Mitt Romney is on daytime damage control.
After the Republican presidential candidate told a group of wealthy donors that appearing on "The View" was a "high-risk" maneuver, Romney's campaign told the hosts that he would visit the program in October.
Earlier this week, a portion of secretly recorded video of Romney speaking at a closed-door fundraiser was published by Mother Jones and The Huffington Post. Romney made controversial comments about roughly 47 percent of Americans who do not pay income tax, landing himself and his campaign in hot water.
When Mother Jones published the full video on Tuesday afternoon, it became clear that Romney did not just talk about his less than fuzzy feelings for roughly half the American population.
He also made comments about the media. In addition to detailing why he refused an invitation from "Saturday Night Live" and disclosing that David Letterman "hates" him, Romney referred to "The View" as "high-risk" because only one of the five hosts identify as conservative—Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
"Four are sharp-tongued and not conservative, Whoopi Goldberg in particular," Romney said. "Although the last time I was on the show, she said to me, 'You know what? I think I could vote for you.' I said I must have done something really wrong."
On Wednesday's show, co-host Barbara Walters addressed Romney's comments about the daytime ABC talk show.
"We have to tell you that we would love to have the governor on, and any member of his family...come on the program," Walters said. "We have invited him several times and we hope that he will come on. President Obama has come on with us—anyway."
Co-host Sherri Shepherd was not as gentle and weighed in with a football analogy. "This is just pre-season," Shepherd said. "If you can't handle four sharp-tongued women, how are you going to handle the country?"
Hasselbeck said that she reached out to the campaign and received the following statement:
The governor has been to "The View" and had a wonderful visit, and his team confirms this morning that the Romneys would love to once more join the sharp-tongued chatter in October.
Walters weighed in one last time. Speaking directly to Romney, she said that as a member of ABC News, she does not give her political opinion, and that she knows the governor "can handle" the hosts.
Unfortunately, Goldberg was away in Paris to open "Sister Act" so did not respond to Romney's comments.
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