I may have reached a crossroads with this show (the bad “B” word appears in this writeup a few times also).Actually, before I mention anything else, I should point out that, as a result of the debacle that aired on HBO last Friday night, I’ve instituted MY OWN new rule, and it is this; if Maher ever allows Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican congresswoman from Florida) to appear on his show again, I won’t watch it.
I often wondered why this country has such an unbelievably idiotic policy towards Fidel Castro and Cuba (I know, I know…mean, rotten guy, serial human rights abuser, executions, prisons, should trim his beard, etc.) and after watching I R-L the other night (she’s of Cuban ancestry, as nearly as I could tell), I can understand why. I’ve read opinion columns from individuals who believe that the best way to get rid of Castro is to trade with Cuba and give the people of that country a taste of something better and motivation enough to want to overthrow him, which is easy to talk about I know, as opposed to our stupid embargo that does NOTHING to change Castro’s behavior and gives the people of Cuba more of a reason to dislike us.
But of course, I R-L thinks our policy is just fine, and one of her quick but brainless rejoinders on Friday was “many other countries trade with Castro, and that hasn’t changed anything,” and I’m thinking, “Yeah, but many other countries AREN’T US. And if you dislike him so much, WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL BUSH TO INVADE THERE INSTEAD OF IRAQ? YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE THERE’S NO OIL, THAT’S WHY!”
This woman is easily the most repugnant individual I have ever seen on this program (previously, Kellyanne Conway held that dubious honor from last season). I R-L CONTINUALLY did nothing throughout the entire telecast except spew right-wing talking points that have been disproven as utter bullshit over and over and OVER and OVER but somehow STILL end up finding their way onto other TV and radio talk shows and FOX television and radio programs (of course). Oppose the fiasco in Iraq that has turned into civil war? “Oh, I guess you want to see mass graves again, and the Democratic elections there don’t mean anything to you.” Call for bringing our people home? “They believe in their mission – I was just over there – even though I know you (Maher) and everybody else here likes to laugh at jokes about the war.” The Jack Abramoff scandal? “42 of 45 Democratic politicians took money from Abramoff clients” (uh, Abramoff’s clients aren’t under indictment, so at the moment, taking money from them doesn’t constitute an illegal activity). Republican corruption? “Believe me, I’ve seen a list of politicians getting investigated, and there are plenty on both sides” (example?).
The panel discussion, aside from this misery, included someone called Michele Mitchell, author of something called “Our Girl In Washington.” Her comments were mostly vacuous and added nothing new. The other panelist was Richard Belzer, comedian and star of “Law and Order” I believe, and though he seemed to be a pal of Maher’s, the host left him hanging a couple of times.
Belzer committed what I suppose was a totally unpardonable mistake in the beginning of the roundtable discussion in that he called I R-L on her bullshit, stating that her attempt to equate the mess in Iraq with World War II was exactly that. This obviously got her agitated, so much so that Maher confronted Belzer to the point where Belzer actually apologized to her (it was a gentlemanly thing to do, with Belzer saying that this topic brings out strong reactions, though I R-L blew that off indignantly and continued unabated throughout the show, to the point where SHE was becoming even more personally indignant herself – I can recall Maher correcting her once, but since she kept on doing it the entire show, it would have been virtually nothing but argument trying to call I R-L on her ridiculous misrepresentations, and the show was just about that anyway).
To me, though, this is the typical scenario: conservative spouts bullshit, liberal calls this person, tempers flare, liberal apologizes. This is crap. Why exactly do we apologize anyway? Because we don’t back down from “the jump”? Even worse was the moment where, after Maher’s comedy bit nearing the end of the panel discussion where he made fun of the pharma companies (where Maher had some witty stuff: “Ho Loft,” an antidepressant for promiscuous young girls; “Sudafederline,” to open clogged nasal passages so you can breathe in your wife’s money; and “Preparation Zero,” taken for the runup to the Iraq War), Mitchell said, “Well, there’s no magic pill for Iraq,” aiming her remark right at Belzer while I R-L smiled at her and gloated, and I’m thinking, gee this is great – the only person who knows what’s going on in this panel, and now he’s being double-teamed.
So let’s talk about the remote interviews then, OK?
Maher interviewed Michael Stipe of REM after the monologue, who was promoting the “Bring ‘Em Home Now” concert on Monday at the Hammerstein Theater in NYC on Monday on the third anniversary of the war. Maher asked, “why is this important?” and Stipe said, “Veterans organizations are benefiting from it, and they’re marching right now to protest that the money, manpower and good will could have been used in the Gulf Coast region to help with the Katrina cleanup instead.” Maher said he “saw a report on the news about Kent State University in Ohio now as opposed to 1970, when the four students were killed. There’s no one protesting the war, probably because there’s no draft. You’re a 40-year-old guy who still has a lot of credibility with 19-year-olds on college campuses. Do they still have credibility with you?,” and Stipe (diplomatically, I thought), said, “We’re kind of a nation in inertia, and a fish rots from the head down. We have leaders who don’t encourage their constituency to speak out. We have a number of distractions that weren’t there in the ‘70s, including cable TV (but I’m glad you’re here, Bill). I think it might be harder to engage our country in how badly it is being run by the current administration.”
Maher then said, “The song you wrote after 9/11, ‘I Wish I Was Wrong’…it’s about our post-9/11 mentality. How do you describe it?”, and Stipe (very poetically, I thought) called it “’the great quiet,’ where no one raised a voice of dissent.” Maher asked, “Your father served in Korea and Vietnam. You could criticize the military and not get smeared. Do you vent about the war to your family? Do you vent to REM? Are you guys still together?”, and Stipe said that “REM is having an ‘open year’ after eight years of touring, and the band is getting ready to celebrate its 26th anniversary.” Stipe added that “it’s like being married to several people. That’s not a problem for me, but maybe for Peter (Buck) and Mike” (Mills…see, Stipe is gay, in case anyone didn’t know that).
“Getting back to your question, though,” Stipe continued, “my home is in Athens, GA, and I’ve had the opportunity to meet Max Cleland, a tremendous veteran who was called unpatriotic and pushed out of his position (because) some questioned how he lost most of his limbs on the battlefield. I find that repellent” (bless you for saying that). “As the proud son of a proud veteran, it’s offensive to me that the current administration is composed of war hawks who haven’t served and actually avoided service. They’re keeping our people in Iraq and taking our attention away from other problems, such as the Katrina cleanup.” Mentioning the concert again, Stipe said, ”We’ll use it kick off a nationwide tour, with Cindy Sheehan and Studs Terkel joining us in Chicago.” Stipe also mentioned that the tour may be coming to Penn State. Maher then asked, “Do you think your lefty politics will get you in trouble with Clear Channel?” and Stipe said, “REM really isn’t political, but we’re political people. Our first benefit concert was in 1982 for an environmental group. If Clear Channel doesn’t like our benefit concert activities, tough cookies,” to which Maher jokingly replied, “Hey, watch the language, Michael. This is HBO.” Maher then asked, “Assuming the war in Iraq is solved, what should be the next number one goal?” and Stipe immediately said, “the environment,” which Maher and I both cheered.
Concerning Lou Dobbs, he appeared in the midst of the panel discussion, mercifully providing a break. Maher asked sarcastically, “I get the vague impression that you hate Mexicans,” and Dobbs, going along with the joke, said, “Congress is taking a ten-day break…you can’t reform immigration if you won’t address it, if you won’t address it, you won’t control it, and you can’t control it without controlling the borders,” a response that conjured up some uneasy, Pat Buchanan-ish images of “Fortress America” for me, though Dobbs is a bottom-line kind of guy, and I could understand that. Maher then referenced the book that Fred Barnes was hawking a few weeks ago about how Dubya is supposed to be rebelling (against common sense, I always thought), and asked, “With corporations taking over, isn’t that how you act like a rebel, by standing up to them?” and Dobbs said, “you couldn’t be more correct. This is a terrible time to be a ‘C.E.O. president’. Corporations hold absolute sway, including over the White House and Congress.” Maher then asked, “Weren’t Ross Perot and Ralph Nader right to go after corporations the way they did?” (though I often wonder what life would be like had Nader decided to stay the hell out of the 2000 presidential election), and Dobbs agreed, especially in Nader’s case, saying, "The difference between the Democrats and the Republicans right now is no more than the most technical word I can think of, a skosh. They are both dominated by corporate money." Maher asked, “Which party is a better steward of the economy?”, and Dobbs said, “We created 22 million manufacturing jobs by 2000 but watched 3 million of them disappear (offshore) since then. This administration needs to reeducate the supposedly dumb American worker since, in the last five years, we’ve apparently become very stupid,” Dobbs said with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
I’ve already commented on the debacle of the panel discussion, so this now brings me back to our host.
During the “New Rules” segment, Maher made a joke about people who wear Bluetooth (TM, I guess) headsets and speak to what seems to be themselves, even though someone is likely on the other line (I admit that that’s a little odd also, and it puts me off a bit at times). Well, this was one of Maher’s witty remarks about that:
“If I wanted to overhear every tedious scrap of brain static rattling around in your head, I’d read your blog.”Uh huh…
This is the second time this year Maher has made a joke about people who write blogs. That in itself is no big deal, except for the fact that, though we keep hearing and reading about the legendary volume of newspapers that Maher reads, we really don’t hear about him reading anything on the big-hit lefty sites. Does he not feel that what they say matters? I would say that that’s a bit of a double standard, given the fact that he can try out some new material in the form of a writeup on “The Huffington Post” whenever he wants. I realize that that comes with the star territory that Maher inhabits through dint of his hard-earned success. However, for someone who is seemingly so “hip,” he should realize that he could learn a hell of a lot from places like Atrios, The Daily Kos, Think Progress, Crooks and Liars, and the Media Matters site, among others, and at least acknowledge that on the show.
Also, regarding I R-L again, it was sickening to see Maher practically groveling to this woman; “We’re glad you could make it – welcome back to the lion’s den, ha ha.” Please. If he knew that all she was going to do was spout propaganda all night long, then HE SHOULD NOT HAVE GRANTED HER A FORUM! Or, is it more important for Maher to create some kind of “conservative/liberal smackdown” in the faint hope of acquiring a substantial conservative audience?
Well, you know what? I’m going to take a week and ponder this stuff and let Maher fend for himself, especially since he apparently thinks so little of bloggers anyway. I realize his show has been sailing along just fine without me for a little while, so I don’t anticipate much impact while I pass on this writeup. Hell, I don’t think I’m even going to watch the show on Friday. I made it through Carlson, Scarborough and others, but I R-L is where I draw the line, especially when Maher is going to suck up to her. It got so bad that, at the end of the discussion, I R-L actually called Henry Hyde “a great leader,” Mitchell said, “Speaking of leaders, why do the Democrats always seem to ignore Jimmy Carter?” and I R-L spoke right up and said “he was a bad president,” and Belzer, in utter exasperation, said sarcastically, “That was a good answer.”
If I wanted to watch a crappy performance like the one I saw last week, then I’d return to the Sunday gab fests, and that won’t happen. Besides, of the small volume of comments I get, none any more have to do with the “Real Time” updates.
So have fun, Bill. I may come back to this, or I may not. If you keep allowing right-wing shouters like I R-L to spout her garbage only partially challenged, that will be a really easy decision for me.
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