Maher talks election, Kerry

[ProSense]

Maher talks election, Kerry

Posted 11/15/2006 9:18 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions

By Steve Friess for USA TODAY
Whether dressing up as a stingray-barbed Steve Irwin or expounding on religion, Bill Maher polarizes.

The host of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher (Fridays, 11 p.m. ET/PT) performs tonight as part of The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas. Maher also appears Saturday in Comic Relief (HBO and TBS, 9 p.m. ET/PT) to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims. He chatted with USA TODAY:

Q: How happy are you with the election?

A: I'm incredibly happy. The moderate majority in the last two elections was cowed into voting for Bush because they were afraid, and the fear card was still working. It stopped working.

Q: You caused a flap right after 9/11 with a remark construed as insulting to American troops. The same thing happened recently to Sen. John Kerry. You seemed really angry on his behalf on your show that week.

A: There's a lot of fake outrage in America. There's enough to get truly outraged by that they don't have to turn their sights on people misspeaking or a botched joke. It's such a cynical way of doing business because George Bush knew what John Kerry was saying just as those guys back in 2001 knew what I was saying. ... It's doubtful that something Kerry, the Dixie Chicks or I say is going to affect the morale of the troops.

Q: Who can't you get on your show?

A: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, John McCain, Barack Obama. They know they're chicken.

link

[kerrygoddess]

1. Nice little quip from Mahr

You beat me to it... there's more here -

Iraq Debate Heats Up, Kerry’s Joke at Bush’s Expense Lingers -
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4770

[JI7]

2. i thought John McCain had appeared on his show sometime

i'm surprised Al Gore hasn't gone on. but i can understand it if it's because of Maher's "Gush" talk in 2000.

i think Barack Obama and Al Gore would do well. the rest seem afraid of confront someone who would really call them out on what everyone else is thinking.

[karynnj]

3. This explains why he so immediately saw the unfairness of the fake outrage

He suffered from an incredible overrection to a "joke" that was way out of proportion to the root cause. (If I remember right he disputed that the 911 attackers were "cowards" He is technically right - you can be evil and brave.)

[beachmom]

4. This is what he said:

"We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away," he said. "That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly."

http://cache-origin.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,8852,00.html


He was right, of course, but the timing was off -- it was too close to the event, and people just got overly sensitive. He was, in effect, destroyed -- his show was first boycotted by sponsors and then it was cancelled. He lost his job over it. It actually was the same misunderstanding as Kerry in one respect -- people said he was insulting the troops, but if you notice, he said "WE" are lobbing cruise missiles. So it was never about the troops. Now I understand why he was quick to come to Kerry's defense.

[zann725]

5. Maher's interview w/JK a few weeks ago on Real Time was also interesting.

He kept pressing JK to say he was running. It seemed like more than casual curiousity...something everyone's asking all potential candidates. And JK, who normally straight-face dismisses the question, as "I don't know right now," was almost giggly, and squirming like a kid with a big secret he could barely conceal a moment longer. Something about Maher brought out JK's usually carefully concealed "hand." I watched the interview twice, and felt it was positive both in Maher's relentless interest, and in JK's irrepressible joy at the question.

[whometense]

6. He brought up Kerry again

during last night's show.

No podcast yet, but these were the guests:

episode 90
Premiering November 17, 2006
Guests: actor Richard Dreyfuss, activist/musician Tom Morello, correspondent Dana Priest, newsman Dan Rather, and television producer and People for the American Way founder Norman Lear

It's clear that this incident more than anything has put Maher in Kerry's corner - Maher 100% identifies with the media pile-on Kerry's been experiencing.