"Real Time" Update

I caught "Real Time With Bill Maher" again last night. His guests were Cindy Sheehan via satellite from Crawford, author and would-be Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman, and the following panelists: playwright/actor Eve Ensler, columnist Dan Savage, and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

There weren't any major blowups on the show - it wasn't as if there was someone like Kellyanne Conway last week lobbing incendiary propaganda all over the place. I thought Eve Ensler was the most opinionated panelist of the three, and she frequently prefaced her remarks by stating that she had traveled to the areas she chiefly spoke about (Iraq and Afghanistan in particular), so it was hard for me to argue with her, particularly because I agree with her 100 percent on the Iraq War. Bill Maher, however, pointed out to her that Muslims, living in strict accordance with their teachings (and I'm trying to distance sane, respectable Muslims from the crazies) can have a problem with the role of women in such a society, and Ensler seemed to take that thesis and imply that that problem is universal for all men in all societies before Maher headed her off. I'm glad he did that because, at that point, Ensler was starting to aggravate me, to be perfectly honest.

Mike Huckabee was a revelation to me. I couldn't believe I was watching a Repug with a self-deprecating sense of humor! My God, I hope Karl Rove didn't see the program, or else he'd have Huckabee kidnapped, sent back to the factory and turned into a good, unquestioning Bushco zombie. He definitely was there to tow the line on the war, but he did sound conciliatory to Cindy Sheehan up to a point (I'll get to her shortly). Maher also had fun with Bushco deciding that Karen Hughes was qualified to be in charge of a U.S.-based network broadcasting propaganda to Arabs about the war, and everybody was laughing over the absurdity of that, and Huckabee defended it also, though you could tell he was trying really hard not to laugh also. I also give Huckabee credit for losing 110 pounds and writing a book about it.

For my money, Dan Savage was the most informed and wittiest of the panelists. I didn't think it was possible to make a humorous remark about the 9/11 hijackers and not have it end up as tasteless or offensive, but he pulled it off (he was talking about the motivation behind the hijackers, which had nothing to do with Muslim extremism in his opinion, but a portion of the female anatomy that is referred to with a "p" word and recalls a feline pet). He also made a witty observation on the just-issued report that there are more single adults in this country than married ones; he stated that, because Maher is single and childless and Savage, a gay man with a partner who is parenting one child and trying to do so with another, in fact Savage is assuming a traditionally more heterosexual role and Maher a more homosexual one, which brought a few hoots. Savage also made what I thought was a telling remark about left-wing versus right-wing pundits (in light of the Pat Robertson fiasco); namely, that left-wingers are snide and sarcastic, but right-wingers are nasty and dangerous (not an exact quote, but close...snide and sarcastic - moi?:-). Something else that came out between the group discussion is that, apparently, these new photos and tapes from Abu Ghraib that have come out must be even more horrific than the last ones (dear God in heaven...).

Now for Cindy Sheehan...she continues to impress me with her courage and forthright attitude. She's definitely bringing some '60s era naiveté to the entire situation as far as I'm concerned, which I believe is truly commendable; I got a kick when Maher referred to her as "the fourth Dixie Chick." I think that there is not a self-glorifying bone in her body, though I was a bit startled to hear her admit that she was glad Bush didn't meet with her because of the momentum generated for the peace movement (maybe I shouldn't be, though). I was glad to hear her say that, not only do they want our forces back from Iraq now, they want to make sure this never happens again (amen, sister...hello, Democratic Party, are you catching this?). The only bad thing was when I heard that Al Sharpton is coming down to meet with her (as I said, the Dems are totally missing the boat on this - it's pathetic that Sharpton is the only outside "name" figure giving her support).

Kinky Friedman was funny, making a joke out of his campaign, though I think he's serious about getting the 50,000 signatures to get his name on the ballot (and Huckabee chimed in with a joke also about being governor...as I said, the guy is far from a typical Repug).

Best line: In the "New Rules" segment with Maher telling Exxon, Chevron, etc. to stop sounding so benign to the public, Maher said that, "oil company executives are just like seagulls because both would steal a french fry from a baby."

If I can recall other stuff from the show, I'll post it here.