Whoopi Again Misleads on Bush's Iraq and Afghanistan Policies

September 26th, 2008 1:19 PM

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts" the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat, once said. Apparently, the ladies of "The View" disagree. Debating which presidential nominee has better judgment, Whoopi Goldberg once again forwarded the myth that the Bush administration completely ignored Afghanistan and focused instead on Iraq.

"President Bush came over here to New York City and said we’re going to go get the people who did this to us. He did not go get the people who did this to us. He went to Iraq. Now that’s not where the people were. They were in Afghanistan. [applause] Now how do you miss that? So none of this has worked."

To repeat the same history lesson to Whoopi, the Bush administration began military operations in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, less than a month after the attacks of September 11. The invasion of Iraq did not commence until March 19, 2003, and even then and to this day, a sizeable military force remains in Afghanistan.

Joy Behar shouted that Barack Obama holds better judgment than John McCain because Obama opposed the Iraq War from the beginning. When Elisabeth reminded that Obama opposed the successful surge, Joy Behar refused to budge stating "the war is the fact. The surge is after the fact."

The transcript follows.

JOY BEHAR: Judgment has a lot to do with it and Barack Obama is the only one who was against going into Iraq when we didn’t have enough information. That’s judgement! [applause] That’s real judgment.

ELISABETH HASSELBECK: Judgment? What about the decision, to be fair-

BEHAR: Before- wait a second- before 4,000 and more American boys and girls were killed, this man said that’s a mistake. Now that’s judgment.

HASSELBECK: He also made a mistake. He made a mistake with the surge when he wanted to withdraw troops-

BEHAR: That’s after the fact.

HASSELBECK: Which would have kept even more- after the fact? The is the most successful, successful-

BEHAR: The war is the fact. The surge is after the fact.

HASSELBECK: -the most successful moment and no one wants to talk about it. You talk to the troops in Iraq, in Afghanistan, when you talk about the surge and the success, why aren’t we discussing that? It is crucial. It is crucial.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: What I find most interesting about all of this is the surge in Iraq may have worked and it may not have worked, but it wasn’t supposed to be there. And the surge, if it we were surging anywhere, we should have surged our behinds into Afghanistan, yes, yes. [applause] I’m sorry that is my, that is my opinion. That is wrong. That is my, that is my opinion. President Bush came over here to New York City and said we’re going to go get the people who did this to us. He did not go get the people who did this to us. He went to Iraq. Now that’s not where the people were. They were in Afghanistan. [applause] Now how do you miss that? So none of this has worked.

HASSELBECK: But that war’s going on.

GOLDBERG: None of this has- the war was not going on when he said that.

HASSELBECK: So that qualifies then, even though he has been wrong on the surge. Judgment-

GOLDBERG: We’re talking about bad judgment all the way around.