Hot Topics: 

• Midterm Elections:  Whoopi began the show reminding people to vote in the midterm elections today but said she was a bit “pissed” at the democrats for distancing themselves so much from President Obama.  She sarcastically asked if the fact that people now have healthcare is the reason so many people are so pissed off.  Rosie P agreed and was also angry with the democrats for not having the president’s back.  She pointed out that gas prices are lower than ever, President Obama found Bin Laden and killed him and he’s gotten a lot accomplished in the 6 years of his presidency.  She encouraged people to “stand by your man!”  Rosie O wanted to know if most people have one or two important issues that help them decide who they are going to choose in an election.  For her, women’s reproductive freedom and improved immigration policies are two of the most important issues in her decision-making process.  Nicolle said year 6 of a presidency is traditionally brutal for a president’s party.  She remembered working for the Bush White House and literally feeling sick to her stomach as people in his own party turned against him.  In some cases, these were the same people who previously begged for his support and all of a sudden they wouldn’t even be seen with him.  She said politicians are not machines or robots, they’re people, and it feels terrible when this happens to a president.  Nicolle said republicans are excited because Obama’s policies are on the ballot and they have a 6 year record they can finally run against.  She is also excited about the 5 new potential republican women in the race today.  She truly liked the Joni Ernst pig commercial and called it a totally appropriate message but Rosie O thought the commercial was “horrible.”   Nicolle was happy that Joni could be the first woman the state of Iowa has ever sent to Washington.  Rosie P wasn’t a fan of Ernst and pointed out that Ernst doesn’t believe in raising minimum wage.  Nicolle agreed with that statement and defended Joni as an “unapologetic conservative.”  Mostly, it bothers Rosie P that we, as Americans, don’t take the midterm elections more seriously.  Nicolle said if Americans have any issue they feel passionately about they need to get out and vote today.  She wished it was easier for people to vote and would like online voting.  Whoopi agreed. She wished voting took place on the weekend when the majority of people aren’t working.

• Obama is a Racist?: Ben Stein has spoken out in a recent video on Fox News saying there is a major undercurrent of racism in politics today and the reason for that is President Obama.  He called Obama the most racist president there has ever been and said he’s using race to divide Americans.  Whoopi said, “this coming from a party that tried for years to claim that Obama wasn’t even an American.”  Rosie P said we’ve had presidents that have OWNED SLAVES, for Pete’s sake.  He’s hardly the most racist.   Whoopi is sick of people “creating crap out of thin air” not based on any facts whatsoever.  She said, “Stop that Ben, you’re smarter than that!”  Rosie O said Fox News simply “likes to incite a lot of hate and is not always factually correct.”  Nicolle said Ben’s statement was wrapped in lunacy and the republican message should appeal to everybody but it doesn’t when people go around spreading these sorts of messages.  She said his comments made her sad.  Nicolle would like to see republicans presenting their ideas not doing exactly what they’re accusing the other side of doing.

• Angelina Jolie Running for Office: In a recent Vanity Fair interview, Angelina Jolie hinted she might run for office.  Rosie P supported the idea.  She said Jolie is full of convictions and she stands by them however, she thinks if she runs she’s going to have to remember to be diplomatic.  Rosie P once had a wonderful mentor, who was an AIDS activist, who encouraged her to “go inside” with her message in order to affect policy.  She listed several celebrities who became politically relevant such a Ronald Reagan, Al Franken, Jesse Ventura, and Sonny Bono.  She thinks it’s definitely possible for a celebrity to be effective and make a difference in the world.  Rosie O pointed out the many things Jolie has done for Unicef and the United Nations.   She praised Jolie’s activism and quoted her saying, “Everywhere I go cameras follow, so I go where cameras need to be.”  Nicolle said people take Jolie seriously when it comes to political topics.  She said, in the end, politics is about communicating and governing.  Nicolle said anyone who doesn’t take her [Jolie] seriously, does it at their own peril.  Whoopi still wants to know how Angelina Jolie stands on the issues.  She said it’s the issues that matter most to her at this point in her life.  As a side note, you can engage with Nicolle Wallace on The View’s Facebook page today to discuss the elections and she will be covering the election results tonight on ABC News!

• Taylor Swift Pulls Music From Spotify: Taylor Swift pulled her music from Spotify.  It is unclear as to exactly why Swift pulled her music from the streaming site but some are saying it’s because creating a scarcity for her music would encourage people to purchase it instead of streaming it.  If fans purchase the album on iTunes she will make millions more than if they stream it over Spotify.  Rosie P said there are a lot of artists who are struggling to get paid for their art.  She agreed artists should be paid but admitted that Taylor probably has a lot of money and isn’t hurting for cash.  She said it’s also tricky because many of her fans are young and don’t make their own money.  Rosie O said things are different for kids today.  She said her teens don’t ever buy an entire album of music, they just purchase the songs they like.  She said, “That’s the future and you can’t hold back the future.”  Nicolle believes Taylor yields a tremendous amount of power and was proud of her for standing up for her art.  Whoopi agreed.  She said no matter how much money you have, you should be paid for your art.  And she thinks if someone likes your music, they should pay for it.

• Jeopardy With A Side of Viagra: Whoopi was watching Jeopardy last night at 7:00PM and was shocked when she saw this Viagra commercial.  She said not a lot offends her but she was pretty horrified and uncomfortable when she saw it!  She thought it was laughable that we’re not allowed to promote birth control on television but we can advertise for erectile dysfunction.  Rosie P thinks the ad is brilliant because it’s encouraging men to be okay with Viagra and bring the pill to the party!  She did agree that 7pm was an inappropriate time for that message though.  Nicolle pointed out that the ad is on all day Saturday and Sunday during football games.   Rosie O remembered the Cathy Rigby maxipad commercial from the early  1980s!  She said she almost died of embarrassment in front of her brothers when it came on the TV.  Nicolle was reminded of the  HBO GO: Awkward Family Viewing commercials that reminds viewers why they need HBO GO so they don’t have to sit through awkward television programs like Girls while they’re sitting with their parents. The topic alone was making her sweat!  Going back to the Viagra commercial, Rosie O said when her 11-year-old asked her what the commercial was for she simply told her, “Crawling!  It’s a commercial for crawling.”

• No Frontal Nudity: 50 Shades of Grey fans may disappointed when they hear there will be no male full-frontal nudity in the film.  Rosie P noted the double-standard and said movie producers are fine with showing naked women all the time but won’t show a naked man.  She thinks men need to put it out there too.  She called out stars like Jason Biggs, Jason Segal, and Willem Dafoe, who have all done full-frontal nudity in their acting roles.  Rosie O thinks men aren’t typically shown nude because, in general, the penis is not a very appealing part of the body to look at.  Rosie P shouted, “So says YOU!”  Rosie O said she’s never had a straight friend call her up and say, “Oh my God Ro, last night I saw the most beautiful penis.” And Rosie P said, “That’s because they didn’t see Willem Dafoe’s!”

Guests:

Martin Short:  The hilarious Martin Short joined the ladies of The View to discuss his new memoir I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend.  The group had a very funny discussion about the first time Martin played poker with Johnny Carson and Steve Martin.  Martin said he lost a tremendous amount of money and ended up nervously sitting beside Johnny Carson at dinner and laughing so hard at Steve’s jokes he spit mashed potatoes all over Johnny’s hand!  Martin said he’s still great friends with his former Three Amigos star Steve Martin and in fact, they go get colonoscopies together.  He called it a “hootenanny of purge.”  He said he and Steve get together at Steve’s house, play poker together and around midnight the bathroom looks like a “Carnival cruise on day 15!”  On a more serious note, Martin said his new book is a love letter to his late wife Nancy who died of ovarian cancer 4 years ago.  Martin doesn’t believe she’s gone but instead he believes she’s zoomed into their hearts and they carry her with them forever.  He said the book is a celebration of their 38 years together and in a way, brings her back to life.

John Leguizamo: John Leguizamo joined the ladies of The View to promote his latest movie Fugly that Rosie P also stars in!  He said the movie is partially autobiographical, especially the fugly part.  John said he was an ugly kid and he actually promoted the film by posting embarrassing photos of himself as a child on Instagram.  All the ladies thought John was adorable and didn’t think any of this could be true.   Fugly opens in select theaters this Friday (November 7) and will be available on demand on November 25^th.

DWTS Cast Offs:  Nascar driver Michael Waltrip and his professional dancing partner Emma Slater are the most recent cast-offs from ABC’s Dancing With The Stars.   They joined the ladies of the show for their final dance.  Click here to watch a backstage video of Michael Waltrip explaining the Jeff Gordon incident.

Quoteables:

Rosie P: [regarding the democratic party] “They need some backbone.”

Rosie O:  “I am a comedian not just a lesbian!”

Whoopi: “We are hard in Jersey.  We don’t play!”

Nicolle: [about politicians] “These guys are not machines, they’re not robots, they’re human beings.”

Take a little time to enjoy The View!

Hot Topics:

• Weekend Wrap-up: The ladies of The View began today’s show congratulating all the runners in this weekend’s New York City Marathon! Every year, when Whoopi sees the marathon take place on the streets of NYC, she wants to run it but never actually gets around to training for it. Rosie O’s friend Lenny once decided to run the marathon at the last minute, without having trained for it, and he ended up finishing the race but breaking both of his shins and was in a wheelchair for 4 months! Rosie P fantasizes about running the marathon every year but never actually commits to training for it either. Nicolle once went so far as to sign up for a marathon training program, where you also raise money for a cause, but dropped out and then felt ashamed. She still raised the money but could never get into the running. This weekend, Whoopi was the grand marshal at the New York City Halloween parade and they showed a video montage of her at the parade. Rosie O has moved from her home in Nyack, where she used to get many trick-or-treaters and she did not get one single trick-or-treater at her new home on Friday. Her youngest daughter Dakota dressed up as Elsa from Frozen. They went to one house trick-or-treating and then Rosie O said, “She was over it.” She and her kids also went to see Side Show on Broadway this weekend and they all loved it! She said it was great. Rosie P flew to LA to be on the Jimmy Kimmel show for Halloween though she doesn’t really like Halloween. She told a hilarious story about the time one of her friends invited her to a Halloween costume party and told her to dress up but no one else at the party had on a costume! Nicolle’s son was a fireman for Halloween and she said he wasn’t really into the candy but he had a really great time. And she said on Saturday night she checked “the Twitter” and tweeted with Rosie P about the boxing match she was watching. Nicolle enjoyed the match and didn’t mind the violence but she was surprised at all the women in the audience.

• Not Afraid of Heights: Tom Cruise spent the weekend dangling from an airplane 5000 feet up in the air for the Mission Impossible sequel.  And Nick Wallenda walked across a wire between two Chicago skyscrapers.  Nicolle’s friend Willie Geist did the commentary for the tightrope walk and said there was a 10 second delay on the live feed in case he falls to his death.  Rosie O’s Nana was obsessed with the Wallenda’s because she lived during the era that the whole family fell and died.  Rosie O said it’s too terrifying for her to watch Nick Wallenda’s stunts. Whoopi said the people who do these stunts for a living don’t see them as deadly. Nicolle said this is how the Wallendas want to live and how they want to die so for them, it’s worth it.

• Chris Rock’s SNL Monologue: A lot of people were upset by Chris Rock’s SNL monologue this Saturday which joked about 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombing.  Rosie O saw the monologue and thought he really pushed the envelope.   She thinks he is one of the funniest men around and has always talked about the things people are afraid to talk about.  She thought he was on point and brave to say things people think but won’t say. Whoopi said it might take people a little while to get to the point where they can laugh about these tragedies but agreed that Chris Rock is a great comedian.

• Brittany Maynard Dies: Death with Dignity advocate, Brittany Maynard, decided to end her life Saturday in what some are calling a controversial decision. She said she wanted her story to ensure death with dignity is available to every terminally-ill American, or at least spark the conversation. Rosie P mentioned Maggie Karner who lives in Connecticut and is suffering from the same illness as Brittany. Maggie made a video begging Brittany to not to take her own life. Rosie P thought it was only fair to present the other side of the conversation. If you’d like to see Maggie’s video message to Brittany click here. Rosie P knows that it was Brittany’s decision to end her own life, but she admitted if her sister even entertained the thought, she wouldn’t be able to handle it. Rosie P has watched friends dying from AIDS, taking their last breath so she knows something about dying. She didn’t understand why Brittany couldn’t wait and why she had to give up. Whoopi said sickness effects people differently. She understood Brittany’s decision that she didn’t want to waste away. And she said she would make the same decision if that were her. Nicolle thought Brittany was brave, thought her last wishes were beautiful and loved how Brittany was able to achieve so many of her bucket list items. She thinks Brittany’s story will have a profound effect on end-of-life debates and they should all attack their bucket list items with zeal! Rosie O said, “Better yet? Make it a live-it list.”

• Children = More Productivity? A new study finds that women with 2 or more children are more productive at work. Rosie O said if that’s true she should be the most productive person on the panel but she’s pretty sure she’s not. She thinks maybe the study just means to point out that women with a lot of children are perhaps more experienced at multi-tasking. Nicolle disagreed with the study and felt she was a much more present and productive employee before she had kids. Rosie P said we shouldn’t really be looking at women who have money for the study because they have nannies and a lot of help. Nicolle joked that she only has one kid, one dog, and a very helpful husband yet she is not organized or very productive.

• Viral Video: Rosie O introduced little Emily, her mother and Emily’s Uncle to the audience. Emily was the little girl who donated her hair in a video that went viral. The ladies discussed the video on last week’s show and invited them to appear as their guests. Rosie O sat with Emily in her lap and they chatted about her decision to cut her hair for kids who didn’t have any. Emily’s mom said Emily is a very compassionate little girl who loves people. Emily’s uncle is a professional hair stylist and cuts all his nieces’ and nephews’ hair. Rosie O gave Emily an ENORMOUS basket of Disney Frozen merchandise and thanked her for sharing her story and for being their guest on the show!

Rosie and Emily.

Guests:

Kerry Washington: Kerry Washington from Scandal joined the ladies of The View to discuss her role on the hit ABC show. They joked about her character’s diet of wine and popcorn. Nicolle told Kerry that many of the show’s die-hard fans in Washington, the current and former White House staffers, think their portrayal of the show (and the diet) is very accurate! Kerry said many people come up to her and say they want to be just like her character. She said she doesn’t advise people drink wine, eat only popcorn and sleep with married men but she said it is great to dress like her. Kerry loves the way her character dresses so much she co-designed a Scandal clothing line for The Limited so you too can dress like her character, Olivia Pope! She mentioned her Allure Magazine cover where she went “without” makeup. She clarified that she did have “some” makeup on and it was more of a no makeup “look.” Kerry discussed with the ladies how she had to learn an important life lesson about how to ask for help. She has a great relationship with her parents who only ever allowed her to curse when she was growing up when she was quoting Whoopi’s one woman show!   Kerry said she has the best crew, cast and boss (Shonda Rhimes) in television. And she’s also enjoying working with Neutrogena about looking good and having healthy, beautiful skin. Rosie O said if there’s any chance she might look like Kerry she’s totally going to go out and buy some Neutrogena! Scandal airs on Thursday nights on ABC at 9/8c.

Joy Behar: Last but not least, the ladies of The View welcomed back, with big hugs and open arms, Joy Behar who spent 16 YEARS as a co-host on The View! She has a new one-woman-show entitled “Me, My Mouth and I.” Joy told Nicolle she’s her favorite Republican ever because she’s not annoying! She asked Nicolle if it was true that Sarah Palin could see Russia from her house which had Nicolle cracking up. Rosie O wanted to know what her fans will learn about her that they already don’t know when they go see her one-woman-show. Joy said she hasn’t always been a “confident, fabulous, diva.” In fact, she really didn’t start her career until she was 40. She said she used to have “thinner skin than Chris Christie.” Joy frequently gets into trouble with Republicans and told the story about the time she told John Boehner to stop obstructing Obama and he pretended to strangle her. Mostly, she was worried he’d “get his self-tanner all over her blouse!” Joy talked a little about her grandson who is 3 years old now, “smarter than most politicians” and “drops the F bomb” better than anybody. Joy’s daughter blames Joy for that swearing talent! Whoopi and Rosie O are both mentioned in Joy’s show. Joy said Whoopi and Rosie are “her bitches” and have always been good to her. She also talks a lot about her years on The View in her show since she spent 16 years of her life there. When Nicolle asked Joy if she had any advice for her as a newbie on the show Joy simply said, “Just enjoy it here because life is short.” You can see Joy Behar in her one-woman show Me Myself and I at the Cherry Lane Theater in New York.

Take a little time to enjoy The View.