Is Mitt Romney in for a sharp tongue lashing?
The Republican presidential candidate plans to go on "The View" in October after describing the show as "high risk" and its hosts as "sharp-tongued" in a leaked video.
"View" host Elisabeth Hasselbeck — who Romney exempted from the "sharp-tongued" critique — announced Wednesday that she had received a statement from Romney's campaign saying he would return to the show. The news came as its five hosts discussed the leaked remarks.
Also read: Romney: Letterman 'Hates' Me, 'View' Women Are 'Sharp-Tongued' and 'High-Risk'
The statement, which Hasselbeck read on the air, said the governor "had a wonderful visit" in his previous "View" appearance and that the Romneys would love to again "join the sharp-tongued chatter in October."
Romney discussed "The View" and other shows in the same talk with donors in which he also said 47 percent of Americans are "dependent upon government." The video, recorded in May, was released this week by the liberal site Mother Jones.
In the video, Romney said that David Letterman "hates" him for doing Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" more often than Letterman's show, and that he turned down "Saturday Night Live" because candidates run the risk on "SNL" of appearing unpresidential.
He noted that he had, however, appeared on "The View."
"But 'The View' is fine, although 'The View' is high-risk, because of the five women on it, only one [Elisabeth Hasselbeck] is conservative and four are sharp-tongued and not conservative, Whoopi Goldberg in particular," Romney said in the video. "Although last time I was on the show, she said to me, 'You know what? I think I could vote for you.' And I said, 'I must've done something really wrong.'"
"View" host Sherri Shepherd wasn't impressed with Romney's assessment of her show, and said as much Wednesday. "If you can't handle four sharp-tongued women, how are you going to handle the country?" she asked.
During the leaked talk about talk-show appearances, a woman questioning Romney on the video recommended that his wife, Ann, appear on "The View" to help remove perceptions of Romney as merely "a rich guy."
Multimillionaire Romney responded, without elaboration, that he is "poor as a church mouse right now." He also said his campaign was holding back on his wife doing too many appearances because it didn't want people to "get tired of her or start attacking."
But he did promise that his wife would be more visible in September and October, and has been true to his word: She appeared at his side on "Live! With Kelly and Michael" Tuesday, and, as the statement to Hasselbeck indicated, is expected to join him on "The View" next month.