Joy Behar to Sunny Hostin: 'Why Do You Blame Biden' for Voting Rights Holdup?

It may be "Feel Good Friday," but The View couldn't quite muster up the energy to celebrate it this morning. The mood was dismal as the ladies discussed the stalled voting rights bill, which Sunny Hostin insisted represents yet another of President Biden's failed campaign promises. In what would turn out to be the most lively moment of the episode, Joy Behar pushed back, asking her co-host why she wants to "blame Biden" for a holdup led by Democratic Senators Manchin and Sinema and the entire GOP. "Biden was trying to be bipartisan," said Behar. "He tried his best and I think he's up against a wall now."

After a week of discussing voting rights and shifting COVID guidelines, The View delivered more of the same Friday morning. The second Hot Topic of the day focused on Sinema's decision to dig in her heels on the filibuster, effectively putting an end to Democrats' voting rights legislation. "The filibuster has never been sacred. It's been used many times throughout history, Joy, as you and I both know," said Hostin, before turning her attention to Biden's role in the debacle. "What's fascinating to me is that Joe Biden was elected with the support of the Black community ... on the promise that he was a consensus-builder. That he was a moderate. That he could bring Republicans to the table. And based on that promise, he was elected, and he hasn't been able to deliver on those promises."

"I suspect that all of this has always been performative," continued Hostin. "Speaking in Georgia has been performative, now this vote is going to be performative, all of these meetings have been performative. Biden has not been a consensus-builder."

SINEMA WON'T SUPPORT FILIBUSTER CHANGES: @JoyVBehar, @sarahaines, @sunny, and @ananavarro discuss Sen. Kyrsten Sinema speaking out against any changes to the filibuster rule one day after Pres. Biden backed getting rid of it to pass the voting rights bill. https://t.co/6FgRV8EPLD pic.twitter.com/IKIKGJIT6L

— The View (@TheView) January 14, 2022

When Behar interrupted to ask why she's "blaming Biden" for the gridlock in Congress, Hostin said the president has failed to realize that "the Republicans are not the Republicans of yesteryear" and aren't willing to negotiate in good faith. Behar disagreed, saying that Biden now "realizes that they will not move" on the filibuster, and later advocated for a "carve-out" on voting rights, which both Manchin and Sinema also oppose. Helpful suggestion!

After two weeks of virtual shows, things are starting to get dire on The View. Here's hoping the show returns to the studio next week, or at the very least, finds some new political Hot Topics to discuss.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.