Inside the Beltway

Getting Whoopi? Washington Conservative Political Action Conference director and columnist Lisa de Pasquale has the inside scoop on who’s in the running to fill RosieO’Donnell’s seat on “The View.”

“Names being thrown in the mix include Kathy Griffin, Gayle King and Roseanne Barr. However, several entertainment publications are putting their money on actress Whoopi Goldberg,” notes Miss de Pasquale.

Miss Goldberg “last raised the ire of conservatives when she spoke at a fund-raiser for then-presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004. Whoopi’s profanity-laced routine about PresidentBush’s last name was short on punch lines (unless you’re a 12-year-old boy in sex ed class).”

We can’t reprint what Miss Goldberg said about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but as Miss de Pasquale points out, “she attacks, I mean jokes, about white and black conservatives” alike.

Which is why she just might get the gig at ABC.

“What ‘The View’ producers have learned from Rosie’s rants against the Bush administration is that they can insulate themselves from criticism if they use a comedienne to spout the same leftist views,” explains Miss de Pasquale. “They’ll say, ‘Oh she was just joking!’”

John McCaslin can be reached at 202/636-3284 or jmccaslin@washingtontimes.com.