I know many (maybe most) of you will disagree but I liked Elisabeth Hasselbeck. I like to think of myself as a very liberal Democrat and disagreed with much of what Hasselbeck had to say, especially during the Bush years. But there were times I think people failed to actually listen to her and instead simply had pegged her as a Republican or Palin supporter (a choice I think she regrets) and really didn't bother to listen to her views. When you listened to Elisabeth, if you got beyond some of her annoying tendencies, there was a actually quite a liberal thinking woman. More liberal than the actual liberals that sat around her. Sherri Shepherd may be an Obama supporting democrat, but some of her views are as extreme as those of the tea parties. I like Joy Behar, but the only things she seemed to be able to say surrounding gay rights were jokes about interior decorating, jokes more fitting for an 1970's episode of Three's Company. Whoppi, who knows? She seems to be liberal, but more than anything she seems to be self involved, big on defending friends like Mel Gibson and complaining about how horrible she is treated as a smoker.
Hasselbeck, well.... she stood by her beliefs and more importantly, more than anyone ever on that panel, showed the ability to change her thought process when given opposing points of view she could buy into. Not many people over the age of 20 are able to do that these days. Hasselbeck strongly supported gay rights and was a supporter of gay marriage years before Obama publically did. She is a firm supporter of woman's rights and a woman's right to choose when it comes their own bodies. I like that I like Hasselbeck. There is so much division these days, it is almost too easy to mock, make fun of and even hate someone of their political believes. No one party can claim innocence with that. She will be missed, at least by me. Fox tv doesn't need her, they all sound the same over there. Hasselbeck was needed precisely in the place her voice wasn't always welcomed, on The View. Wasn't the whole point of the show to have different opinions and views?