Joy Behar uses Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick defense in Platner race

“The View” co-host Joy Behar was cornered Tuesday by the show’s producer, Brian Teta, over her frustrations with voters who support President Donald Trump amid Graham Platner’s latest scandal as she faces growing calls for her to exit the race.

Behar brought up the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy during the election. “Behind the Desk” podcastHosted by Teta and said: “Teddy Kennedy had everything going on with Chappaquiddick and yet people still wanted him in Congress. Why? Because he voted right.”

“Unfortunately, this is the world we live in,” he added.

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Theta backtracked and said: “To be fair about this, because you and others on this show have said for years that you’re disappointed in people who ignore things that you think Donald Trump has done wrong.”

While Behar acknowledged her feelings toward Trump voters, Teta noted that people still voted for her.

“And it drove you crazy, so in that context, because people were voting for him because they wanted the Supreme Court to go a separate route or they wanted a tax cut,” he said.

Behar noted that it was a “difficult situation.”

Graham Platner’s candidacy is weakening as he faces calls from top Democrats in Maine and across the country to abandon his Senate bid, a day after the explosive rape allegation against him emerged on Monday. (Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)

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During a conversation on the subject “View” in 2016Behar made a similar point, using Kennedy, who co-hosted a discussion of former President Bill Clinton, as an example.

“Chappaquiddick,” he said. “I mean, a girl is drowning and the guy leaves her, she’s drowning and women are still voting for Teddy Kennedy. Why? Because he voted for women’s rights. That’s why. To me, that’s the bottom line. I mean, to tell you the truth, I don’t like either of them, Teddy or Bill. As far as I’m concerned, they’re both dogs. But I’m still going to vote for Bill Clinton because he votes for me.”

As the Platner controversy unfolded, host Sunny Hostin maintained her initial position that she would support Platner over Collins because she believed the country was in an existential crisis and Democrats needed to take back the Senate.

She said she would support him in June, despite calling him a racist, homophobe and anti-Semite.

During Tuesday’s show, Alyssa Farah Griffin confronted Hostin about whether she would still feel comfortable voting for Platner. Co-host Sara Haines said the problem is the people who voted for him or supported him because of their party affiliation.

Hostin later said that he was the problem.

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“Because I was one of those people, and I said, if I lived in Maine, I would have held my nose and voted for him anyway. I think we’re in a time of existential crisis in this country, and I think Republicans are falling in line. They’re not falling in love. Democrats want to fall in love, but they don’t want to fall in line. The bar for the Republican Party is so low that I can’t believe they’re trying to assume the moral high ground of the Republican Party,” he said.

Hostin cited the confirmation of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and the discussions surrounding his confirmation to the Cabinet position.

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He argued that GOP members couldn’t take the moral high ground on Platner, but never answered Griffin’s question about whether he was comfortable voting for him.

Hostin eventually agreed with all his co-hosts and said that Platner should drop out of the race.