‘The View’ Host Gets Heated Over ‘Ageist’ Backlash to Embarrassing Joe Biden Mistake

The View hosts have called for greater respect for President Joe Biden this week. On the talk show’s Sept. 29 episode, the women addressed the backlash Biden received after he mistakingly called out for a deceased congresswoman in a crowded room. According to some panelists, the consistent criticism of the moment was purely ageist. Biden spoke at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health on Sept. 28, asking, “Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? I think she wasn’t going to be here – to help make this a reality.” The incident was seized upon because Rep. Jackie Walorski passed away in a car accident in August.

Later, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained the moment to reporters at a briefing by saying Walorski was “top of mind for the president,” and he made a mistake. The View hosts were staunchly on Biden’s side in the matter. “You know, my gosh, come on,” Whoopi Goldberg said. “You can’t go after him for, you know, not giving aid to Florida or not tackling the infrastructure. And he’s giving aid to Ukraine. So you can’t go after him for that. But you can go after him for forgetting that someone has passed. I mean, and she passed last month, not like 100 years ago, OK? Because we dealt with that as well, where people said, you know, ‘That person who died 100 years ago did a great job.’”

Goldberg’s comment referred to Donald Trump’s remarks in 2017, when he said, “Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more, I notice.” Sunny Hostin, however, believed the negative responses Biden faced were primarily a product of ageism. 

“You know, I think what it really shows is that this country is so ageist,” she said. “This country has a problem with age. You know, you go to other countries and our elders are revered. They’re revered because of the knowledge that they have acquired. And this is a man who has worked in government his entire life. This is a man who probably had a relationship with this woman. And yes, she probably was top of mind!” Hostin also recalled almost calling her late grandmother recently, who died five years ago.

Additionally, Joy Behar said the Republican party was too quick to call him out on any gaffes. “I mean, they have weaponized the gaffes, they’ve said that he’s senile,” she said. “You know, I found a Gallup poll from 1980 that showed that the number one concern Americans had about Ronald Reagan was that, quote, ‘He puts his foot in his mouth without thinking or considering the consequences.’ And he is the patron saint of the Republican Party!” However, Sara Haines and Alyssa Farah Griffin agreed that the mistake could have been handled better, especially with the press.