President Joe Biden apologized to Fox News’ Peter Doocy on Monday, after calling the reporter “a stupid son of a bitch” — but CNN’s Lisa Ling doesn’t think it was quite enough. On Tuesday’s episode of “The View,” Ling asserted that Biden should formally apologize to the entire country.
During a press conference on Monday, Doocy asked whether the president thought inflation would be a liability for the midterm elections, prompting the president’s snarky reply. And for Ling, it was the name-calling that bothered her the most.
“It’s not like he just dismissed it as a dumb question, he name-called,” Ling said. “And I just think, as a mom to young kids, these are the people who should be setting examples for our kids and it’s like, yet more examples of men behaving badly and mothers eventually having to clean it up, because it’s giving license to kids.”
Host Sunny Hostin agreed that the moment was “beneath the dignity of the presidency” but praised Biden for apologizing to Doocy directly — something she argued that previous president would never have done. Ling agreed, but argued that Biden should go one further to “acknowledge that he was a poor example.”
“It’s true, but I think he should apologize to everyone,” Ling asserted. “Not just to Peter Doocy.”
For the rest of the women though, a national apology seemed excessive. Moderator Whoopi Goldberg got particularly heated, arguing that it was a “human” moment for Biden.
“No! I’m sorry. He should acknowledge he’s human, because that happens sometimes, when people ask you endless stupid questions, from one particular place,” Whoopi said. “And sometimes, you just lose it for a second. The difference is, he said ‘OK, let me call him and apologize, because that happens.’ And I think that, for me, is the representation of what a human being, as president, should be.”