LAUGHING BEHIND ROSIE'S BACK Hasselbeck

When looking for a victim in dire need of C-PR this week, we at Radar believed we'd found the perfect patient in Elisabeth Hasselbeck. The perky conservative went one jab too far on The View last week, causing Rosie O'Donnell to exit the program early and studio audiences to turn on the surviving hosts during commercial breaks. And yet, no matter how hard we prodded our PR experts—Ronn Torossian of 5WPR and Matthew Hiltzik of Freud Communications—they seemed to keep standing up for the blonde. "I definitely think she won," said Hiltzik. "There's no question that she comes out ahead," says Torossian. And here we thought they were going to rail on a B-lister going all split-screen with a TV powerhouse like Rosie. Nope, they love the 'Beck. Apparently all she needs is a routine PR physical.

Aw, what the hell! Elisabeth Hasselbeck, you're in the PR/ER!

She Played the Fight Well
Torossian: "I think she really held her own up there. Rosie is a commanding personality, and Hasselbeck stood behind her own brand against that. I think that's an admirable move."
Hiltzik: "Elizabeth seems to have come into her own a little bit these days. It's a show about expressing opinions, after all, and she did just that."

She Doesn't Need to Apologize
Torossian: "At this point I would not advise her to make any more statements. In a war, both sides lose, but I think she has come out on top—now she has to run with it. Her brand has gotten so much attention from all this, and to go from someone on Survivor to a national voice in the media, well, she should just ride this out."
Hiltzik: "I think it's between the two of them, and doesn't make much of a difference now. I might encourage her to make an appearance to explain the context, but that's it."

In the End, It's All Politics
Torossian: "People are going to stand by Rosie because they love her, and many love her politics. But one thing you can say for Hasselbeck is that she also stands for something. Remember when she was saying abortion shouldn't be allowed even in cases of violence or rape? That's strong stuff, and she stands behind it. She's just getting stronger."
Hiltzik: "Most people will be inclined to side with the person whose political beliefs they share. She is polarizing, but there are a lot of people who are drawn to that."

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