The ladies of "The View" debriefed Monday on their headline-making interview of John McCain from Friday's show — and the reaction it received in the press.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the show's token Republican, said she thought the interview was something of a Rorschach test — that is, one's reaction to it was a fairly good indicator of that persons' political leanings (those who support McCain tended to think they were too harsh, while Obama supporters tended to view the interview as fair).
As for McCain himself, Barbara Walters speculated that he wasn't exactly prepared for the kind of questions that the ladies would throw his way.
"I think he, I don't know, maybe thought he was going to have a more folksy ride with us or something," she said.
Whoopi Goldberg disagreed, saying, "I think Johnny Mac came on, and he knew what he was coming into," arguing that now that he is the Republican nominee he should expect different kinds of questions than he received during the primary. "And the same with Barack Obama," she continued. "Any candidate worth their salt should not be afraid to come onto this show."
Whoopi also described the unique position "The View" is in to discuss both serious issues and lighter fare with the candidates: "One of the things that everybody talked about was the fact that, unlike other groups, like newsgroups, we have the ability to ask tough questions and then ask what kind of underwear they're wearing."
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