Barbara Walters’ program “The View” has just hired former Playmate of the Year and failed TV comedian Jenny McCarthy to replace the departing Elizabeth Hasselbeck.

This is a terrible choice, not so much because McCarthy can’t jabber with Barbara, Joy, Whoopi and Sherri convincingly, but because of the very public and very wrong public advocacy McCarthy has done against childhood vaccinations. Even if she never says a word about it on the show (and what are the odds of that?) her very appearance as a co-host on network TV with these reputable women validates her views. And those views kill children.

Alex Pareene has more, as do a lot of other smart people. One would like to think people at the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and every other medical association in the country would be politely saying to ABC:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a horrible idea. This woman’s views are wrong. There’s literally one discredited doctor in the world who has the same view toward vaccination and autism as McCarthy, and his license has been taken away from him. Children’s diseases which had been thought mostly eradicated are recurring because of falling immunization rates, and it’s due to advocates like McCarthy that that’s happening. Please reconsider.”