My favorite part was Walters pressing McCain about 'what kind of reform?' That's my biggest question (other than to question the heart & soul of a person who backs hunting wolves from above - nothing like seeing a terrified dog squirm in terror, I guess) - but I'd like to know, given McCain & Palin agree with Bush on EVERYTHING, what in hell they intend to 'change,' other than to get rid of that tall, pesky black guy.

I LOVE it. The growing meme that McCain and Palin are liars of the first order who will say anything to get elected is gaining serious traction. Let's keep it growing.

Brava, ladies.

He looked like a befuddled old fool. Embarrassing.

And, that running mate!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUWLIsK7s0g

The Deadliest Catch. I need to Photoshop both of them into one of those crab pots on the Cornelia Marie.

about the MSM, corporate media, and access journalists that it took The View to ask McCain any questions of substance. American media sucks. Like CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan told Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, if she was forced to watch Amercian media, "I'd blow my brains out."

Oh, and how long do you think it will be before the Right Wing Nutjob Blogosphere decides that the ladies of The View are suddenly a bunch of lefty Hollywood lesbians who Hate America (TM)? They might tar and feather Hasselbeck, who's been such a loyal stooge up to now.

In a sea of feminist that are voting for the candidate that dissed the woman because he was threatened and didn't want to share the historic spotlight. Hey ladies, the man you are so disrespectful of, actually chose a woman to be on the ticket with him and is calmly letting her have all the glory because he doesn't need to be narcissistic. He actually has an honorable past.

Thank goodness someone finally had the balls to ask McCain some actual questions! And no, it's not at all ironic that it was a group of women -- on a lightweight "gossip" show, no less -- that finally showed the cajones that the entire MSM has been unable to summon.

I'm just disappointed that this isn't getting more coverage. Maybe it will as time goes on. But right now I'm befuddled (well, more befuddled than usual) about why there seems to be such widespread apathy over the very first actual journalism of this tight campaign. Even the liberal blogosphere seems to give it only perfunctory mention.

I reviewed all the latest state-by-state polls today, and by my count, in every single one of them except the "Poll of Polls," McCain would win the electoral college and the presidency if the election were held today by 270 to Obama's 268. (The Poll of Polls reverses those numbers.)

With such a tight race and the momentum belonging to McCain right now, why isn't there more interest in this story? I suggest everyone email this post to all their friends. This deserves to be spread widely and to supplant the Palin discussions at the office watercooler.

Great post, Rebecca.

WTF? I'm sorry, but the "ladies of the view" are pretty bright, and Barbara Walters is a very talented journalist. Why would you be so surprised? I watch this show as much as I can. It's about the smartest show we have going--due, in no small part because it is a bunch of women kvetching. Don't underestimate the power of women!

The reason they can get away with it on The View is that the politicians need them more than they need the politicians. Television news media don't ask hardball questions because if they did they wouldn't get the politicians back. Look at Campbell Brown's interview of Tucker Bounds: she was polite, respectful, and insistent. For that she is accused of "bodyslamming" Bounds and McCain's campaign retaliates by canceling and upcoming interview on Larry King Live. The next story should be McCain's attempt to muzzle the media through manipulation.

The Sunday talk shows are the worst: if you want viewers, get big names. Big names don't come back if you make them uncomfortable.

Hopefully the flattening of the news universe through the Internet will reduce the importance of major news media and allow their journalists, who probably started their careers wanting to do their job properly, to start asking the challenging questions.

If nature hates a vacuum, then it's clear the ladies of The View decided to fill the emptiness of supposedly impartial coverage. Meanwhile, on CBS evening news, its report on "stretching the truth" in campaign advertising ended up admonishing both sides for bad behavior. Isn't it more accurate to say that it was McCain who's been acting badly, and dragging political down into the muck with him?

Great summary of the show, btw.

Choosing a woman to be on your ticket does not mean you're pro women. McCain didn't bother to show up to vote on equal pay for women. That would be pro woman.

And honor Lliars are honorable? It's clear he'd rather win the election than be honorable. That's fine enough, but what's that expression? You reap what you sow?

I wouldn't say "skewered." The town hall stuff was b.s. I wish somebody had done their research on Sarah Palin and her earmarks so when McCain lied about that and governorship, they could have called him on it.

Did you notice how he rubbed his hands together nervously when called out on his lies? It reminded me of his inability to articulate a complete sentence when asked to respond about the issue of contraception.

Obama needs to tear in McCain mercilessly, especially in the debates. McCain is a weak old fool at this point -- aside from being a sleazy liar.

I'm happy to hear McCain given such direct questions, though Whoopi's was a little stupid. Do you really think that just because Palin belongs to an evengelical church, and evokes God in a speech, she doesn't believe (as McCain does) is the separtation of church and state? That sort of nonsense makes the left look foolish.

I'm glad Baher called him on the ads, less happy that she called them lies. I understand her passion, but the minute you use those words, you alienate people. Why didn't she just put the facts before him, ask him how the acutal bill at all resembles the depiction in his ad, and let him fumble through at attempt to explain that the ads are incorrect by somehow accurate (because he can't).

The show has a huge viewership, and I'm eager to see how this plays out. It's possible that it could really hurt McCain. It's also possible that the women will be written off as a typical example of the left-wing media. It particularly hurts that they bumped fists with Michelle Obama, and will thus seem to have a political bias.