I agree that it was tacky to out a decades old affair, but when Star asked the other "ladies" of the View to lie for her, even if, benefit of the doubt, it was by omission, she should have known it would come back to haunt her. Considering the epidemic of obesity in this country, it was a pretty harmful lie to be telling, in my opinion. And nothing Barbara said (about Star) hadn't been revealed already, so I think Star is just reaping what she sowed. If you at least TRY to live your life in a way that is honest, you won't be called on the mat for lying in the future. Well, that's my little soapbox ramble for the day and I promise I won't do it again! ha ha

She was the only credibility The View had, otherwise it would have been canceled early on, as it is boring and utterly forgettable. Barbara Walters willed that show to float. However this book is going a bit far. She is trading in her journalistic history and *ahem* integrity to sell books. Instead of a classy tome about her career and what she overcame to get to where she is now, as well as her hopes for the next generation of women journalists that she has helped to shape, she delivers a book with forgettable gossip about forgotten people. It's just The View in monologue.

Didn't Star Jones write a memoir which detailed her losing weight by doing pilates?

Way to stay classy, Babwa.

Ouch, way to bring down the neighborhood 7-Eleven clerk, Liz.

Call me old fashioned, but the affair makes me less likely to buy the book, both because of the adultery and because of exploiting the adultery for book sales.

I keep hearing how I owe most of my life as a woman to Barbara, but I have to say my friends and I thought she was a joke pretty far back. I remember doing fake interviews of fellow junior high school classmates as if they were celebrities, asking them what kind of tree they would be, etc. Even we thought she was all fluff journalism. Nothing wrong with that (I like it too), but I always wondered why I had to be so impressed. I still wonder!

Here's a link to her book
http://www.amazon.com/Shine-Physical-Emotional-Spiritual-Journey/dp/B000GPIL7I/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210261191&sr=1-1

some the reviews are funny. Also its a "Bargain Book". Shocker.

Maybe this says something about older women and their opportunities in the career of their choice. Women are judged too much by age and looks. By the way, Babs has got great legs for 78!

Sorry, that's the link to Star Jones book, not Babwa Wawa.

Memoirs are just like first-dates - you only get to see the best and superficial parts of the person. It's a waste of time to read memoirs.

Read biographies that were written without permission or endorsement from the subjects.

I just heard Barbara Walters on Diane Reem on NPR and she said that she did write to Mr. Brooks informing him that she was going to write about their relationship, he did not protest the inclusion. She also stated that if he had she would not have included it.

This was something I had already suspected.

Ouch, way to bring down the neighborhood 7-Eleven clerk, Liz.

Posted by: md | May 8, 2008 11:44 AM

I don't understand this comment. Help, someone, please!

When I heard that BW would be on Oprah, I set my DVR. And, I noticed that all Oprah asked her about was the affair and Star. I think a lot of people are assuming the book is all about an affair and Star Jones. Like BW told Oprah, the affair is 5 pages out of a 300 page book. It just happens that all anyone wants to talk about is the juicy bits. I personally think the overall book will be completely boring and have no interest in reading it.

I am generally not a fan of Star Jones, but I have to say that her quote hit the nail on the head. Barbara's actions are truly disgraceful. She should have let the affair remain a secret like a true lady instead of using it to sell books. And, speaking negatively about your coworkers never looks highly on you. She should have taken the high road and tried to remain a classy person.

Sweetie, I know, Star Jones wasn't even brought up on the Diane Reem show and the affair came up at the end, but then Diane Reem is a classy lady and a much better interviewer than Barbara Walters. The show mostly talked about her sister, her daughter and career.

I pwefer Astroglide.

Didn't Babwa cwoss over into the realm of fluff journalism many years ago? I'm, umm, not young, and it seems she's been scoring interviews based on her own celebrity rather than for hard-hitting interview skills forever. That infamous "what kind of tree would you be?" question was from the late 70s or early 80s, wasn't it?

Though in her defense, and in support of possum's comment, people are making a big deal about her sex stories because she's old now. No one would blink an eye about a 77 y.o. man recounting an old affair. People are reacting so negatively to the notion of an older woman having sex. Once you get into middle age yourself, the notion that maybe you could still be, uhhh, you-know-what-ing for a while longer doesn't sound like a bad idea.

She apparenty talks about Rosie too in the book. Does that tell you how unnewsworthy Rosie is now that people would rather talk about a 30 year old affair than her?

I remember during the OJ slow speed chase, she and Peter Jennings were doing the commentary. She started babbling about how if OJ were arrested, he would be in a cell next to the Mendeze brothers. Jennings shut her down shortly therafter and didn't let her talk again. Her contributions were just too fluffy to go out over the air.

me either, sunnydaze.

I realize I'm a big cynic, but I can't recall a time when I took Barbara Walters seriously as a journalist. when I was coming up through the ranks, she wasn't someone I wished to emulate. She always seemed like a caricature rather than a serious newswoman. The dive off into the deep end seems to happen to a lot of female TV types.... Connie Chung; Deborah Norville; Ashleigh Banfield. They all started off great guns and wound up more or less readers for tabloid shows. Now is that a function of their personalities or is it that TV news is still a male-dominated industry? I don't know.

If it is a personality thing, I guess with BabaWawa, it did come a lot later in life than it did for the others. I just don't get this idea that, because someone is well-known as a "journalist," that all of the sudden the public is going to be interested in the intimate details of THEIR lives....that's just, well, ewww.

That's why blogs like this are successful and a pleasure to read, Liz Kelly: You rarely start off a post with "I."

Now, to resume being catty: are those Joan Crawford "Take Me Pumps" that Babs is wearing?

Ouch, way to bring down the neighborhood 7-Eleven clerk, Liz.

Posted by: md | May 8, 2008 11:44 AM

I don't understand this comment. Help, someone, please!

Posted by: sunnydaze | May 8, 2008 11:57 AM
---------------

Allow me, sunnydaze. One of the answer choices for the "I care about Barbara Walters's personal history and insights:" poll is

"Less than I care about the clerk at 7-Eleven's."

And I gotta admit, md does have a point.

thanks td....the poll is blocked at work. now everything is illuminated.

Also interesting was her revalations that she got here first news job because of her legs. (Note; if a guy says great legs, he means great a$$). And she slpt with her first boss. So much for being a pioneer for women everywhere.

Barbara Walters is a hypocrite! Although she denied it, she was a "mistress," since in my Merriam-Webster dictionary a "mistress" is a woman with whom a man habitually fornicates. Fornicate: "Sexual intercourse other than between a man and his wife. Sexual intercourse between a spouse and an unmarried person. To have sexual intercourse outside marriage." I believe this describes Barbara Walter's self-described affair with Senator Brooke who was married at the time. I will NOT dignify nor reward her indiscrete revelation of this immoral affair by buying her book.

Troll alert...That wasn't me that usually posts as b.

I read more than once that Peter Jennings treated Walters with disrespect and considered her a light-weight.

But, of course, since Jennings was well regarded by many people and his criticism would make her look bad, Walters would not include this in her book.

Instead, she goes after Harry Reasoner -- many of whose peers are deceased and not here to defend him.

Barbara Walters may well have legitimate grievances against Reasoner, no doubt she does, but maybe he also had his side of the story. I don't know.

I've never taken Walters seriously as a journalist because of her coquettish approach to her male interview subjects. Flirting seemed to be a large part of her M.O. And now it seems as if it did not stop at flirting.

I also don't think of Walters as a trail blazer. She may have helped clear the way for other females but her main goal was always, IMO, to advance her own interests and her own career. Which is fine but why elevate her falsely with some kind of historical and noble intent.

She was in love with being on TV and would have done anything to claw her way to more face time. JMO.

I also think she would not hesitate to lie to protect her own interests if she thought she could get away with it.

I've seen her on air promoting her book. She has stated that she wrote to Brooks to let him know what was included in her book. And that she heard back from him.

She did not say she let him know beforehand and asked his permission. Now, apparently after all the criticism, she is intimating that she contacted him beforehand.

Personally, I think this is a lie. JMO.

Thanks td! The polls are blocked at work. We have a very nice Nigerian fellow at the convenience store that I use. Not a 7-Eleven, but I can still say that care more about the nice Nigerian man than about Baba's book, love life, professional life, or wardrobe.

Baba mentioned in her interview with Charlie Gibson last night that her relationship with Sen. John Warner used to be "not platonic" and now it "is platonic."

So in addition to Sen. Brooke, she had to out my senator as well. Thanks a lot Baba. TMI.

Don't want to defend Babwa but Star didn't just keep her weight loss secret *private*, she asked her colleagues to lie for her. If she never wanted it talked about then she shouldn't have told them about it in the first place.

On the other hand I think only texting tweener tw*ts would have believed such rapid weight loss was the result of pilates and sensible eating.

Oh for Pete's sake - BW was the first female co-host of the Today show, the first female co-anchor of a prime-time news show...and you think she's not a trailblazer? OF COURSE she had to claw her way to more face-time on TV - you think the network boys were going to just give it to her?

Speaking of her flirting, I remember a story about when Barbara Walters interviewed Henry Kissinger on "Today." As she prepped him beforehand, she kept pressing her leg against his under the table out of view.

She asked if he could feel her rubbing up against him and he said yes. She replied, "when I do that, it means our time is about up and to finish your thought" or words to that effect.

Now in an of itself, that might be an innocuous tale and common TV practice (?). But 1) would Edward R. Murrow have done that to the Secretary of State and/or 2) did Barbara always rub up against her guests?!

yo fattys carm down! Stop hatin on babs. she look good fer ole lady. star jones jus jealus

Someone needs to create a "YFCD" bracelet a la "WWJD" (or "WWDJ" to you TTTs) in two color choices, Celebritology pink or Celebritology yellow.

I didn't see the Oprah interview but heard clips when she and Oprah were exchanging notes about screwing married men and agreeing that they were both not mistresses. They concluded that since they were not renumerated for the relationship- "we can take care of ourselves, thank you very much!"

It was such a skanky exchange and I was revolted by both of them. I was involved w/a married man when I was younger and look back on that with such regret and certainly not as a proud moment simply because I could take care of myself. I wish Babs and Oprah and others would not glamorize illicit affairs- I'm hardly a prude- but I think it is in bad taste to conjure up such relationships (unless you're offering a cautionary tale) that usually end up being destructive and/or hurtful to most involved.

not to knock what baba wawa did for female journalists every where but i always thought diane swayer was better at her job. she seemed less fake to mean, but that's just my opinion and now i have to go drink the tom cruise kool aid.

I think that Star Jones is annoying and was extremely foolish if she thought that she would be able to "hide" her surgery. However, what I don't really understand is why Babwa would have agreed to go along with this lie in the first place. I realize that the View is not exactly the nightly news in terms of content or journalistic merit, but why allow Star Jones to "pretend" that she had lost all of that weight through pilates or whatever other means, particularly on the show? Wasn't it Babwa's show to begin with? Therefore, I'm not sure who looks worse now that she has "outed" Star Jones, but I agree that it was tres tacky of her to do it just to gain publicity for herself/her book. Yeah, the salacious stuff might only be 5 pages of the book, but surely she didn't expect that the media was going to pounce on aspects of her relationship with her family vs. Star Jones dirt, etc. If the View had an author of a book with similar revelations as a guest, which details would they be most likely to ask about?

It's now just a matter of time before Babwa does one of those Euro-classy splayed twig erotic crotch shot photo spreads to celebrate her sexuality. Sure hope she waxes...

What is, 'Name something worse than waterboarding,' Alex?

Gramma Baba wishes she was the white Oprah. The female Larry King, on the other hand, is spot on - well done!

The seeds of Baba's downfall were actually evident in her famous Castro interview. I stopped thinking of her as a serious journalist when she asked him how many women he had slept with.

Posted by: td | May 8, 2008 1:38 PM :"WWJD" (or "WWDJ" to you TTTs) in two color choices"

WWDJ = Who would do Jesus?

I didn't follow The View closely but I always had the impression that Star Jones was emphasizing the portion control and the Pilates because she was doing both and enthusiastic about the results.

I thought that she hedged on a full explanation (not hiding the fact that she was hedging) because she did not want to promote a "surgery." Something that could result in serious, perhaps life-threatening consequences if it were to go wrong.

So as long as she was not actually denying having surgery, I think she was within her rights to avoid a full explanation.

Best not to talk about it at all but since she was losing weight before everyone's eyes, she could not avoid being questioned about it.

She wasn't doing anyone any harm by emphasizing portion control and exercise. She could have done someone harm by trying to act as a poster girl for a surgical procedure.

I don't buy Walter's revisionist explanation that Star Jones leaned on the rest of the panel to lie for her. C'mon. Joy Behar going along with something like this merely at the request of Star? Sorry. Doesn't ring true.

More likely, the show decided that it was also in their best interests to not go into the full reason for Star's weight loss.

That way the panel could continue commenting on it and chatting about it ad nauseum and not expose themselves to the legal ramifications (from surgeries gone wrong) there might be if they were constantly chatting about gastric bypass and seemingly promoting it to their audience.

I don't believe anything Barbara says about Star Jones. By this time, Walters has told lie upon lie and has no credibility left.

Posted by: td | May 8, 2008 1:38 PM :"WWJD" (or "WWDJ" to you TTTs) in two color choices"

WWDJ = Who would do Jesus?

Posted by: epony | May 8, 2008 3:10 PM
----------

It wasn't ME who said it first, epony! Oh, fine, make me out to be a blasphemer! Now I have to wade through all those TTT posts to find the original citation so I'm not struck by lightning here on this rainy day in Baltimore. . . . send in a search party if I don't post again by 4 p.m.

Let's see . . . Booby Kennedy Day . . . free cones at Ben & Jerry's . . . SHow stopper,(HIGH five! . . . Lincolns assassination? Jesuit . . . platictaed . . . ah, here we go; seems I got the letter order wrong:

---------
Well, I know WWJD about that: call an ambulance.

Posted by: byoolin | April 29, 2008 1:47 PM
---------
Byoolin, it's grammar day. Don't you mean "I know WJWD"?

Posted by: h3 | April 29, 2008 1:49 PM
---------
"Can't afford Annie Lebowitz," you say. "Have to settle for a local photographer for your cheesecake graduate glamour shots, you will."

Posted by: WJWD | April 29, 2008 2:11 PM
---------

Guess I should've said "WJWD" and directed my comment to h3 then!

Whoever's producing the Miley Cyrus chat is no fun. Every comment posted has complete sentences, coherent thoughts, reasonable tone, and fairly conventional insights.

And not a word about her creamy smooth skin...

This one HAS to be Byoolin:

I pwefer Astroglide.

Posted by: Babwa Wawa | May 8, 2008 12:07 PM

--------------------------------------------

Edward R. Murrow would never stoop so low as to rub his leg against an interviewee when time was up. Murrow wold be up front about it: He'd take a Bogart drag off his ever-present cigarette, then blow out a cloud of smoke that would completely obscure the guest. As the guest tried to stifle a coughing fit, Murrow would say, "I'm afraid our time is up."

In a strange way, Mike Rowe of dirty jobs is a descendant of Edward R. Murrow. Murrow hosted "See It Now." Mike Rowe's tag line is "I can smell it now!"

This one HAS to be Byoolin:

I pwefer Astroglide.

Posted by: Babwa Wawa | May 8, 2008 12:07 PM

**************

I wish! (But I'd have said "Astwogwide.")

Babwa Wawa's revealed sexual exploits make me wonder about a question she is said to have asked an male interviewee:

"If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?"

Was this code for asking the man about the length and girth of his manhood? Was Babwa rubbing her leg up against the man when she asked this?

And why didn't Babwa ever turn to Rose O'Donnell and say, "Yo, fattie, carm down!"???

Questions, questions, do I have questions...

Byoolinn says:

I wish! (But I'd have said "Astwogwide.")

-------------------------------------------

True dat.

So who'll cop to it?

I shouldn't have written that previous post.
Now I can't get the image out of my mind of her wubbing against Dr. Kissinger and both of them becoming awoused, and the next thing you know, they'we thwashing about on the milk-stained cawpet, cawwied by animal passions until they fall back, exhausted, on the cawtons of yoguwt.

Powerful imagery, Byoolin.

But I ain't goin' near that yogurt.

Yeah, thanks. I was eating yogurt.

ewww, me too.

Oh yeah, that was me with the WJWD. All depends on where it is in the sentence, dontcha know.

WJWD:

WhoJWD
WhatJWD
WhenJWD
WhereJWD
WhyJWD

I was actually about to have an afternoon snack of ...... you guessed it. Yogurt and now thanks to Byoolin I can't. How long does yogurt last after opening because I might be off it for a bit?

And I unfortunately just had an afernoon snack of yogurt before coming back for one last look. Just goes to prove you need to quit while you're ahead.

There are a surprising number of yogurt eaters here. Almost as surprising as the number of lawyers. Is there a correlation?

Sharks eat yogurt?

There are a surprising number of yogurt eaters here. Almost as surprising as the number of lawyers. Is there a correlation?

Posted by: sunnydaze | May 8, 2008 4:56 PM

That's funny, both the lawyers I work for eat yogurt for breakfast....hmmmmmmmm

BW is a back stabbing fake wilted rose. She says she lied to protect Star. When someone lies they are usually protecting themselves.

First who is Star Jones. Sounbds like another made up name for a rap person. Barbara has been a classs act since she started on Today and her first syndicated show " Not for Women Only" directed by a friend of mine was the first show that expressed women's issues. She is easy to dump on because of the Brooke business but she was involved with other men during her career but they may not have been black and in Congress. I may buy the book but not for the sensational parts. Just think if she ever interviewed you, What kind of tree would you be? If she was interviewing idiot celebrities, that was her job and viewers watched. It just goes to show you!

Hm...I think I would be a birch. 'Cause I like the word birch. And I would have useful bark.

The many cheap, ignorant and erroneous comments about Barbara Walters which appear here are incredible to one who has followed her career with great interest and admiration from its very beginning on the Today show. I remember the first time I saw her conduct an interview and how very well she did it--a real first in the male-dominated world of television at that time. It was a great experience. She went on from there to achieve the absolute top ranking as interviewer of choice for all of the world's leaders and celebrities. She also has done many other notable programs.

Of course, she is not a perfect human being and neither is anyone else. I think that it is good that she can admit her failings and much prefer this to certain famous persons whose recent autobiographies have contained bare-faced lies to make themselves or their political parties look better.

I bought her book yesterday and find it very interesting. (If you don't want to contribute to this "evil woman's profits" you can always put your name on the waiting list at your local library, or, better yet, just forget about it. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.)

In short, vive la Barbara! And let all the foul-mouthed creeps here assembled crawl back into their holes.

Face it TV "newswomen" by in large are an embarassment

Barbara Walters (Larry King great example)
Katie Couric (utter failure in real journalisim)
Meridith Viera (immature average intelligence at best)
Diane Sawyer (total air head ditz)
Ann Curry (can't read a teleprompter)

Thats not even counting all of the Newsbunnies on Fox and now on MSNBC and CNN as well.

And people actually use these women as role models. Its an embarassment

The best was seeing Lara Spencer interviewing the book-touring Barbara Walters.

At one point, Lara leaned in all starry/teary eyed and said to Barbara in a voice throbbing with emotion -- "Thankyou. You made it possible for women like me."

Women like her?????? Lara Spencer?????

Barbara must be so proud. Lara Spencer is on a program, The Insider, which is the broadcast equivalent of The National Enquirer.

Barbara responded to Lara Spencer with over-the-top congratulations on her great success.

Great success? At what? The Insider? Filling the airwaves with trash on a nightly basis?

That video snippet of the two of them slobbering all over each other with gag-worthy praises has got to be put into the Museum of Broadcasting.

As an example of two delusionaries who have contributed and continue to contribute to debasing the popular culture.

Barbara Walters is a trailblazer in the same way that Sharon Stone was a trailblazer for Britney Spears.

Do you think Rosie said to Baba what Roseanne said to George?

Thank GOD that I didn't live in the this country when BW was considered "gold standard example of a female journalist"

She is so trashy, I would love to punch her ;-)

I'd like to know where Elisabeth's perspective has gone? She normally has no tolerance for Spitzer-like shenanigans, which I agree with, yet next to Babs she sits surprisingly silent and glowing. What gives?

I guess EH's perspective is trumped by her salary check. Barbara Walters is her boss. It's a very well paid gig.

I am reading the book now. Its good to see a strong women of high standard revealing all. Getting the dirt and joy off her chest. Good for her. STAR JONES NEEDS TO SIT DOWN, CAUSE NO ONE CARES ABOUT HER OR HER GAY SOON TO BE EX HUSBAND. WHAT A DONKEY SHE IS.

It's amazing that such an accomplished liar as BW has any credibility in this world.

I say that if we knew the real BW, if she hadn't been able to cover the truth with lies like she did time and again, she would be as unknown as I.

Star Jones and Barbara are a joke

I agree with BT, and furthermore, BW is the matriarch of all female journalists, which is why it is so reproachful to see them all defaming her - especially Star Jones - I mean, who is she? Where did she come from, like Entertainment Tonight? She was lucky that someone as accomplished and astute as BW basically re-launched her career, and then she is going to throw her under the bus? Typical.

You go BW! Your brains, beauty, boldness, and tenacity make you an inspiration to those your junior.

Simply put: If they can do it, so can we!

If you think this is funny you should read the comments of black hippy chick at the following link:

http://blackhippychick.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/why-did-babs-came-clean-about-a-thirty-year-affair-the-obama-factor/

She thinks Babs has dementia. :)

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