They were. There was nary a trace of acrimony after last week's verbal dustup over the n-word that left co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck in tears. In fact, it was a little sickening the way they were declaring their "love" for each other - they're co-workers, not sorority sisters. Maybe I pay too close attention because I'm still waiting for the call to sit in as a guest host.

But back to that on-air scuffle, which, as you probably have heard by now, began when the ladies were discussing the Rev. Jesse Jackson's use of the n-word during an off-camera moment on Fox News. In a comment picked up by a microphone he didn't know was on, Jackson accused Sen. Barack Obama of "talking down to black people . . . telling [n-word]s how to behave."

Now, if I'd been on "The View" that day, I'd have jumped all over Jackson for this one. After all, isn't this the word the NAACP had a mock funeral for last summer during its annual convention?

Isn't this the kind of racially derogatory language that folks came down on radio shock jock Don Imus about?

Isn't this the very same racial putdown that comedian Michael Richards got in trouble for at a Los Angeles nightclub? And didn't all kinds of controversy break out over Nas' attempt to use the word as the title of his new (and nameless) album?

Now, heeeere's Jesse, using the n-word so casually. What's up with that?

Of course, had I been on, I would have been sandbagged by "View" co-hosts Sherri Shepherd and Whoopi Goldberg, who were quick to make the same old argument that it's different when black people use the word than when white folks do.

Although I deplore this double standard, I know it exists.

Yesterday, I talked with promoter Derek Lee, who's doing a Christian comedy show at the Keswick Theatre on Sunday. (No n-word allowed, by the way.) He pointed out, "It's a degrading word, but that's how we are. I don't think we should say it amongst anybody who's not black."

Hasselbeck, with whom I disagree on practically everything, made a good point that it's harder for her to train her children not to say the word if others around them use it.

I agree with her on that one. You can tell a kid over and over to refrain from certain racial and sexual putdowns, but then he listens to his favorite hip-hop album and what does he hear?

So, as annoying as Liz is on just about every other issue she opens her mouth about, I have to give it to her on this one. Girlfriend was right. As I've written before, we can't afford to have a double standard when it comes to the use of the n-word. African-Americans should be the first to ban it or to at least restrict its use. The onus shouldn't solely be on people of other races. It's hypocritical for this to come down to a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do thing.

But back to the "View." I was about to start thinking a little differently about Hasselbeck last week, but then she went and blew it all by saying, "We don't live in different worlds."

Goldberg responded with the equivalent of a verbal smackdown: "It isn't balanced, and we would like it to be, but you have to understand, you have to listen to the fact that we're telling you there are issues, there are huge problems that still affect us."

Whoopi's right about that. But she should also add the n-word to that list of what all that ails us. *

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