[Editor's Note: Human Events received the following letter today from ABC. It is Barbara Walters' response to Michelle Malkin's latest column. Michelle also deals with the issues contained in this letter on her blog.]
*****
June 16, 2005
I was sad to read Michelle Malkin’s article.
Of course, she has every right to express her views. And, if she has not liked my work, that is also her right. However, as a respected journalist, I am sure she wants to have her facts corrected, so may I correct them now?
Number one: I have never, ever said, as Ms. Malkin quoted, that I consider breastfeeding "gross and disgusting." That is really a terrible accusation for her to make. Indeed, I am a proponent of breastfeeding, as anyone who knows me can testify. For example, our senior producer, Alexandra Cohen, has been bringing her infant son into the office for a year now and breastfeeds, and she is encouraged to do so.
Number two: Elisabeth Hasselbeck, my co-host on "The View," has not given up nursing, as Ms. Malkin writes. She continues to breastfeed. All she said was that she uses a bottle once a day. And, by the way, she made that remark before I made mine.
Number three: I was not flying first class. I was on a crowded shuttle, with three seats in a row. I was in the window seat, the man next to me was in the middle, and the nursing mother was next to him on the aisle. Heaven knows, we weren’t against the woman breastfeeding her baby. We only suggested perhaps a bit of modesty.
On "The View," we speak extemporaneously. I truly regret that it caused discomfort to some women.
Barbara Walters
Manhattan
