"You know you don‘t have to speak just because it is your turn, right?"

“You know you don‘t have to speak just because it is your turn, right?”

Elisabeth Hasselbeck:

Do you think that the problem though, Bill [O’Reilly], is that if we go back in time, early in this administration, the president himself said we weren‘t allowed to use the word terrorist early on. So then he started using the word—hang on. He started saying the word radical Islamist, radical Muslims. So then there was then a closer association with what happened and the religion. I think if he would have just let us say terrorists, because there are terrorists across all religions and all faiths, then this wouldn‘t even be a problem.

Lawrence O’Donnell:

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Elisabeth, Elisabeth, Elisabeth! The president, himself, said we weren‘t allowed to use the word terrorists? I think that if he would have just let us say terrorists—ugh.

OK. So Elisabeth, you have heard of the First Amendment. It is the one that actually has the phrase freedom of speech. And what that means, of course, is that this is the country where you can say anything you want. It always has been.

So, even if the president, himself, said we weren‘t allowed to use the word terrorists, which he didn‘t, you could still use the word terrorist. How do I know? Because I did. I use the word terrorist all of the time.

Yeah, on TV.

Now, Elisabeth, you know you don‘t have to speak just because it is your turn, right? You know that. I have done a lot of panel shows, “The McLaughlin Group” and others. And inevitably they get around to talking about something that you just don‘t know anything about. Now most of the time, not all of the time, but most of the time when I have nothing to say, I just shut up. I have even been known to say, I don‘t know, when I have nothing to add to something I know nothing about.

Yes. You can say I don‘t know on TV. I have done it. So, Elisabeth, your Rewrite for tonight is nothing. You should have said nothing. And the next time you find yourself in this situation, you should just say nothing. Yes, I know how hard that sounds to you. But if I can do it, you can do it. I know you can do it.

OK. If you find that impossible, then there is one thing that you can always say, and you can never go wrong saying this on your show, and it is always what most of the audience is thinking anyway. And it is simply this: “I agree with Barbara.”

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