Bill Maher last night: another crappy show

[stopbush]

Last edited Sat Apr 22, 2017, 12:14 PM - Edit history (1)

He is SO frustrating!

His first guest was author Hanna Rosin, who had the honor of sitting in a chair while Bill ate up the interview time pontificating. He asked her no serious questions and allowed her no time to answer. If she spoke for 15% of the "interview," I would be surprised.

During the panel discussion, he got off on a couple of his alternative fact positions. First, that Hillary ran a crappy campaign. No one challenged him on this. Yet we know that 1.Hillary got 3-million more votes than tRump, 2. She "lost" by 80,000 votes spread across 4 states, 3. The Russians definitely interfered with the election to hurt Hillary, 4. The FBI jumped in at the last minute to hurt Hillary's chances, and hurt them badly, 5. The media gave tRump over a billion$ in free media exposure while 6. Being super-critical of Hillary on every single insignificant point while giving tRump a pass on everything.

Second, he got off on his "today's college kids are snowflakes who hate free speech" bullshit. The topic: Ann Coulter being disinvited to speak at Berkeley. What Bill doesn't get is that today's college students have grown up in high schools where kids are much more accepting and tolerant of minorities, and who have been taught how to sniff out racism and outright lying when it raises its ugly head. What the students object to is their head-earned tuition money being spent on speakers fees to proven liars to appear on their campuses and to spout their lies and bullshit. How many times does one need to hear Ann Coulter on TV, talk radio or on campus to "get" her act and have the desire to hear something different than yet another regurgitation of her bullshit?

His closing segment about "forget about Mars" had merit only because we are being forced to make choices between spending $ on either Mars exploration or saving the Earth. We should be capable of doing both. There's nothing wrong with aspiring to putting people on Mars anymore than there was something wrong with trying to land people on the moon. But with Bill, it's all about setting one admirable idea in conflict and competition with another admirable idea.

Frustrating.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. How can you stand to watch that stupid fuck?! Better you than me!!

Thanks for the report though.

[Rorey]

3. I do sometimes watch

My husband (Trump voter, ugh) said to me, "I thought you couldn't stand him". I told him that I still think that Maher is an ass, but I watch for the guests. It's mostly that there's nothing on television on Friday evenings, and we've agreed that if I don't watch channels that he hates when he's around, then he won't expect equal time watching Faux. I guess I figure that maybe something Maher's guests might say might get through to my blockhead husband's brain. Futile, I know.

[eleny]

10. Hi from Lakewood!

And a very belated welcome to DU, too.

[Rorey]

13. Thank you! nt

[BannonsLiver]

12. I find it interesting

And maybe a little amusing that someone married to a Trump voter would ever get upset about something Bill Maher would say. I mean you are literally living with the enemy at that point.

[Rorey]

14. I'm trying to ride it out

We fight a lot. A LOT. But there are now more and more cracks in his resolve about voting for 45. Sometimes I have hope that he'll turn back into the man I married. Other times I just think he has lost his f*ing mind. Maybe dementia? He's 66, so I don't know. I'm trying to remain patient. It seems like an eternity since this whole nightmare started, but it hasn't really been that long. Divorce is a pretty big deal. My advice to others has always been to not rush INTO a relationship or OUT OF a relationship, so I'm trying to remember that. We've both got a lot to lose if we end things, and the family would suffer too.

He's a retired union man, and was pissed about NAFTA. Complicating things, I think that he only hears a fraction of what is said, so he's basing his opinions on matters without knowing all of the facts.

And I don't really get upset about Maher. He's just an arrogant ass. Always has been. I think it's possible to get your point across without being an arrogant ass. Case in point: Al Franken. Funny as hell, but a nice guy. At least that's my opinion.

[BannonsLiver]

20. Best of luck to you. I think you may qualify for sainthood!

[JenniferJuniper]

2. Agree, except for the Berkeley issue

She should not have been invited in the first place - for the reasons you state and others - but once she was invited it would have been far better that she be ignored by the students. Protesting free speech is never a good look and it's always a bad thing when hateful, bigoted assholes like Coulter end up appearing to have the higher moral ground. Not something you ever want to cede to them.

[stopbush]

5. I thought of that, but I imagine if the students boycotted her speech

some RW interest would simply step up and fill the seats with a bunch of RW jerks.

Result: she makes her $ off the students, she gets a "sell-out" crowd of applauding idiots, and Faux News gets their pro-Coulter story.

[Trumpocalypse]

4. He doesn't understand the 1st Amendment.

It states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech". That means the government cannot restrict freedom of speech. It says nothing of private institutions being forced to provide a platform to anyone to espouse their views.

Also, I liked the way the CNN reporter pushed back on his bigotry.

[stopbush]

6. Yes. I forgot to mention his now-weekly, gratuitous swipes at Islam.

Don't get me wrong, ALL religion is a conceit that is based entirely on make believe bullshit, but his saying that the Koran inspires terrorism is akin to saying the Constitution says we are a Xian nation because certain politicians make such a claim.

[Henry Krinkle]

8. UCB is a "private institution" now?

Please elaborate, when did that happen?

Last time I looked Berkeley was a publicly financed and funded university using state tax payer (as well federal),
money... IOW, the government.

[Trumpocalypse]

19. And the students still pay tutition

State funding actually only 12% of their budget.

[Henry Krinkle]

21. Even more reason for allowing Coulter to speak

[Trumpocalypse]

22. They have no obligation to give anyone a platform

That is not what the first amendment is about.

[dsc]

16. Berkeley isn't a private institution

it is a state university.

[Trumpocalypse]

18. Still nothing in the first amendment

that states any crackpot with an opinion must be given a platform.

[pnwmom]

7. Also, the Republican club invited Coulter without telling Berkeley! They found out in the media.

Previously, the club had said there was a likelihood she would be speaking, and the University responded by saying, among other things, that the event should be no later than 3 pm -- for reasons of safety, they didn't want another night event..

But the Club turned around and invited her for a night time speech anyway -- then told the media, but not Berkeley.

The more I hear, the more sympathy I have for Berkeley.

[Initech]

9. SE Cupp makes me want to vomit.

And I'm getting sick and tired of the liberal bashing. It's like we're the source of all our problems. We're not. The republicans need to take some of the heat for the shit they do and get away with.

[Gothmog]

11. I stopped watching Maher a while back also

[6000eliot]

15. Did he acknowledge his own responsibility in helping to popularize the hateful bigot?

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Bill Maher has occassionally funny or witty insights on some issues. Others, not so much.

when he starts yammering about vaccines, science or space exploration I change the channel.