I -- I actually feel like a big sissy even discussing being upset, because I`m ok.
BEHAR: Yes.
GRACE: But that moment is will -- forever be in my memory, Joy. And I was telling you about where I remember I came into the school building, where the children go to play. It was pouring rain, I was soaking wet and I didn`t have a coat to pick them up and they came running down the hall and I thought, who is going to pick them up. Who`s going to take care of them? Who`s going to be there when Lucy coughs and throws up or when she wants this or that and John David likes his food a certain way and he`s always saying mommy, look, mommy, look. Mommy, all the time. Who? And so many women --
GREGORY: Well, daddy -- daddy would have been there, no? God forbid.
GRACE: It`s not the same.
BEHAR: Oh, ok.
GRACE: That -- you know this -- this, no it`s not the same.
BEHAR: No, no.
GRACE: They are just no, no.
BEHAR: It`s a very, no, I understand what you`re saying because it`s a very, very, it`s -- just a -- a terrible feeling that your children will be -- grow up without you.
GRACE: And I would just imagine --
(CROSS TALK)
BEHAR: Yes.
GRACE: -- and hopefully looking down, but looking at them growing up and seeing what they would go through. All the things we all go through growing up. Their frustration, rejection, failure, trying hard sometimes to no avail; all the trials and tribulations and not having a mommy. And I`m thinking about all the ladies that were not as lucky as I --
(CROSS TALK)
BEHAR: Right.
GRACE: -- am, that are having to go through chemo and radiation. And all of that -- all I can is this, Joy, you know, you`re a mother.
BEHAR: Yes.
GRACE: Moms think, oh, I got to get them in this school. Oh, I got to do this, I got to do that. They got to dress this way. But -- it doesn`t matter. If you love your children, go to the doctor. Make sure they have a mommy to hold them at night.
BEHAR: Well, you know, ovarian cancer, which is what the scare was, is really a scourge because there`s very little --
(CROSS TALK)
GRACE: You don`t know.
BEHAR: -- in terms of prevention, there`s very little -- very few tests and the tests that they do have are not that great.
GRACE: Wildly erratic.
BEHAR: And so you know, Madeleine Kahn died of ovarian cancer.
GRACE: Yes.
BEHAR: And Gilda Radner and I do a benefit for Madeleine every year because of research. They need money in research for ovarian cancer because just to find a test to see if you`re at risk for it, you know would be a nice --
(CROSS TALK)
GRACE: And I remember telling the doctor, let`s do that blood test. And he was very honest and he said, you know the blood test is so flawed.
BEHAR: That`s right.
GRACE: You`ll get false positives, false negative. It really doesn`t tell me anything. And the -- the way they fail the mass and was so concerning to them about it was that a test had been done in August, there was nothing. This is three months later and it was there and it was big.
BEHAR: Well, it would grow, those tumors grow.
GRACE: Extremely aggressive.
BEHAR: I have -- you know what, I had the same exact thing that you had and the only way they detected this was a vaginal sonogram.
GRACE: Right.
BEHAR: And then they see these things and I had the same experience that you had. It was amazing when you were telling me today, I said, my God, and the doctor scared me also.
(CROSS TALK)
GRACE: Well, --
BEHAR: He said to me, I`m sorry, you have to go through this. And I said, go through what? And then he called my gynecologist up and I heard the gynecologist asked him a few questions and then I got on the phone with the gynecologist and he said to me, it was 98 percent benign. They still went in there, they still took it all out just like you.
GRACE: Well, the doctor, when he -- when he saw this, he looked at the size of the mass and he point-blank said there`s a very strong possibility. And I -- I had to make him tell me the truth.
BEHAR: Yes.
GRACE: He didn`t want to tell me. And he said there`s an extremely strong possibility that it is cancer and we`re not going to know until we open you up.
BEHAR: Yes, you have to go in there. There is no biopsy involved here where they can just take --
GRACE: No.
BEHAR: You know that question I asked you about that was that you said today that you kept --
(CROSS TALK)
GRACE: And why don`t insurance policies cover all -- why can`t ultra sounds be routine?
BEHAR: I don`t know, they`re expensive.
GRACE: And it`s just, it`s over.
BEHAR: Yes. I know, but you said that you kept one ovary. Why? Why? You want to have more children?
GRACE: Maybe, maybe not. That`s for me to decide, Joy Behar.
BEHAR: Ok, don`t turn on me now.
GRACE: No, no here`s the other thing. Because you know, if -- if you get rid of everything, then you`ve got to go through all the hormone replacements --
BEHAR: Yes.
GRACE: -- or you get really mean. And I don`t want to be accused of being mean.
BEHAR: No.
GRACE: Ok.
BEHAR: You`re such a sweetheart.
GRACE: Yes, I don`t want that.
BEHAR: I would hate to go against the persona in that way.
What`s this about putting off the exam for a year. Why would you do that? You are telling people to go to the doctor you --
(CROSS TALK)
GRACE: I -- I put it off.
BEHAR: Yes.
GRACE: I put it off, put it off, put it off and I was just so busy, you know. I`m up with the twins first thing, well, I get up around 5:00. And I`m up with the twins and you know and then the "Swift Justice", which I love, and the night show and I`m just -- everybody -- but everybody is. It`s not just me.
BEHAR: Yes.
GRACE: My mom did the same thing. Working mothers. You know, we`re juggling all these plates. You want the house nice, you want the babies nice, you want them happy and healthy and you know learning as they`re supposed to learn. And you -- you want to do well at work. And it`s just --
(CROSS TALK)
BEHAR: It`s a lot.
GRACE: You can put off everything for yourself.
BEHAR: Right. That`s the -- that`s really the message. That you would come first in a certain way. Because your kids -- as you said, if your kids have no mother, what good is it? Right.
Ok, we`ll have more with Nancy Grace. I want to ask you about a couple of cases when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with a hardest working woman in television, Nancy Grace.
You know, I want to ask you about moms who snap. There`s a couple in the news this week -- or last week anyway. One of them was the woman who put hot sauce on the kid`s tongue. And the other one is.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Yes.
GRACE: Down his throat, then throws him in a cold shower and this is after she adopts him. This is her -- she had six children. She adopted him from Russia.
Guess that`s all over for us now. First, one mother sends her child back on a plane to Russia. Now this one makes the child drink Tabasco and throws him in a cold shower.
BEHAR: He`s a twin. That boy is a twin. There`s another kid. I don`t think the other was hot sauced, I think.
GRACE: No. That was probably the kid she had rolling the video.
BEHAR: It was a girl. So maybe they were fraternal. What do you say to mothers who snap like that?
GRACE: First of all, I am trained over the years to look at it legally and there is no snap defense. That does not exist. And it says in our law, you can`t walk to the kitchen, get the Tabasco sauce, trot back to the bathroom, open it up, sic it down his mouth, make sure it`s being videoed and then throw him in the shower.
BEHAR: Yes.
GRACE: All that time, premeditation is formed in an instant, in the blink of an eye. She had plenty of time to form the intent to do what she did. She is facing a city ordnance charge of child abuse. I don`t think it`s enough.
Here`s the big question. All the children are still in the home. And here`s an even bigger question. If she`ll do this on video, what will she do behind closed doors?
BEHAR: Well, that`s the question for a lot of people who abuse their children, I think. And this was Cherry`s (ph) point to you was that at least she came out and said it. What did you think of that point?
GRACE: Ok. So she confessed. Am I supposed to give her a gold star because she confessed? She`s on video. Of course she`d confess. How can she say I didn`t do it?
BEHAR: Well, she purposely did that to show Dr. Phil what she has been up to here with this particular child.
GRACE: But people get up to here all the time.
BEHAR: I`d like to know how they would feel. I`d like to take her head, this woman, and pour hot sauce right down her throat --
GRACE: And throw her in the cold shower.
BEHAR: And then throw her in the cold shower.
GRACE: And put it on video. Just for the heck of it.
BEHAR: I would put her in a hot shower. Really hot.
GRACE: I like the cold, juxtaposed against the hot.
BEHAR: Now, what about this other crazy woman. Julie Schenecker.
GRACE: She`s not.
BEHAR: Ok. Crazy, I meant crazy like acting crazy. Not that she`s certifiable.
GRACE: Ok. Yes. Let me tell you what I find out about Schenecker.
BEHAR: She shot both her children.
GRACE: She went and took out the paper work to get a gun.
BEHAR: Right.
GRACE: Days passed. She gets the gun. She hides the gun in her SUV. Goes and picks up her 13-year-old boy at soccer time. Shoots him multiple times. First through the windshield, the boy saw his mother coming at him with a weapon.
Goes home, leaves the boy`s bloody body in the family SUV in their three-car garage. Big, huge 3,000-foot square plus square foot home, they`re not hurting for money.
Goes upstairs, gets the daughter, who`s sitting there --
BEHAR: Minding her own business.
GRACE: -- minding her own business, doing her homework on the computer. Shoots her in the back of the head. When she falls, she then she shoots her in the face.
BEHAR: I know. You know, we had a --
GRACE: Can you say death penalty? I don`t think those words would ever come out of your mouth --
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: There`s another one in Connecticut who killed that family. They should get the death penalty, too.
GRACE: Yes.
BEHAR: But you know what? One of the shrinks on the show talked about it and she said a lot of times, these women who kill their children have a lover. Do you think that could be true? That they have -- they wanted to get the kids out of the way so that they can conduct their illicit lives?
GRACE: I don`t think anything is impossible. But what`s she`s doing in some motel room, I don`t care about. All I care about is what she did to those children.
BEHAR: She had to have a stronger motive that she`s not certifiably crazy.
GRACE: I did notice this, when the husband came home from Qatar --
BEHAR: Right.
GRACE: -- where he`s higher echelon in the military. They met when she was an interpreter overseas. She`s not an idiot. He gave this big statement, all about his -- his children didn`t even mention her.
BEHAR: I know. Well, he`s not backing her up.
GRACE: Absolutely not.
BEHAR: I just wonder what else is going on with this woman.
Anyway, I have to go. Thank you, Nancy, very much.
Of course, you can see Nancy Grace right here on HLN every night at 8:00 p.m. And her show "Swift Justice" airs Monday thru Friday.
We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Well, it was a big week for memory lapses. First, Lindsay Lohan forgot to return the necklace. Then Christina Aguilera forgot the words to the national anthem during yesterday`s Super Bowl. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINA AGUILERA, SINGER: (SINGING) -- through the perilous fight, what so proudly we watched at the twilight`s last gleaming...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: You know, when Roseanne sang the anthem, she may have spit and grabbed her crotch, but she knew the words! OK, let`s discuss this with the very fabulous Miss Jessica Walter, actress and star of "Retired at 35" on TVLand, comedian Rich Vos and Lindsay Campbell, host of the on-line morning news show "AOL Daybreak."
OK, only 100 million people watched, Rich.
RICHARD VOS, COMEDIAN: The Super Bowl was yesterday?
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Yes. But wouldn`t this have been a good time to lip-sync?
VOS: Yes, I think so.
BEHAR: Why not? I mean, they lip-sync on "The View." They can do it at the Super Bowl.
LINDSAY CAMPBELL, HOST, "AOL DAYBREAK": People always jump all over you if you lip-sync, that you didn`t do it live. So you can`t win that way.
(CROSSTALK)
JESSICA WALTER, ACTRESS: I feel sorry for her, I really do. As a performer, I mean, how many times have I gone up on stage, and you know, messed up?
CAMPBELL: How many times?
WALTER: I`m sure she`s devastated to do that in front of 100 million people.
VOS: I think -- I don`t know. I think she should be upset if they don`t call her back to do it again for free. You know?
BEHAR: Why? How much do you think she got for that?
VOS: Free. It`s free. The half-time...
BEHAR: It`s free?
VOS: It`s all free. It`s publicity.
BEHAR: Well, that was nice of her, then.
VOS: Yes.
BEHAR: I mean...
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: I thought they got paid for it.
VOS: No.
BEHAR: You mean to tell me that Black-Eyed Peas or whatever they...
(CROSSTALK)
CAMPBELL: They get paid, I`m sure.
VOS: No, they don`t. It`s all free. It`s all for -- because they asked me to do it and I wouldn`t do it.
(LAUGHTER)
VOS: I said, No, I want cash.
BEHAR: Well, Aguilera -- let me read you what she said, the girl. "I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through." You know, it could happen to anybody. I forgot my wedding vows, you know what I mean?
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: That was on purpose! But I mean, it could happen to anybody.
VOS: No, here`s the thing, too. Obviously, she didn`t do it, like you said, on purpose. And if you`re so patriotic where that upset you that she made a mistake, you know, go to Arizona and join a group and guard the border, you know what I mean?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, the Roseanne thing was a whole `nother story. That was disgraceful.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was, like, making fun of (INAUDIBLE)
BEHAR: No, but she explained it one day on this show. And she basically said that she was just imitating the pitchers when she went like that. That`s all she was...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was screaming. No, no, no, no. I don`t buy it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was kind of her heyday. So she was just, you know, acting out.
VOS: But Roseanne, too, that was the World Series. This is the Super Bowl. There`s seven games in the World Series.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, big difference.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it`s the national anthem. It`s the same thing.
BEHAR: What`s the difference?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, they`re equally...
VOS: You told me not to talk about sports one time on this show, but since it`s a sports topic...
BEHAR: Yes, go ahead.
VOS: The difference is, the Super Bowl`s one game and the commercials cost a lot more than they do for the World Series.
BEHAR: Then why don`t they pay people to sing, if it costs so much money?
VOS: I don`t know! I`m not (INAUDIBLE)
BEHAR: They`re making a fortune.
VOS: I just -- I agree with you.
BEHAR: I can`t believe you actually paid attention to something I said. That`s what I`m still working on.
VOS: I listen to everything. Are you kidding me? When I get in the car driving home, I come up with my best lines and my comebacks to what you said...
BEHAR: Really?
VOS: ... in the car.
BEHAR: Well, a day late and a dollar short. All right, let`s talk about some of the commercials, OK? People are buzzing about some of the rather creative commercials. Check this Doritos commercial out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, are you going to finish those?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry. They`re already gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, they`re not. You left the best part.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I`m pretty sure they`re...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, cheese! I love Doritos.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: You know, it takes a lot to turn me off to snack food, but this might have done it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ew! Disgusting.
VOS: What gets me is that -- it`s the whole interracial finger- licking, you know what I mean? And that`s got to be...
BEHAR: What do you mean?
VOS: That`s got to be a tough call home. Daddy, I`m a finger licker. Now sit down, OK?
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... thing about that commercial was at least you knew that it was for Doritos. Half of the commercials, you don`t know what they`re about. The Joan Rivers one...
BEHAR: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, it`s like she`s standing with someone else`s body, and it says, Godaddy. But what is Godaddy?
BEHAR: I have no idea.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: I have no idea.
VOS: -What my wife yells to me, like, once a month.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go, Daddy!
VOS: Once a month.
BEHAR: Is this -- was that creepy or was it funny, do you think?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that commercial was pretty was Webby.
BEHAR: It was Webby?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was something that you feel like you might see on the Internet. It might be viral on YouTube. And it kind of has that 20-something pasty guy in a cubicle vibe? That`s very popular on the Internet. Are people going to be talking about it next week. No, it`ll be totally forgotten, I think. Yes, I don`t think it`s going to sell Doritos, but it wasn`t a total flop.
BEHAR: All right, what about the spot for Godaddy, like you said? Let`s watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s smart. She`s business savvy. Just watch her register that dot-co (ph) Web address! So who is this household name and new Godaddy.co girl?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it hot in here or is it just me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: OK, you`re right, Jessica. What the hell is the commercial for?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no idea. But you know, I love Joan Rivers.
BEHAR: I do, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She can do no wrong in my eyes.
BEHAR: But she stole my body. That`s my body!
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: But I mean, what about that? I would send flowers to the guy, the Photoshop guy, the guy who invented Photoshop. Send him flowers. What is it about? What is Godaddy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no idea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s where you register...
BEHAR: Is it a laxative? It sounds like a laxative.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Aren`t you curious, though? After watching that ad, don`t you kind of want to go to the Web site...
BEHAR: No. No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... and find out what it is? No? OK. So it failed.
(CROSSTALK)
VOS: Listen, I think Joan Rivers is great. And her body -- you know, I mean, her face after all that looks like she kind of looked into the ark (ph), you know what I mean?
(LAUGHTER)
VOS: But the body -- the body, you know, listen...
BEHAR: That`s not her body, Richie!
VOS: I know. It was perfect. (INAUDIBLE) that was perfect because...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know what my favorite commercial was? The seniors. Because my friend was on it, Sam Campola (ph), the seniors for the Chevrolet and the guy says, Turn up the volume. That was my friend.
BEHAR: Oh, yes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So that`s what my favorite was. I loved it. You knew what it was about. It was about Chevrolet. Some of these, you don`t know what they`re about.
BEHAR: That`s true. OK, what about this one? Best Buy hired a couple of famous faces for its ad. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, we`re going to loose Ozzy (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s Bieber 60 (ph) fever (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What`s a (INAUDIBLE)
OZZY OSBOURNE: What`s a Bieber?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t know. Kind of looks like a girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: OK, what is the world coming to when Ozzy Osbourne can remember the lines, but Christina Aguilera cannot?
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... agree to do that spot. It`s so unflattering.
BEHAR: Why? He cares about being flattered (INAUDIBLE) flattering?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He could use a little image, you know, redux (ph).
BEHAR: Really?
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: What could help him?
VOS: Yes, really!
BEHAR: I mean, really. You know, these -- they use celebrities to hype their products sometimes. Is it worth it, really? Do you even remember what the product is when you have celebrities in there? I don`t even know what -- what was it for?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Best Buy.
BEHAR: Best Buy. Because I said...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn`t remember that it was Best Buy at all.
BEHAR: And that is really the cardinal sin in advertising. You`re supposed to remember the product, not Ozzy-Harriet spots, you know what I mean?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But everyone talks about it and then you go back and watch it the next day, you have more of an opportunity. You`re not at a Super Bowl party. You can take in who it was for. I think that ad kind of worked. I mean, it`s Bieber.
BEHAR: All right, shall we talk about -- are you ready for Lindsay Lohan? OK, she could soon be arrested and charged with felony grand theft for allegedly stealing this $2,500 necklace from a California boutique. There it is. OK. She was it was a loan, all right? She says that the place leant it to her. Now, that excuse did not work for Wynonna Rider (ph) when she pulled a few items off the rack? Remember that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But also, Lindsay Lohan for "Elle" magazine. Remember that? They -- she walked off with some of the jewelry from the shoot, and they had to go after her and get it. Now, of course, we don`t know if she`s guilty yet.
BEHAR: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But if she is guilty, is the point, she should go to prison.
BEHAR: Well, she said her assistant was supposed to bring it back, throwing the bus under the -- throwing the assistant under the bus.
(CROSSTALK)
VOS: Maybe she can get a necklace to match her electronic ankle bracelet, you know what I mean?
BEHAR: A matching set is always a stunning option.
VOS: It`s just a cry for help. You know what it is? It`s a cry -- I want -- it`s all negative attention because, obviously, she didn`t get that attention growing -- and that`s what drug addiction, everything...
BEHAR: Everyone wants attention?
VOS: Yes, so, and if you can`t get positive attention, you go after negative. Listen...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think what it is -- honestly, I don`t think it`s going after attention. I think that she`s an addict, obviously, and I think she -- she needs help. And if she did steal it, of course, she should go to a prison, but she should go to a prison where there`s going to be some kind of, you know, 12-step program and where she can get some counseling.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: ... you can get QVC.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: All right, we`re going to take a break. We`ll have more with our pop panel when we come back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: QVC!
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: They need QVC in these jails for celebrities.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with my pop panel. Now, AOL has plans to acquire the Huffington Post for 315 million bucks and put the blog`s founder, Arianna Huffington, in charge of all AOL media content. All righty, Miss Arianna Huffington is your boss, right?
CAMPBELL: I guess she is now.
BEHAR: You work for them. Now she`ll be your boss. Yes. So what do you think?
CAMPBELL: I think that she`s an amazing woman, very intelligent. I`m really excited to see what will happen. I think that...
BEHAR: Well, what else can you say at this point?
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Her English is superb, you know, no accent.
CAMPBELL: I think it`s going to be interesting...
(LAUGHTER)
CAMPBELL: I honestly think that what they really focused on is how the Huffington Post has radicalized content distribution. And that`s what the focus is going to be. It`s a DNA (ph) acquisition to make content distribution at AOL more like it is at the Huffington Post.
BEHAR: Except that the Huffington Post it is a left-leaning, what do you call it, Web site.
CAMPBELL: But it doesn`t have to be because you could change it tomorrow. It could look like the Drudge Report tomorrow if you brought in all different content, so...
BEHAR: But we like it the way it is.
WALTER: We sure do. We like Howard Fineman, who`s the editor.
BEHAR: Yes.
WALTER: We like it, and we hope she keeps it that way.
BEHAR: And Roy Sekoff. We want those same lefties in place there. There aren`t that many outlets for the liberal position in this -- in this country.
VOS: Don`t you think that, for AOL, they`re hedging their bets...
CAMPBELL: Do you think they`re going to go away?
VOS: ... to have -- I mean, don`t you think they`re going to lose a lot of their subscribers due to...
BEHAR: Yes. Yes, but...
VOS: That is so left.
BEHAR: Yes, but they`ll pick up other than -- what they`ll do is, they`ll say, Well, who wants to read this? And then whoever they find wants to read it, that`s the direction they`ll go, which is why I`m worried about it.
VOS: But for that kind of money -- don`t you think for $3,000, they could have got, like, Alan Colmes and done it for -- you know what I mean? Anybody to the left. It`s just...
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: There`s so many right-wing talk radio shows. There`s a ton of right-wing shows on television. Now we had this one little bastion of liberalism, and I`m afraid that it`s going to turn into a right-wing thing.
CAMPBELL: Well, there`s MSNBC.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: MSNBC, one place!
VOS: Every time liberals talk about anything conservative, it`s always right wing. It`s always to the extreme. Everything isn`t to the extreme. There`s a couple to the -- you know, maybe Beck is to the extreme. But isn`t there any -- can`t you ever find an even middle ground and maybe get kind of, like...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like who?
VOS: No, I`m saying can we find...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re all a little crazy, those people.
VOS: Yes, but it`s on both sides, though. That`s on...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t think so.
BEHAR: No, because you`re on that...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t think Chris Matthews is crazy. I love him.
BEHAR: Right.
VOS: And Olbermann wasn`t a little...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I loved him. I didn`t think he was crazy.
VOS: Well, but that`s your politics. That`s what you agree with.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Are you a right-winger?
VOS: No. Me, a right-winger?
BEHAR: I`m just asking.
VOS: No, I`m moderate. It depends what the issue is.
BEHAR: OK.
VOS: OK? Gay marriage, it doesn`t bother -- of course, yes. Abortion...
BEHAR: So what are you conservative...
VOS: ... none of my business.
BEHAR: What are you conservative about?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... gun in the Green Room.
VOS: Thank you. Thank you for calling me out.
BEHAR: You want to keep guns in your house?
VOS: No, not at all. I`m too scared to have a gun. Well, I mean, low (ph) housing, certain things that -- you know, I think low housing, in my opinion...
BEHAR: Low housing?
VOS: Yes, well, I`m just saying the government...
BEHAR: What is that, under water? What do you mean, low housing?
VOS: Well, that`s -- it`s government-funded, like, housing where it does -- it keeps minorities down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Low income.
VOS: It says, Let`s put them here.
BEHAR: Well, where are they going to live?
VOS: Amongst the -- not in this little section where you`re not going to break the chain of dysfunction.
BEHAR: I see.
VOS: If you`re here, that`s what you`re going to live and learn.
BEHAR: Go ahead, Jessica, hit him.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
VOS: That`s one of these social issues. That`s -- I -- you know...
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: I don`t think that you`re a conservative at all.
VOS: I didn`t say I was.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you for the health care law? Do you like it?
VOS: Well, I`d love to see it kick in. All`s I know is I`m paying $20,000 a year health care. Where is it? OK? And it`s not kicking in to 2014, and these health insurance companies are raising their prices out of control right now.
BEHAR: Well, that`s because the right wing would not allow the public option. If they had done that, we might have been in better shape now. I mean, Arianna Huffington and the Huffington Post was right there for the public option, and now they`re going to go the way of the conservative movement.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`ll be back to being a Republican.
BEHAR: I want her on this show to tell me that`s not going to happen. Arianna do you hear me?
(CROSSTALK)
VOS: I would love for it to happen. I would love for it to happen next week and not pay that kind of money. Of course. And I would love to still have the good health care (INAUDIBLE)
BEHAR: All right, let`s change the subject because this one is just insane. Finally, The Situation -- you know who he is, right? -- he`s now saying that he`ll leave the "Jersey Shore" cast within the year so he can graduate to movies. Shouldn`t he graduate from high school first? That`s my question.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: All right, this guy wants to leave reality, which, you know -- and go into the movie business. You`re the movie actress. Does he have a shot?
WALTER: You know, all those reality shows, what really gets me and has for -- since they came in many, many years ago -- we talk about this at the Screen Actors Guild, too. All the hours of programming that are taken away from actors and crews and writers. It`s -- it`s just -- it`s mind- boggling. I mean...
BEHAR: Maybe this is just a tactic, though, to get more money out of MTV.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s making a fortune. He`s making a lot of money.
BEHAR: I know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That whole idea, that those guys make so much money...
BEHAR: Please! Snooki was in "The New York Times." It took me 25 years to get in "The New York Times."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People love the show.
BEHAR: This one gets in "The Times" with that stupid hairdo!
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Do I sound bitter?
(LAUGHTER)
VOS: He`d have to quit his TV show to go -- who is his manager, Brett Butler? What`s wrong with him?
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: There`s a reference from hell. All right, we have to go. Thank you, guys, very much.
If you`re in Florida this weekend, you can catch Rich Vos at Snappers Comedy Club in Palm Harbor. Where the hell is Palm Harbor?
VOS: All`s I know, it`s across the street from Innisbrook (ph) golf course where I`ll be playing. That`s why I book my gigs around golf courses.
BEHAR: He`s a very, very funny man. We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Actress Jessica Walter is probably best known for playing memorable moms on shows like "Arrested Development." In her new TVLand show, "Retired at 35," she plays another mom whose adult son moves into her retirement home. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALTER: Honey, can you please take your feet off the table?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes. No problem.
WALTER: I don`t man to nag you. It`s just that I have my things here. I like them a certain way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.
WALTER: I see you got some cheese puffs.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: With me now is the lovely and talented Jessica Walter. So happy to have you here, Jessica.
WALTER: I`m so glad to be here. I`m a great fan...
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: I`m fan.
WALTER: No, I`m a bigger -- bigger fan.
BEHAR: No, no!
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: And you`re so funny. You know, you`re very funny.
WALTER: Thank you!
BEHAR: Yes. We were talking about "The Flamingo Kid." You were a riot in that. And these are all sitcoms and everything. I mean, it`s great. Do you have an adult -- you have an adult daughter, right?
WALTER: I do. My daughter, I`m very proud of her. She is the senior vice president at ABC Family Network.
BEHAR: Oh, no kidding?
WALTER: Director of development. Yes.
BEHAR: Oh!
WALTER: Very proud of her. Brooke Bowman (ph). She`s from hubby number one.
BEHAR: Hubby one. Not Ron Liebman (ph).
WALTER: Hubby two is Ron Liebman.
BEHAR: You have another child with Ron Liebman?
WALTER: No.
BEHAR: No children with Ron Liebman.
WALTER: It`s a jackpot with Brooke. No children with Ron, though.
BEHAR: But you know, you`re playing mothers, which is, you know, very funny for you. But I remember you from "Play Misty For Me"...
WALTER: Right.
BEHAR: ... with Clint Eastwood. I have to grill you on that a little bit, OK? First of all, I want to show a clip from the movie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINT EASTWOOD, ACTOR: (INAUDIBLE) very nice girl.
WALTER: But who needs nice girls?
EASTWOOD: Oh, (INAUDIBLE) I`m kind of hung up on one.
WALTER: And you don`t want to complicate your life.
EASTWOOD: That`s exactly right.
WALTER: Well, neither do I. But that`s no reason we shouldn`t sleep together tonight if we feel like it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Now, she was a whack job.
(LAUGHTER)
WALTER: She was. She was a whacko, that`s for sure. She was crazy.
BEHAR: What was Clint like? He was very dishy in those days. He still is, actually.
WALTER: He still dishy.
BEHAR: He is so cute.
WALTER: He is divine, the nicest man, absolutely lives up to his legendary status. He`s incredible. That was his first directing job.
BEHAR: Oh, it was? Well, look at him now. I mean, he`s ageless. The man is in his 80s now, and he`s at the peak of his powers.
WALTER: I know. I know.
BEHAR: It`s incredible.
WALTER: I adored him.
BEHAR: You did?
WALTER: I still do. I still do when I bump into him. Actually -- actually, I bumped into him at a SAG awards thing. And I had my daughter as my date because Ron was in New York and he doesn`t like to go to those things. And I said, Oh, Brooke, you have to meet Clint. So I went over and he said, How do you do, he says to my daughter. I pushed your mother off a cliff.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: And you loved it! And you said thank you!
WALTER: Yes, I did.
BEHAR: Thank you.
WALTER: I love him.
BEHAR: But you know, it`s interesting. That movie, which, you know, is really a classic cult film -- it`s a terrific movie, but it was the precursor to "Fatal Attraction."
WALTER: Yes, it was.
BEHAR: It really was. I mean, that nutjob -- you preceded that nutjob.
WALTER: I did.
BEHAR: Yes. I mean, do you think that they stole it directly or what?
WALTER: I don`t know directly. But I think there was a lot of similarities!
BEHAR: Very similar in very many ways. But you know, it`s funny because I was watching "Black Swan." Have you seen it?
WALTER: I saw it. Yes.
BEHAR: She`s another, you know, kook.
WALTER: Yes. Yes.
BEHAR: And she`s nominated. It seems as though crazy women parts get nominated.
WALTER: You know that I actually -- for our little movie "Play Misty," which was not a big, you know, thing at the time, I got nominated for a Golden Globe.
BEHAR: Oh, really?
WALTER: Best Actress. And my competition -- ready?
BEHAR: Yes.
WALTER: Jane Fonda for "Klute," Vanessa Redgrave for...
(CROSSTALK)
WALTER: I mean, forget it! I didn`t have a shot! I didn`t have a chance.
BEHAR: I know. Remember the year Marisa Tomei won, and they thought that it was a mistake? Remember that?
WALTER: I do. I do.
BEHAR: I don`t think it was a mistake. She was hilarious in "My Cousin Vinny." It`s just that no one ever gives you an award for comedy.
WALTER: That`s true.
BEHAR: Why is that?
WALTER: I don`t know. I don`t know. For instance, "The Kids Are All Right" with Annette Bening this year.
BEHAR: Yes. Yes.
WALTER: I mean, if that woman doesn`t get an Oscar...
BEHAR: Well, it`s a comedy, sort of, but she played a lesbian. So in that sense, it`s a little bit different from the other -- you know, you don`t see -- you know, Adam Sandler is not going to win an Oscar.
WALTER: No. Now, should he?
BEHAR: No.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: And you know what? Adam would be the first one to admit that.
WALTER: I was just asking.
BEHAR: Now, let me ask you before I go because I don`t have a lot of time with you right now -- there have been rumors of an upcoming "Arrested Development" movie, a whole movie. What you have heard?
WALTER: You know, every year, I hear that we`re going to do it, and it hasn`t happened yet. I hope we do it. It was a wonderful, wonderful show to be on, and the writing was -- you know, if it ain`t on the page, it ain`t on the stage.
BEHAR: You`ve had a long career, a very successful, long career.
WALTER: I am that old, yes.
BEHAR: Well, you know, I mean, you`re not as old as...
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: You`re not as old as Betty White, and she`s...
WALTER: No. And that`s encouraging to me.
BEHAR: Exactly.
WALTER: I saw her the other day and I said, You know, Betty, very encouraging what you`re doing.
BEHAR: She`s the role model...
WALTER: Amazing.
BEHAR: ... for everyone who`s post-menopausal.
WALTER: Now, we have to talk about "Retired at 35," don`t we? Or I`ll get in trouble.
BEHAR: "Retired at 35." We`re going to -- you can see Jessica Walters on "Retired at 35" Wednesday nights at 10:30 on TVland.
WALTER: Thank you, Joy. Thank you.
BEHAR: You`re welcome. Good night, everybody.
END
