One of my guilty pleasures has been watching Bill Maher’s shows. I think he’s intelligent, somewhat witty, and the idea of bringing together experts and idiots . . . I mean celebrities, to discuss politics was something I found to be intriguing. I’ve also been somewhat of a objective critic of Maher’s. For instance, while I thought his post Sept 11 remarks were ill-timed and poorly received, I also know that his show was getting such low ratings before it happened that he was on the verge of having his show cancelled regardless. The fact that advertisers started pulling out only forced the issue sooner. I found him to be totally disingenuous when he claimed his right to free speech was being curtailed when in actuality it was ABC’s ability to make a profit on this television show which was the main issue.
So with all of that said, I was very excited when the Real Time with Bill Maher new season began last week. That lasted all of about five minutes. Sometime between the first and second season Maher drank from the extreme-left Kool-Aid bowl so excessively that instead of being a witty and entertaining devil’s advocate he comes off as a bitter, whiney, and completely misinformed jackass. His show used to have some balance. Ok, so sometimes it was tilted to the left it was somewhat fair. Week one was Michael Moore, former Canadian PM Kim Campbell, and Republican Congressman David Drier. It was simply a bloodbath. It’s obviously no secret that Moore is no fan of Bush or the Republicans but neither is Campbell and when Maher jumps in on Moore’s side it’s basically a show that went something like this (copied from Bill Maher’s personal website):
DREIER: I congratulate on your attempt to do everything you possibly can to insure that George Bush is defeated in November. That’s your right in this system that we have. But I will tell you, the thing that really troubles me – and I would ask you whether you believe it is appropriate to use what clearly has been proved as inaccurate information to lead people to a conclusion that they should defeat George Bush – and I’m talking about your movie, whether it’s the movement of the Bin Laden family—
MAHER: Has George Bush ever used inaccurate—[voices overlap]—has George Bush ever used inaccurate information to get elected? [applause] [cheers] Congressman, in his campaign in 2000 against John McCain, George Bush never used inaccurate information?
MOORE: Well, first of all, there’s no inaccurate information in there. What are you – what are you—
DREIER: There’s nothing in your motion picture that’s inaccurate?
MOORE: That’s absolutely right. Name one thing!
DREIER: Well, I will tell you one thing.
MOORE: Name one thing.
DREIER: My colleague, Mark Kennedy, when you try to interview him—
MOORE: Have you seen the movie?
DREIER: No. [audience screams] You know what? Michael, Michael, you know what?
CAMPBELL: Give him a free ticket!
DREIER: Michael, if you give me $9.50 tonight, I’ll tell you that I will consider going to see the movie.
MOORE: Buy a ticket to “Catwoman,” then sneak in to see my movie. [laughter] [applause]
DREIER: You know what? I heard some people may have been started doing that. The fact of the matter is, Mike, I will tell you this, I have seen enough of it – I have seen enough of it—
MOORE: Enough of it?! What do you mean?
DREIER: Because I’ve seen plenty of it on television. I’ve seen plenty of it on television.
MOORE: It’s not on TV! [laughter]
DREIER: Well, I’ll tell you what. Turn on cable. Plenty of it has been on cable. [voices overlap] My colleague, Congressman Mark Kennedy, was asked by you why it is that more family members of members of Congress aren’t there.
MOORE: Okay, now these people have seen the movie. They know that’s not what I asked the congressmen on Capitol Hill! Okay! [applause] [cheers] Right there.
DREIER: Did he not say – Michael, did he not say he has two nephews who are going there?
MOORE: No, you just – you just made something up! What I went to Capitol Hill to do was I wanted to find out if one congressman would send their child to Iraq, enlist them to go and fight the war in Iraq, one of their children.
DREIER: [overlapping] The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee—
MOORE: [overlapping] And not one of them, including Mark Kennedy, would do that.
DREIER: [overlapping] The chairman of the House Armed Services—
MOORE: [overlapping] Not one of them.
DREIER: Michael, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Duncan Hunter—
MOORE: [overlapping] Would you send your child – would you send your child to Iraq?
DREIER: Listen, every child that goes—
MOORE: Would you send your child?
DREIER: You bet, voluntarily—
MOORE: You would?!
DREIER: Let me just tell you something—
MOORE: [overlapping] You would send your child to die in Iraq?
DREIER: [overlapping] Let me just tell you about this—
MOORE: [overlapping] Are you kidding me?
DREIER: [overlapping] Every single child there – it’s not a question of sending—
MOORE: [overlapping] Look me in the eye and say that. [applause]
DREIER: [overlapping] It’s not a question of sending. I will tell you what happens. Everyone who is there is going voluntarily. I will tell you, I was down at the Marine Expeditionary Unit.
MOORE: Oh, voluntarily.
DREIER: You know what? When they enlist in the military—
MOORE: When they enlist in the military because they can’t get a job in the Bush economy!
CAMPBELL: Hey, hang on! Hang on a minute!
DREIER: Oh, come on. He’s created one-and-a-half-million jobs.
CAMPBELL: Hang on a minute! I did see the movie, and I can tell you if you see the part about the recruiting for the Marine Corps, you might want to rethink that comment. [applause] [cheers]
DREIER: Well, I will tell you about an experience that I had. I visited the Marine Expeditionary Unit that was getting ready to go over to Iraq, and I will tell you, I talked to young men and women who were so enthused about going over there to have the opportunity to participate in liberating that country and standing up for the cause of freedom, and making sure that we would be free of a blood-thirsty, international terrorist like Saddam Hussein. And that’s exactly what he was.
MOORE: And now we are – and now we are less safe as Americans. [applause]
DREIER: No, we are safer today.
MAHER: Okay, all right, that’s a debate we can have, but I really have to get – I have a governor waiting, and he’s going to be – we’re ganging up on Congressman Dave, and that’s not—
MOORE: Well, he starts lying about the movie!
MAHER: Okay, all right, all right.
I think you get the idea. And believe me, I’m no David Drier fan. I think the guy is a complete tool but this show was just one massive attack on Bush and an attempt to make David Drier answer for anything Bush has ever said or done.
The supposed highlight of the show was Ralph Nader. Both Bill Maher and Michael Moore literally got on their knees in front of Nader and begged him not to run. Nader dismissed them both and started launching into an attack on both parties and for the first time in the entire show Moore shut his mouth and sat there looking shamed as Nader asked the both of them how they could claim to stand for the things they stand for and back Kerry who is just as corrupted by big money and the two party system as is Bush. Here was one of Nader’s better shots:
NADER: So why are we restricting ourselves to these choices when we have so many good people in this country who should be running for president and Senator and governor. I agree with Michael. On Michael’s website – not our website, votenader.org – on Michael’s website—[laughter]—he has a petition that says he wants people to sign on that they will oppose all members of Congress who voted for the war. That means he’s asking them to oppose John Kerry as well as George W. Bush. [applause]
Ok, I’ve watched Maher for some time now and I’ve never seen anything like that. I was willing to cut him some slack and write it off as being pumped up by the anti-Bush spirit of Moore. Boy was I wrong.
The second show featured Cokie Roberts, comedian Steve Harvey, and former Republican Congressman Bob Barr. Without Michael Moore whipping the crowd into a frenzy it became more obvious how out of touch Maher has become. First topic he became entangled in was John Kerry’s war record. There’s a new book coming out by some of the people who served with Kerry and they basically say he’s a liar. They claim his wounds were superficial, that he didn’t do some of the things he claims he did (and received medals for), and that he betrayed his brothers by coming home and claiming to have witnessed and participated in war atrocities. He had Nina Easton via satellite who co-authored “John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography By The Boston Globe Reporters Who Know Him Best” a balanced and sometimes critical look at Kerry. True to the balanced nature of Easton she discounted the claim that Kerry shot an unarmed boy in the back but did say that Kerry’s backed away from a lot of the rhetoric he testified to in front of Congress. She said that he’s downplaying it now and has even hinted that some of those things may not have happened. Stunned, Maher goes for the only thing he knows, attacking Bush. He shouts out that he would rather have a guy who fought for six months and came home and opposed the war than a draft dodger. As Easton tried to shed more light on Maher’s questions he kept summoning up that same response despite the fact that whether or not Kerry did or did not do something has nothing to do with Bush.
His second slip into complete insanity was when he held up pictures of both Kerry and Bush displaying corn while in Iowa. He claimed that corn was bad for you and all three panelists just sat there stunned at the absurdity of his comment. He goes on ranting about the evils of corn and how corn is part of corn syrup which is making America obese. While he’s true on that fact, his wholesale condemnation of corn didn’t get one vote of agreement from his panelists who tried to remind him that plain old corn on the cob which both candidates were holding up is actually pretty good for you. He kept hammering but he couldn’t find anyone to back him up and even the crowd’s infrequent applause was less than enthusiastic. It was sad because he was so bitter yet nobody around him could understand what he was so impassioned about.
Strike three came when he decided that Ricky Williams’ story was a perfect example of our loss of freedoms in this country. Yes, Ricky Williams failing a drug test and retiring from football is a parallel to the loss of freedoms in America. He even went to far as to say something about how people claim that the terrorists hate us because of our freedoms but when a man is driven out of his profession because the drug companies want to maximize their profits we’re not free. Ok, I’m someone who supports the legalization of marijuana but this was asinine. Again, he’s looking at three stunned panelists who start reminding him that Ricky Williams was getting paid $30 million a year not to smoke dope. Even Steve Harvey commented that for $30 million a year not only would he not smoke pot but he would get himself hypnotized to go into seizures if he even smelled the stuff. Barr took a different approach and pointed out that he signed a contract saying he wouldn’t do it and he violated the terms of his contract. Now Maher’s facial expressions are overtly angry and you can see this rage in him and he goes for his cheap shot jokes trying to win his point via comedy. Doesn’t work.
At this point I just turned off the show and erased my season pass on Tivo. This is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen. This guy is really very talented but he’s gone off the deep end. He no longer is the common sense host, rather he’s turned into the nutball booked for comedic effect.
Bye-bye Bill Maher. I’m sure you’ll be on the news soon claiming that HBO dropping your show is a right-wing conspiracy.