This is a rush transcript from "The Five," May 15, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Greg Gutfeld, along with Andrea Tantaros, Bob Beckel, Eric Bolling and Jedediah Bila.
This is "The Five."
(MUSIC)
GUTFELD: Finally, the White House listened. They saw the hardships our veterans face at the V.A. and they went to help them. Well, at least one.
Yes, the Pentagon has approved convicted spy Chelsea Manning's treatment evaluation request for her gender disorder, because not doing so would have been cruel and unusual.
I think I speak for all Americans when I say thank you, Pentagon.
I know, I know. There are those who would say, what about the veterans who can't get basic help, left to die, waiting for procedures as the Pentagon ponders gender issues of turncoats?
Well, shut up, you bigot. Sorry, these days, gender beat geriatrics. Besides the V.A. just spent a half billion on renovations. I guess everyone is getting a makeover.
Our priorities are now clear: Victims beat victors and the louder you and your supporters are, the faster the service, especially if your grievance is media approved. These days, the squeaky wheel of victimhood takes precedence over the proud. Veterans are just too damn polite to kick up a fuss. Unlike a spy or her supporters who believe identity trumps exploits.
Look, I don't care at all about the surgery. I care that a fink gets more attention than the suffering men and women who fought for and not betrayed our country. If they want a gender surgery, I'd say, sure, make it a double.
But as Manning is coddled as some as a hero, be glad that as a veteran you don't fit that bill. It's better to die a patriot than live as a traitor.
Anyway -- so, Andrea, this isn't about gender surgery. It's about a spy getting nonlife saving surgery before veterans are getting life saving treatment. What does it say about priorities?
ANDREA TANTAROS, CO-HOST: I do have to weigh in on Chelsea Manning, because she is the greatest -- one of the biggest and greatest traitors in United States history and probably in some countries would have been subjected to a firing squad. Instead, we're paying for gender selection surgery. That's all I'm going to say about that.
But, you know, as far as the V.A. is concerned -- you know, Greg, we're going to hear about all of these horror stories coming out of the V.A. and we're going to be shocked that President Obama's administration gives them bonuses which is now called "base pay" in the Obama administration.
But this shouldn't be surprising. It is a government-run health care system. If you read the British press, it talks about all of these people waiting open these lists for amputations and all these other types of surgeries. These are the complaints about the National Institute of Health, the same way when the government gets involved in health care. There's waiting list, there's mistreatment. This just happens to be our greatest generation.
The problem is, where else are veterans going? There's no competition. If they really wanted to rectify this, they would completely overhaul, they would appoint a committee to completely overhaul the V.A. and they would give these veterans vouchers so they could go to local hospitals and get some competition in there so they could get treatment quickly.
GUTFELD: It's a good point, Bob. Dana brought it up and Jason Riley has brought it up on special -- whatever, that other show that's late at night -- about the idea of some kind of way to get it opt out for these veterans, not that they have to pay for it but like a voucher system.
BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: Yes. Except that keep in mind, the Veterans Administration hospitals are very popular with veterans. Once you can get -- one of the reasons they've had this problem is you've had this massive number of people coming off of two wars. They simply are not equipped to handle all that many people.
I don't think they purposely and callously decided to warehouse people until they die. I just don't think they have the procedures set to do it. The Veterans Administration has always been a problem. It has great congressional support, and -- but what it doesn't have is capacity. And capacity is what's necessary here.
GUTFELD: But then again, Eric, you've got this new memo, these V.A. staffers are supposedly allegedly gaming the system again by using dozens of scheduling tricks so you can't tell if there's backup.
ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: Secret waiting list is what they're calling it.
GUTFELD: Yes.
BOLLING: Look, the IRS went digital right around 1990 or so. They computerized completely -- fully computerized. I think the V.A. did it around 2012. That's how ridiculous it is. You see pictures of these massive amounts of files stacked up, backlogs 700,000.
So, can I talk about the politics a little bit of it? So, Shinseki is on the hook, right? Everyone is saying, you know, will President Obama ask for his resignation? President Obama said no. He's not going to ask for his resignation. He still has confidence in Shinseki based on his war experience, his military experience.
Listen, the man is a hero, I get it. He put his life on the line. He was a great war hero, warrior.
But he was a terrible bureaucrat. He was a terrible -- he ran the place horribly. He needs to go away, but Obama won't ask for his resignation because right now the heat is on Shinseki, the eyes are on Shinseki.
The minute he leaves, everyone is going to go back to, hey, didn't President Obama a couple of years ago promise that the buck stops here with this and he was going to fix the V.A. backlog? I remember him saying he was going to work on it. Remember that?
BECKEL: Yes, sure.
BOLLING: Guess what? He didn't.
BECKEL: Well, he didn't because the backlog, it was 1.2 million. It's now something down to 600,000. They've made some progress with it. The problem is, it's just so many people who are asking for help. And they don't have the facilities to do it.
TANTAROS: The problem is it's a government program and it's politically radioactive for even Republicans to even try to talk about privatizing it. So, nobody says anything.
I hardly think this is General Shinseki's fault. Congress in its infinite wisdom decided to outsource all of the decisions of the V.A. on a very localized basis a couple of years ago. So, they could have more autonomy.
So, this is so -- even separate from Washington, D.C., this is like local bureaucracies operating separate from the biggest and most perverse in Washington, D.C.
JEBEDIAH BILA, CO-HOST: I think Obama's response -- one thing that was interesting is that he keeps talking about how he increased the V.A.'s budget every year. He keeps talking about how much money has gone there. And that's a perfect liberal's reaction to everything, is to throw money at something.
If throwing money at the problem was the answer to our educational system to this, it would be really simple to solve things. But this is overstuffed bureaucracy at its best. We want efficiency. It's not about money. It's about making things run smoothly and efficiently and accountability and having people do their jobs who aren't going to be involved in this widespread deceit that we were talking about before.
So, I think his solution to the problem is a typical liberal solution to the problem, which isn't going to work and hasn't in the past.
GUTFELD: You've done something to your hair, Dana.
BILA: Well, I dyed it brown.
GUTFELD: OK.
Can I just point -- say that the one thing that drives me crazy is that this is a group that deserves special treatment above all, but they're also the same group that refuses to protest anything. You don't see bets like picketing or anything because I think they've been used to, they do their job, you know, they get up, they do their job, but they don't complain.
That's why we're supposed to complain for them. We're supposed to be the whiners. Because it seems to me that there isn't a lot of other people in the media who are doing this. It's up to us. There's a lot of papers that are doing it.
BECKEL: There's a lot of whining around this table.
GUTFELD: But whining for good reason.
BECKEL: But listen. V.A. hospitals are unique in the sense that they handle post-traumatic stress disorder which most hospitals are not capable of doing it. They do battle injuries. A lot of things about V.A. hospitals could not be done by local hospitals so vouchers don't work.
GUTFELD: True.
BECKEL: The question is, and the thing about more money, you just need to build more hospital and upgrade the ones you've got. Otherwise, you can't handle the overload.
BOLLING: But -- OK, that takes care of one part of the problem, a part of the problem, but not the problem. The real problem is the bureaucratic nightmare they have going on back there. Like you point out, Bob, 700,000 still waiting to get approve to even use the V.A. hospital system. They can't even get that far into it.
But when ObamaCare came out and the Web site wasn't ready, they spent literally hundreds if not billions of dollars to fix that and make sure that thing got ready, meanwhile, our heroes are coming back from war and needing help, whether it's post-dramatic stress syndrome, or cancer treatment, and they can't get it because the paperwork won't go through.
BECKEL: Well, but I agree with Andrea, that you have to reorganize this whole thing. Just remember, the Veterans Administration was put together in the aftermath of the First and Second World Wars. And they were not -- they're not --
BOLLING: So, fix it.
BECKEL: Yes.
BOLLING: They fixed ObamaCare when they needed to.
GUTFELD: The private company, the bureaucracy, it takes at least four decades.
TANTAROS: It sounds boring, but they should have an independent commission if they really were concerned with fixing it, who would propose some radical ideas to change the V.A. or move it from a government system.
But President Obama is not going to move it away towards from a government system. Politicians seem OK with it. And you know what? It's fine, if you don't get sick. But this idea of secret waiting lists on government health care, people are dying on waiting lists whenever the health care is free.
GUTFELD: Yes.
TANTAROS: This is not something unique to V.A.
BECKEL: It's not just Obama. Democrats and Republicans together have defended the V.A.
TANTAROS: I agree, I've said that.
GUTFELD: Yes, it's been going on for a while.
Here is sound on tape of a hearing today with Senator John McCain talking about this. Take it away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Treating those to whom we owe the most so callously, so ungratefully is unconscionable and we should all be ashamed.
SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D), WASHINGTON: This needs to be a wake-up call. The practices of intimidation and cover-ups have to change.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes you have to have some heads roll in order to get the system to shape up.
ERIC SHINSEKI, V.A. SECRETARY: Any allegation, any adverse incident like this makes me -- makes me mad hell. I could use stronger language here, Mr. Chairman, but in deference to the committee, I won't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Jedediah, it's just -- does this lead anywhere, is this more symbolic outrage like hashtag activism, I don't know?
BILA: It's mostly symbolic outrage. I mean, some of us are mad at hell. I am.
GUTFELD: I know McCain.
BILA: I believe that John McCain is.
And in the midst of all that, you have Bernie Sanders saying -- well, don't rush to judgment. I mean, there are people out there that just don't seem to understand that lives were lost here and that more lives will be lost in the future if this situation isn't rectified. And if there isn't some order brought to the chaos -- I don't care if you can't fix the problem tomorrow. What I care about is it's your priority today to figure out a way to fix it and to make it a top priority. This is going on months. It's over a month we're talking about this. I don't see anything being done.
BECKEL: But, you know, keep in mind, battlefield medicine has come a long, long way, and particularly true about Afghanistan and Iraq. Some normally who would have died, having kept alive, came back with some very egregious, egregious injuries. And there are hundreds of thousands of them.
GUTFELD: That's an amazing story. It really is. When had you see a lot of young men and women who are missing limbs but are leading full lives, normally would have been dead.
BECKEL: Yes.
GUTFELD: It's incredible. That's a good point.
You mentioned Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders did something that only Bernie Sanders would do. He blamed all of this I believe on the Koch brothers or mentioned the Kochs. Didn't he?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Right now as we speak a concerted effort to undermine the V.A. So, the point is, you have government entity itself, Social Security, enormously popular, Medicare, enormously popular, Postal Service, popular, V.A., popular. What are the problems?
The problems all is that all of these are large governmental institutions and you have folks out there now, Koch brothers and others, who want to radically change the nature of society.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Hitting the Koch again.
(LAUGHTER)
BECKEL: I could not agree with him more.
GUTFELD: Really? How so? Explain, using facts, please?
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: I think the Koch brothers, they would do away with big government institutions like Social Security, Medicare and V.A.
BOLLING: So what? That's good.
BECKEL: You think it's good. I think most people don't think it's good.
GUTFELD: They wouldn't have secret waiting lists that end up killing veterans.
BECKEL: I see. They're all going to line up the Koch --
TANTAROS: It's funny he didn't mention Medicaid, which is another program that completely stinks, because it's run by the government and nowhere else for poor people to go because there's no competition.
BILA: You have to give him credit, though. He finds the way to weave the Koch brothers into just about every possible conversation.
BECKEL: I could (INAUDIBLE)
BILA: I believe that. I actually believe that.
TANTAROS: They're so generous.
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: They are. I tell you, the ballet --
TANTAROS: A lot of institutions that liberals should love.
BECKEL: Listen, the ballet and the philharmonic are just terrific charities. I think that's great.
GUTFELD: You know, they also haven't given money to hospitals. Just forget about that.
TANTAROS: Oh, yes, right.
GUTFELD: All right. Next on "The Five," the Grey Lady fires its top lady after she reportedly asks for equal pay. Andrea has got some new details on the surprising "New York Times" shake up, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TANTAROS: Well, yesterday, "New York Times" executive editor Jill Abramson was fired from her job, and one report claims that it was partly because she dared ask her superiors for an equal salary to her predecessor. Now, many are charging "The New York Times" with hypocrisy.
And who can blame them when you see head likes like these on their pages? "Pay gap is because of gender, not jobs." "Moving past gender barriers to negotiate a raise." And my personal favorite, "How to attack the gender wage gap? Speak up."
Well, "New York Times" publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. responded earlier today in a memo to his employees, saying, quote, "It is simply not true that Jill's compensation was significantly less than her predecessors. Her pay is comparable to that of earlier executive editors."
Well, then, we have this quote -- former "New York Times" reporter Leslie Bennett on "New York Times" bias. This former employee saying that the SOT which I'm going to play, she actually alleges that there's a long history of sexism at the Grey Lady.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LESLIE BENNETT, FORMER NYT REPORTER: They pay lip service. They write editorials. But the fact is that, you know, by a lot of other indices, they're still unbelievably sexism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TANTAROS: So, what do you think, Eric? Do you think this is hypocrisy on the part of "The New York Times" or do you think that it's something more?
BOLLING: For me, the biggest problem is the hypocrisy. I mean, they -- couple of the headlines you read, countless, countless headlines on gender inequality. They're definitely toting that line and then this happens.
It's not that they paid Abramson less than they paid Keller because in my world, where I come from -- you pay what you can pay. You pay what you pay. You pay for the person that you're hiring, not whether she's she, he, black, white, et cetera.
You just pay -- by the way, they're an employer, a for profit entity. They obviously want to keep their expenses down. I don't have a problem with paying her less. I have a problem them firing her when she asks about it.
So, she asked, they fire her, editorial left (ph), editorial, editorial, oh, there's a big pay gap, gender gap in America and that needs to be fixed.
TANTAROS: "The New York Times," Greg, they're refuting these reports. There seems to be in light of anonymous sources in "The New Yorker" which makes me think as a former press second maybe it's Abramson herself.
Are you buying the sexism argument or do you think it's maybe just because the "New York Times" can't keep up with the digital -- I guess an evolving digital footprint from other competitors.
GUTFELD: It is fun to nail them in hypocrisy. They're like finding out -- you find out the arsonist is a volunteer fireman because they've been screaming about fair pay and accusing others of this very sin and now they're being accused of it. It's great because they've always lectured us rubes on fair pay. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of hypocrites.
But having said that, she could be a jerk. You know, women in this day and age, they can be horrible bosses, too. That's pat of equal rights, is that maybe -- she has a reputation of being pretty hard and maybe that didn't work out well.
But you know what? It wasn't the problem with the pay, except the duties. She wasn't just the editor. They had her clean the offices after, which I thought was sexist.
BOLLING: That's hard. Time consuming.
GUTFELD: Yes.
TANTAROS: Jedediah, the old feminist think is everything bad that happens to a woman is because she's a woman.
Maybe there is something to Greg's theory. Look at the stock prices when her predecessor Bill Keller was named editor. It closed at $43 a share. When she was named editor, it's $7 a share. Now, it's $14 a share.
"BuzzFeed" reported that "The New York Times" has been circulating reports that they can't compete with "BuzzFeed," "The Huffington Post." They're not making the money they used to.
So, maybe she just was not performing.
BILA: Right. Isn't it more about performance and experience? I mean, I don't think you should automatically get the same salary as somebody else who did a job before you just because you hold the same job. I mean, you're looking at a long list of resume, ability to deal with other people. There should be a number of other factors.
I think it's insulting to women actually to say, well, because I'm a woman, I deserve the same salary as this person.
No. Give me a starting salary you think I deserve. Let me prove myself.
It's not about gender. That's so demeaning to women, women who use their gender to say, I deserve this and that because I'm a woman. I mean, what are we, back 50 years? No, that's not how it works today.
GUTFELD: I wish.
TANTAROS: She was, Bob, a very gender focused reporter. But, you know, she had a tendency to be a little kooky. She had a tattoo as an adult (AUDIO GAP) boxing. It's the only time that we heard from her in the last 24 hours. I think we have the picture of her from the Instagram.
Boxing, she wrote a book about puppies. I'm not saying that's bad. Greg would probably buy something like that.
GUTFELD: The tattoo.
TANTAROS: But it's just -- I mean, could she be a little kooky? I'm not saying sexism in the media doesn't exist, and there aren't equal pay issues in the media because they do exist. But is this a case of that?
BECKEL: I've known her a long time. There are probably attributes to her, I've always liked her very much, but she can be very tough and there are other things that have gone on under her tenure that have caused friction at "The Times."
The other thing is that Keller was there a lot longer than she was. And so, my guess is, as a result of that, he probably got paid more than had she did. And this thing about, if any newspaper is probably not going to get caught on he a sexism rap, it's going to be "The New York Times."
There's a lot of smart women in there, if something going on. I mean, I don't know who the broad was who said it was sexist. It was --
GUTFELD: Broad. You are the greatest. I don't know who that broad was. Who could that broad be?
BECKEL: What's wrong with that?
GUTFELD: But the thing that drives me nuts, there's a media convulsion going on in Manhattan over the story, that the rest of America doesn't give a damn about. I mean, her employment pales in comparison to their employment. There are people working right now trying to find jobs. They don't care about this person, right? Don't you think?
BILA: I agree. It's totally out of touch. Their own little media - -
TANTAROS: The media circles, Eric, I don't know if you noticed recognize this, but if you read the blogs, they talk about how a woman was ousted because she wasn't paid the same as a man was. And she was ousted by an African-American man.
So, some of the blogs were saying, this sounds like the Hillary Clinton excuse.
BOLLING: I've heard something -- I think this is a ridiculous thing to say. What are they going to do? They're painting themselves in the corner because if they pay the new guy less than her, it's racist. If they pay more than her, then it's sexist. If they pay him the same, it will be both.
Look, Bob is 100 percent right. Keller was there longer. I think we've all agreed that it's not that the pay was different. Maybe the hypocrisy of them --
BECKEL: I still don't see what's wrong with broad.
GUTFELD: You're bringing that word back, aren't you?
BECKEL: What's wrong with that? I used them on all my lines. What's wrong with it?
GUTFELD: It's actually a compliment. Broad is a woman you can hang out and drink with, right?
BECKEL: Yes.
TANTAROS: You know what, Bob? Call me a broad. I'll take it.
All right. Ahead on "The Five": some other workers who want higher pay, fast food employees. A lot of them walked off the job today across the country to fight for that. So, will they get their wish? That's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Fast food workers broke out the protest signs today in 150 American cities demanding their employers hike their minimum wage 100 percent to 15 bucks an hour. Think about that the next time you reach into your wallet and fork out bigger and bigger bucks for that burrito or that burger.
Now, Bob, in the -- for the life -- $15 an hour? To flip a burger and pull French fries out of a -- come on. Come on.
BECKEL: Are you suggesting that's not a real job, a demeaning job? I'm with them completely. I think frankly $15 is a little bit low. Look, they're doing work.
Just think about it this way if you would -- if they're getting an average of $8, whatever it is, $8.85, a 40-hour work week, you cannot support of family of four. You're in poverty. If that's the case, then that means that you're working at a job that generates poverty.
GUTFELD: Listening to a liberal discuss business is like watching a cat do calculus.
This is not about a person supporting a family. The minimum wage is for somebody who stays on a rung temporarily and then moves on. If you don't like making the 7 bucks an hour, you work there until you find a job to make more money.
But that -- the reason why you have that minimum wage is so more young people -- young people can be hired. So they enter the workforce at a young age.
Nobody wants to open a business now because of this. Because you can't explain the common-sense principles behind it. And these guys, a lot of the people who run businesses, they don't even take a salary. They work to the bone until the day they die. They're the most giving people, people who run businesses.
BECKEL: Who, guys who run McDonald's?
GUTFELD: No. People who run a franchise will not take a dime. People who own anything.
BOLLING: Or start a business.
GUTFELD: Or start a business.
BOLLING: Start a new business or innovate. Or just try something new.
Hold on, let me get everyone in here. And, the CBO scored a minimum wage increase from seven and a quarter to $10.10. They said 500,000 people will lose their jobs if we did that.
These guys want 100 percent from whatever their average salary is, 8 bucks an hour right now, to $15.
TANTAROS: You know who they should be protesting? If they really were serious about this? Their congressman and their senators. Because if immigration reform goes through, all of these McDonald's employees -- and if I'm a McDonald's executive, I would stick this out, and I would fight for immigration reform. And I would say, "OK, you don't want to show up for work? You want to picket? That's OK because the labor pool is about to become gigantic. And there will be hundreds of applicants and new employees who are going to be documented workers that are going to be able to take these jobs. So if you don't like it, you can go somewhere else."
BOLLING: What do you think is going to happen? Something has to give. If you're going to double it your payroll as an employer, you're either going to fire people or...
BILA: You're going to fire people. Who's going to suffer? It's going to be low-skilled workers and young workers. A lot of these workers are between the ages of 16 and 19. That needs to be explained to young people.
And just a little bit of political pivot. The Republican Party needs to figure out where they stand on this issue. Because I have seen so many conflicting things. I have seen Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney come out recently in support of raising the minimum wage. I think a lot of conservatives say this is not helpful for low-skilled workers.
And I think they need to sort of agree and come to terms with this because the inequality issue is constantly raised by the left. You don't care about low-skilled workers. You guys don't care about the little guy.
And this argument really needs to come home and needs to hit home. And I think the people who are not on the side of raising the minimum wage are on the side of the little guy that the left always says that we don't care about.
GUTFELD: That greedy dude.
BECKEL: That's -- by the way, I'm waiting to see the first guy that owns McDonald's franchise that costs $1.5 million who doesn't take money home. I mean, come on! Do they do it for charity?
GUTFELD: Ever seen them working there? They actually work there.
BECKEL: That's great. They own it, right?
GUTFELD: And there's a lot of older people who work at McDonald's.
BOLLING: And they push back on this. And they could actually do this. If you raise it to $15, they will automate the whole system. You won't even be able to ask someone for your order. You'll talk into a microphone and all of your stuff is going to come, out whether it's drive- through or there.
TA TANTAROS: As soon as these performance -- if you give them a minimum, there's no incentive to be a better employee or get a raise on your own.
BECKEL: I went to McDonald's, and the ambiance.
GUTFELD: McDonald's awesome.
BECKEL: I haven't been to one of these elitist -- what's the...
Starbucks.
I've never been to Starbucks. I've been to McDonald's bathrooms, and they're terrible. But that doesn't matter.
GUTFELD: By the way, if your logic held, you will never be happy with how high minimum wage is, so why not make it 100 bucks an hour?
BECKEL: That's fine.
GUTFELD: A hundred bucks an hour.
TANTAROS: Are you paying?
GUTFELD: If you put $15 an hour, people will spend money and the CBO will be proved wrong.
GUTFELD: Wow.
BOLLING: Next on "The Five," you know how Beyonce's sister went wild on Jay-Z in that hotel elevator? Whoopi Goldberg thinks Jay-Z could have smacked her down. Earth to Whoopi. That's assault, babe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Trace Gallagher live in the west coast news hub. Back to "The Five" momentarily.
But again, breaking news out of San Diego County. There are nine wildfires burning. We want to focuses on the San Marcos fire, because that is the big threat right now.
They have just notified us they have now asked 13,000 more people to evacuate their homes, bringing the number well above 20,000 evacuees. We'll keep you up to speed on this breaking news out of Southern California.
I'm Trace Gallagher. Now back to "The Five."
BILA: Tomorrow will mark the end of an era. Barbara Walters will be retiring from television after a remarkable 53-year career. Today on "The View," all 11 current and former co-hosts gathered together to pay tribute to the broadcast legend. Here's some of that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA WALTERS, OUTGOING CO-HOST, ABC'S "THE VIEW": I had such good times with each of you, and I mean it when I say that I love -- that I love you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just have to do this. I have to do this.
WALTERS: Oh, my baby.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just an honor to be here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You really do well professionally.
ROSIE O'DONNELL, TALK SHOW HOST: This is like the last supper with Barbara.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you miss most about sitting at the table?
O'DONNELL: Fighting with the skinny one right here. No.
ELISABETH HASSELBECK, CO-HOST, ABC'S "THE VIEW": I knew it!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Barbara, you have on your right arm something that I wanted you to have to represent all 11 of us. There is a charm for each one of the women whose lives you changed at "The View" with your name in a heart. We will forever be in your debt. We love you.
WALTERS: I am in your debt because you're the world's greatest.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BILA: Well, I know how you feel about it. That's a lot of women in a room, Greg. Could you handle it?
GUTFELD: It's two words that put together will make every man vomit through his eyeballs. It's a knitting circle of hell.
BILA: I thought it was nice. I don't know, Andrea, I...
GUTFELD: ... with Depends.
BILA: She had such a long career.
GUTFELD: No, I'm just saying, no, Whoopi is -- she sells urinary products.
BILA: Terrible.
I thought it was great to see them all around the table. These are women who over the years have agreed, have disagreed. They all have an immense amount of respect for each other.
I don't know, Andrea. I don't think this is going to be an exit from TV for her. I think she's going to come back and do some interesting things.
TANTAROS: I don't -- I don't think Barbara Walters can probably stay away from working.
BILA: Yes.
TANTAROS: Her book "Audition" is exceptional, and any woman in television news looks to Barbara Walters as an icon, really. I mean, she did blaze a trail in a time when women were not at -- Greg.
BILA: Terrible human being.
TANTAROS: Terrible.
GUTFELD: I'm sorry. She did blaze a trail.
BILA: Terrible.
TANTAROS: Anyway.
You know what?
BILA: Never mind. You guys have ruined it for everybody.
BECKEL: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) television is getting rid of her and Baldwin (ph).
I want to know how all those -- I use the word all those girls gathered around a table. You couldn't hear a single thing. It's typical. You've got 11 broads around a table. Nothing -- sorry. Girls around a table. And who could hear anybody?
BILA: I heard them perfectly fine. You need more practice.
GUTFELD: Women know how to do that. They can -- they know to discern voices. But we can't do that.
TANTAROS: That's exactly right.
BILA: It's not the love circle that you mentioned.
TANTAROS: I don't know.
BILA: Why did Rosie have to comment on Elisabeth's weight?
TANTAROS: That's true.
BILA: The skinny one right here.
BILA: Guys, I want to shift over, because we have a clip that's really interesting that Whoopi created a little bit of controversy in something that she said. And I want you to take a look into what she said and get some men's opinions on this.
BECKEL: Eric's opinion on this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, ABC'S "THE VIEW": I think Solange was quite ready for him to do whatever he was going to do. But you know, this is the thing. If anybody hits you, you have the right. I know that many people are raised in a very different way. But if a woman hits you, to me, you have the right to hit her back. Just like you say to little kids ...
WALTERS: Not you. A man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fight like a man.
GOLDBERG: If I slap a man, he has every right to slap me back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BILA: Now, obviously, she's talking about the interaction in the elevator between Jay-Z and Solange. Full disclosure, I kind of agree with her. Eric, you say what?
BOLLING: No way. My mama taught me there is never, ever a reason to raise your hand to a woman, no matter what, even if she's beating on you, kicking on you. You just don't do it. And Jay-Z didn't do it, to his credit.
Can I just point something out? We got the good one. Elisabeth Hasselbeck. We got the good one.
BILA: I agree. I agree 100 percent.
BECKEL: I don't agree -- I don't agree with Whoopi in a certain way. I got bit by a woman right in the collar bone, and she wouldn't let go, so I had to punch her.
TANTAROS: Bob! Jeez.
BECKEL: It was the only way I could get her off. Otherwise, I was going to die. She was crazy.
TANTAROS: So you hit a woman?
BECKEL: Yes. And if some...
TANTAROS: Why would you ever admit that?
BECKEL: Why wouldn't I?
TANTAROS: It's horrible.
BECKEL: It's not sexist (ph). It's absolutely a true story. And don't start with me, you wuss. You wouldn't hit a woman?
BOLLING: Absolutely not. Never.
BECKEL: Some woman is beating the hell out of you, you're not going to save...
GUTFELD: I just want to add, I'm kind of -- I'm kind of with Eric. I think from a biological standpoint it's hard for you to, like, do it, no matter what happens. You just can't.
But I have to say I do love my Whoopi Goldberg, because Whoopi will say what's on her mind. And she is a true feminist, because she says, if a girl hits you, you can hit a girl. And she doesn't give a damn what people think. That's why I like -- out of that group, I love that Whoopi.
TANTAROS: Can I just say you ridiculed the ladies of "The View," but we are outnumbered by three guys on this show. And you completely devolved it into a mess of...
BOLLING: Of Bob?
TANTAROS: ... testosterone and violence. Sexual innuendo.
BILA: All right, guys. Next on "The Five," an emotional day in New York City where a ceremony was held to open the opening of the 9/11 Museum in Manhattan. A lot of powerful moments at the event but one in particular we want you to see. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKEL: A solemn day in Lower Manhattan where the 9/11 Museum opened up families, first responders and recovery workers. The museum opens to the public next week.
President Obama attended the dedication ceremony and told this powerful story of one of the heroic victims from that day more than 12 years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The fires were spreading. The air was filled with smoke. It was dark. They could barely see. It seemed as if there was no out way out.
A young man in his 20s, strong, emerged from the smoke, and over his nose and his mouth, he wore a red handkerchief. He led those survivors down the stairs to safety and carried a woman on his shoulders down 17 flights. Then he went back, back up all those flights.
Welles was just 24 years old with a broad smile and a bright future.
Today as we saw on our tour, one of his red handkerchiefs is on display in this museum. And from this day forward, all those who come here will have a chance to know the sacrifice of a young man who, like so many, gave his life so others might live.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKEL: You know, Eric, I know you lost friends there that day. How does all of this make you feel? There's been a lot of controversy getting to it, to finally open it up. Is it difficult for you?
BOLLING: I lost a lot of friends. I actually had -- you know, I was in the building -- look, everyone has a story about where they were on that it day. Rather than do that, I think it's long overdue. I'm glad the museum's finally open.
I was there when they were building it. They gave me a tour because some of my stuff is actually in the museum. It's so powerful. Piece of advice, if you have kids, bring them here. A lot of kids don't understand what happened on 9/11. It will certainly explain it to them. It's a huge, huge part of American history that every kid should know. Come see that museum. It's incredible.
BECKEL: You know, I think about the generation that was impacted most by 9/11, the ones who saw it. It must have been the equivalent of pearl harbor for that generation, you know, to see something as big as that and as consuming as that was.
BILA: It's amazing. And what an inspirational young man. You know, I was there that day, and I have to tell you I ran for my life. I wouldn't have had the courage to go back into that building and save all of those people. So when I heard this story it was heartbreaking but I can't even begin to imagine the pride that his parents must feel, knowing that they raised a young man who would have the guts to go back into that building and risk his own life to save other people.
That should be a lesson to us all, every single day about coming together and helping others. This man has inspired me on so many levels. And I'm really grateful to have heard his story.
BECKEL: I don't want to put a bad note on this, but Andrea, let me ask you. There was a lot of controversy that the police and the firemen did not have the same radios. That the radios had been built but were not handed out. And for that reason, they weren't able to communicate with each other which caused the death of a number on both sides.
Is there a lesson here to be learned about how to do this right? I mean, in other words, we talked about those guys who broke into now the best protected building in the world, the new Freedom Tower, and yet they went up there and they parachuted off the thing.
TANTAROS: Rather than focusing on police radios and could that have saved lives, the reason that these people were killed was because of radical Islam. And you asked Eric how the story makes him feel. You know how it makes me feel? Angry.
Because President Obama has stood in front of the country and says we are not at war with radical Islam. There's no mention in that speech that this is what happens when radical Islamists succeed. And that's what makes me angry.
BECKEL: You know, Greg, there's a movie there that uses the word "radical Islamists" that's gotten a lot of heat from people. I can't imagine why. I mean, there were radical Islamists who took down those buildings. It was simple as that.
GUTFELD: Yes. I mean, today we saw a lot about the victims, and we have to remind ourselves the terrorists, they didn't know the victims. They only knew the target. The target was the United States, because it's the greatest country ever. And evil knocked on our door. And we have to remind ourselves to answer that door every day with a rain of death on terrorists and their sympathizers. We have to be eternally vigilant. Long after we're dead, radical Islam will be there waiting for an opportunity and they must be crushed.
BECKEL: And including in that those of you who are Muslims who should speak up for yourselves.
"One More Thing" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: It's time for "One More Thing" -- Eric.
BOLLING: OK. So Tommy Firth, one of our crack staff producers, saw this this morning. Check this out on "FOX & Friends." See what's going on right there? They're talking about -- Look at that guy. That dude is showing "The Five" symbol. Sorry, Greg. I know it kind of drives you crazy a little bit.
All right. So...
GUTFELD: He's got a hand disease. Help me with my hand disease.
BOLLING: Or that. Either that or "The Five." Speaking of "The Five," our Twitter handle is now @TheFive. If you're following already, don't worry: you're still going to receive our tweets. If you're not following us yet, go to Twitter.com/TheFive. Hit the "follow" button, guys.
We've got -- over 137,000 followers right now. Let's get that thing up to a million. I want to see a million followers for @TheFive on Twitter. A million. What do you think?
TANTAROS: Awesome. Yes.
BOLLING: I say we do that.
BECKEL: Absolutely. I can't get mine to work, but it's a good idea.
GUTFELD: That's probably a good thing, Bob. Calling everybody broads.
BECKEL: Yes.
GUTFELD: Andrea.
TANTAROS: All right. Just don't say that you can't get your handle to work in public, because people might not be able to...
BECKEL: I got it.
TANTAROS: OK. I've been following this story for a long time. Actor Jason Patric, who's been in a custody battle with his ex-girlfriend to see his little boy, Gus, won a huge victory yesterday in a California appeals court. And he sat down with me for a network exclusive today to talk about what's next. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON PATRIC, ACTOR: I wanted to leave a path and not just a path but a noble path. If I can't be talking to him every night like I used to, and we talk about the day and teach him about the day and what it meant, I'm teaching him from afar. And I'm leaving a big, big path and a lot of evidence to let him know, this is how you fight a noble fight. This is how you stand up for something, why you stand up for something. That's why it's stand up for Gus. And he's going to see that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TANTAROS: All right. He's still fighting for custody. And we'll stay on the story.
GUTFELD: Bob.
BECKEL: In the Sudan, which is a Muslim country, a woman who's eight months pregnant, who is a Christian, is going to be hanged because she refuses to adopt Islam as her religion.
Now all I can say about that is, I think we'll have more to say about it, but I don't know about the rest of you. But being in a country where they kill people because they want to have their own freedom of religion is barbaric. It is disgraceful. It is disgusting. And if that's what you stand for, a pox on you.
BILA: All right. Supermodel Irina Shayk decided to join the Bring Back Our Girls hash tag, except she posted a topless photo of herself in the process. And, you know, I appreciate her effort to get behind the cause of these abducted girls, but it's not about you, lady. This is about the girls. So maybe do something in a little better taste next time.
TANTAROS: She wanted it to be about her girls.
GUTFELD: No, but I think, like, it worked because she just got 2 million people, 3 million people to see that.
BILA: They're not looking at the girls. That's the problem.
GUTFELD: All right. We've got to it go. What, Bob?
BECKEL: I was going to ask you what you were going to say. But you've got to get out of here.
GUTFELD: I've got to get out of here.
BECKEL: Yes.
GUTFELD: They're wrapping me up. They're doing the little fist. See, in TV land, when somebody does this with their fist, that means something. That means you've got to go.
Don't forget to set your DVR so you never miss an episode of "The Five." We'll see you back here.
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