The co-hosts of The View on Tuesday leapt to the defense of Hillary Clinton after she was put on the spot by a West Virginia coal miner. While talking to voters, the individual demanded to know how Clinton can call herself a “friend” of the state after saying, “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”
View co-host and ABC News journalist Paula Faris spun for Clinton: “This is a classic case, though, of listening to just part of the sound bite though. We do this all the time.” Co-host Sunny Hostin agreed, “We're not being fair. I was just going to say that.”
Raven-Symone offered Democratic talking points: “But she also has a $30 billion investment plan to revitalize the coal industry in cleaner ways. You know?” In the video, the man told Clinton, “I just want to know how you can say you're going to put a lot of coal miners out of jobs and then come in here and tell us how you're going to be our friend.”
Symone seemed to think the man should have been grateful, lecturing, “So you should be happy that she's going to start investing.” Hostin again tried to rewrite the exchange, demanding broader context:
HOSTIN: No, no. I'm just saying — To put into context, what she said was, "I'm the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country." Then she said "Because we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." Right? Isn't that very different?
GOLDBERG: No, it's not. If you're a person who's desperately trying to hold onto the job, all you hear is, "I'm going to take your job away."
Goldberg then explained to her co-host: “That's what he heard and that's why he said, ‘How can you say this and then come in and say you want to be my friend?’”
A partial transcript of the May 3 segment, which aired at 11:04, is below:
The View
5/3/16
11:04HILLARY CLINTON: We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.
MAN: I just want to know how you can say you're going to put a lot of coal miners out of jobs and then come in here and tell us how you're going to be our friend.
CLINTON: What I was saying is that the way things are going now, we will continue to lose jobs. That's what I meant to say and I think that that seems to be supported by the facts.
JOY BEHAR: Right.
RAVEN-SYMONE: But she also has a $30 billion investment plan to revitalize the coal industry in cleaner ways. You know? I don't know any coal miners. I don't understand the industry, but from an outsider looking in, yes, what she said might have felt —
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Uncomfortable.
SYMONE: Uncomfortable. But that's a very dangerous job. That's a health risk — high health risk job.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, the people who do it know that.
SYMONE: So you should be happy that she's going to start investing in your —
GOLDBERG: Yes, but when you say to people who are desperately trying to hold onto jobs — Because you know the coal miners. It is the dirtiest job in the world and the most dangerous and you know, whole cities have disappeared because coal miners have lost their jobs. So I think what he was saying was, “You want to be our friend but now you're coming in to tell me that —” what you should have said was we're going to bring all this new stuff —
SYMONE: Yeah.
GOLDBERG: And then we're going to put y'all in these jobs because it would be better.
SUNNY HOSTIN: To be fair —
PAULA FARIS: This is a classic case, though, of listening to just part of the sound bite though. We do this all the time.
HOSTIN: We’re not being fair. I was just going to say that. That's not what she said.
FARIS: No, we’re not.
HOSTIN: Can I say what she said because it's not — I think we're not being fair to her.
GOLDBERG: No, no, no. Then you're not listening to what I said.
HOSTIN: No, no. I’m just saying — To put into context, what she said was, “I'm the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country.” Then she said “Because we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” Right? Isn’t that very different?
GOLDBERG: No, it's not. If you're a person who's desperately trying to hold onto the job, all you hear is, “I'm going to take your job away.” You don’t hear —
HOSTIN: But that's not what she said. I think that's what the problem is.
GOLDBERG: But that's what he heard and that's why he said, “How can you say this and then come in and say you want to be my friend?”
