At the very end of ABC’s “The View” on Thursday, they turned for advice on infidelity to MTV star/gay activist/sex columnist Dan Savage. (He's in favor of "sexual adventure.") When Savage explained how he and his partner Terry Miller are not exactly monogamous, Barbara Walters jumped in to wonder about the etiquette of this process: What does Savage say to Miller after an infidelity? [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
Walters wasn’t posing as anti-infidelity, considering her tattling about her Edward Brooke affair, but more as a Miss Manners of misbehavior. Savage quipped: “When I’m cheating on my partner, he’s cheating on me at the same time -- at the other end of the same guy.” In the midst of the furor of shock, laughter, and applause, Savage added: “It’s not cheating when everyone agrees!”
Jenny McCarthy
Elizabeth Hasselbeck is a fairly conservative wife and mother. Jenny McCarthy is a scandal-seeking former Playboy centerfold. How can a reporter say McCarthy is an “ideal replacement” for Hasselbeck? Perhaps because you couldn't say Jenny's just like Joy Behar?
On Tuesday, NPR media reporter David Folkenflik said the “blond bombshell” is somehow perfect to fill Hasselbeck’s shoes:
ABC has officially announced that one of the vacant spots on The View will be filled by Catholic-bashing, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Jenny McCarthy. In a statement, creator/co-host Barbara Walters gushed, "She can be serious and outrageous. She has connected with our audience and offers a fresh point of view. Jenny will be a great addition to the show as we usher in an exciting new chapter for The View." Last week, token conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck departed the show for Fox News.
The former Playboy model wrote a book in 2012 deriding Catholicism, complaining that it "has pervaded my life since birth and confused the f--k out of me for about the same time" and whined that "I had to give up giving s--t up for Lent." She has derided Jesus Christ as nothing more than a "Justin Bieber" phase in her life.
The book industry seems to be collapsing, at least that hallowed old paper-and-glue industry that promoted serious ideas. Even talk-radio and TV hosts are spending less time with authors. There are exceptions – but they won’t make you feel optimistic about books.
Exhibit A of today’s kind of author: Jenny McCarthy, the former Playboy centerfold who’s parlayed her nudie shots into a long list of TV gigs and six best-selling “humor”/advice books (which absolutely no one might guess were written by someone else). Her latest must be her lamest. It’s called “Bad Habits: Confessions of a Recovering Catholic.” She’s wearing a nun’s habit on the cover. Original, huh?