Put The Pipe Down, Bill!
I listen to the podcast of Real Time with Bill Maher and I have to give him credit for inviting some good guests from time to time, but unfortunately he also gives platforms to people like Andrew Breitbart and Ann Coulter to spread their hateful messages. In Episode 218, available at iTunes, the first 20 minutes or so was pretty good, because it seems like every false meme that Bill spewed was shot down pretty quickly by his guests. He was unusually wrong that night.
He repeated a line that is vintage Bill Maher, catchy, clever, but completely wrong. Here it is…
It would be kind of a tragedy if we got to the end of four years of Democratic rule without having really tried any Democratic policies. – Bill Maher
I’m sure that line appealed to the “where’s my pony” crowd, but for people who are paying attention to more than just the negative spin coming from the loudest voices in the libertarian wing, it is obviously complete horseshit. I’m not referring to Hamsher, Greenwald, Adam Green, Huffington, Moulitsas or the rest of those folks as the left anymore. Anyone who helps Republicans get elected and damages the Democratic Party in our two-party system, doesn’t deserve to hang with us on the left.
Let me help Bill Maher with some reality.
First, is it “Democratic Rule” when Republican’s have forced a super-majority of 60 votes on every bill that comes into the Senate chamber? Is it “Democratic Rule” when every single fucking bill that comes before the congress has an ultimatum attached to it by any number of Senators, each of whom can filibuster without even having to drag their lazy asses to the Senate floor? And of course, since 2010, when many who are listed above were either openly telling Democrats to stay home or implying it, Republicans have had control of the House of Representatives, which in case Bill didn’t know, actually writes the bills and appropriates the money. Is that “Democratic Rule” Maher?
He then goes on to say “without having really tried any Democratic policies”, which is the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard. He dismisses the Affordable Care Act because it didn’t include the public options or a single payer system, neither of which would have any chance of getting even enough Democratic support. The ACA was the most liberal, “Democratic” legislation to pass since Civil Rights in the 60′s. If that isn’t trying Democratic policies for your ass, I don’t know what is.
Here is a short list of “Democratic policies”, is Bill Maher just not aware of them?
- How about the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, nothing Democratic about that, right?
- How about the Presidential Memorandum extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. I’m sure Republicans would have done the same thing, right Bill?
- And I guess in Bill’s world the Presidential Memorandum protecting gay and lesbian partners’ visitation/healthcare decision-making rights…nothing Democratic to see there, move along.
- Signing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, not really a Democratic policy in any way. Once again, I’m sure the Republicans would have done that in a heartbeat.
- Repealed DADT you fucking moron, and did it the right way by passing legislation, not a temporary fix – like signing an executive order. Democratic policy, I think not.
- Oh, did I mention The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA): a $789 billion economic stimulus plan, which included money for teachers, children, the elderly, infrastructure, jobs training, education, food for starving children and many different green proposals for clean energy…and on and on. But I guess Bill was stoned when all that went down and he missed it.
- He bailed out the auto industry, saving hundreds of thousands of union jobs and keeping working class people employed. But that wouldn’t be a Democratic policy, right Bill?
I feel kind of silly even proceeding with more examples, I’ll just send Bill and anyone believing his massive lie to this website, which has the President’s actions over the first 2 and 1/2 years catalogued in easy to read categories, with references and written so even Bill Maher can understand it.
The really odd thing about Bill Maher is that he often contradicts himself within the same show. As a matter of fact, in the show that he made the above statement on, he later went on to list some great things the President has done as a set up to a question for his Republican guest. I’m still hunting for the transcript to the episode above, so I can show more of his stupidity, but his website that promises to have transcripts in the Google description, has no such thing. I have the podcast, but I’ll be damned if I want to transcribe it myself.
Look for a future post about the same show where Richard Engle of NBC takes Bill to daycare and schools him on the reality of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He reminds him that President Bush started those wars and screwed them up royally, while President Obama really is getting us out of both of them. Richard Engle is polite about schooling Maher, but it’s still pretty awesome to hear/see Bill get his uninformed bullshit memes crushed. Go listen or watch that episode for some good times.
Cross-posted at Extreme Liberal’s Blog
Right fucking on! That is all.
He’s an anti-vaxer. So, yes, he is that stupid.
I watched part of that Engle guest spot, which was the last time I even channel-clicked in that direction during that time slot. That’s why I don’t bother watching that show: it keeps up that lack of civics knowledge as it relates to policies. Nice breakdown, by the way…
I dislike him b/c he is all over to impose his view on every subject.
What we’re ignoring here is that the Obama administration continued the Bush security policies, brought the very people responsible for the current mess INTO the administration, and continues to treat medical marijuana patients and providers like criminals. Maher is often wrong, and is even more often a complete ass. In this case he’s wrong because it’s not Obama’s failure to pursue Democratic policies that’s the issue (particularly given that the current Democratic Party leadership seems slightly to the right of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford on everything but social issues), but that he fails to pursue any actually liberal policies and tends to do more to please the Republicans than his own allies and supporters.
And the whole “I want a pony” meme was old two seconds after it was minted. What so many people fail to understand is that when you actually want a pony you ask for a team of Clydesdales. When you just ask for the pony, all you get is a stick with a stuffed horse head on top.
The Dems are terrible at messaging, and it just so happens that this is the ONLY thing the Republicans ARE good at. Nearly every one of their memes can be handily countered but they don’t seem to have anyone capable of doing so… and when they find one, they distance themselves from him or her as quickly as possible.
One failure is that no one actually knows what the Democrats stand for. And no wonder, since they pursue neoliberal economic policies that were proven wrong over two centuries ago, waffle back and forth on issues of social and economic justice, and more or less ignore some of the most blatant nonsense spewed by the Republican Party hacks.
You can’t negotiate with rabid dogs. You extend a hand, they rip off your arm and defecate on your exsanguinating corpse.
About this message complaint people love to complain about, if you are not repeating what the dems are saying then you are the problem with the message. The right repeats what the gop says and that’s why they have one message. Oh no, the left doesn’t do that because you they gotta act like their way of thinking is the only right way of thinking.
What the far left fails to realize is that there is NO liberal/progressive congress….where are the votes to get these ponies. The senate needs 60 votes to rename a post office but somehow all this doesn’t matter when the left decides to bitch, moan and complain about shit. Living in reality would be a good start to understanding WHY there are not these magical liberal bills you seek.
Ah, the ole change the subject trick. Talk about what’s being ignored, pretty smooth segue, dude. Bill Maher said “without having really tried any Democratic policies”, ANY Democratic policies. Look at the list and tell me that he didn’t pursue ANY Dem policies. And since when did Democrats become a party of doves…Clinton in Bosnia and other actions too. And if you want to talk about ignoring things, Bush started both wars and handed them off to Obama to fix and wrap up. Thanks for nothing. But I assume you think we should high tail it out of both places, leaving clouds of dust. Do you realize the infrastructure that has to be disassembled, packed and shipped back. That lone is going to take a couple years. That gets ignored as well, logistically, you can’t just jump on a plane and come home.
The where’s my pony phrase has probably outlived it’s usefulness, but it is very descriptive. Except you apparently don’t get the meaning. How many crying, whiny, spoiled kids ask for Clydesdales? The reference implies the adolescence of the people saying it.
“You can’t negotiate with rapid dogs” – so just do nothing? Republicans real goal is to shut down the government, privatize it (come to Michigan to witness that) and let everyone fend for themselves, frontier justice man. If we don’t negotiate, they win. When you give up, they win.
VOTE Democratic goddamn it, do you think we would be in this mess if Democrats had control of both houses…real control, like 60 plus Senators? If folks like you are unable to come to terms with the fact that this is what we have, divided government. Running away or attacking both parties is the equivalent of throwing a temper tantrum on the floor.
I didn’t like everything that Bill Clinton did in his first term, but I voted for him again and I’m damn glad I did. I wish someone would explain to me how extracting yourself from the process some how gives you more power in the political process. It’s just stupid.
Honestly, if I hear one more fucking thing from you ingrates about medical marijuana, I’m going to go insane.
Extreme Liberal literally posted a list of liberal policies and you fire back with “he hasn’t pursued any actually liberal policies?”
By the way, you HAVE to negotiate with dogs, because those dogs represent about 50% of the population. You emos represent about 10-20% of Democrats.
You don’t know what you’re talking about, and moreover you are a shitty political strategist. Honestly. You people are fucked in the head.
In the words of a large number of the characters on The Wire: True dat.
Somehow it perpetually seems to escape the emoDems that their fantasies can only come into being if Congress actually passes legislation. Now, if President Obama suddenly became Dictator Obama, some of it might happen. But then they’d be tripping over themselves to find other things to complain about. (Most likely that they weren’t consulted on getting the very things they said they wanted – they’re among the very special crowd that’s only happy when they’re unhappy/angry, aren’t they?)
Who needs Republicans with “Democrats” like these?
Dear EmoProgs: Once again — you live in a country that was founded on genocide, slavery, and theocracy (Puritans believed in “Freedom of Religion for ME, But Not for THEE!”) So if that depresses you too much, remember this — Suicide is Painless. You can even leave a note about how the heartless soulless FOOLS drove you to it, dammit!
Just be sure it’s only yourself you’re taking down and not the rest of us through your Useful Idiot Whingeing (sp?) and failure to recognize the palpable and critical differences between the Dems and the GOP come election time.
Kisses!
Maher’s a light weight. And not all that bright.I rather wish he’d just go away.
Bill Maher is a comedian, not a politician. It’s silly to take his every word too seriously. His remark was obviously a joke and refers to topics that are a bit disappointing with the current administration. Just the other day the administration ruled that there is no evidence for medical purposes of marijuana, thus providing more ammunition for the GOP inspired “War on Drugs”. The big bailout that has been mentioned in some comments should have been accompanied with more restrictions on the speculators, or as the well-known economist Paul Krugman suggested, with a temporary nationalization of the affected banks. The list could go on… Bill Maher is a progressive fellow in many ways. People who can’t laugh about his jokes are dogmatic in my opinion and propably unable to convince anyone to vote for Obama who is not already favoring him.
Sorry, the old entry contained a few mistakes. Here is the corrected one:
Bill Maher is a comedian, not a politician. It’s silly to take his every word too seriously. His remark was obviously a joke and refers to topics that are a bit disappointing with the current administration. Just the other day the administration ruled that there is no (!!!) evidence for medical purposes of marijuana, thus providing more ammunition for the GOP inspired “War on Drugs”. The big bailout that has been mentioned in some comments should have been accompanied with more restrictions on the speculators, or as the well-known economist Paul Krugman suggested, with a temporary nationalization of the affected banks. The list could go on… Bill Maher is a progressive fellow in many ways. People who can’t laugh about his jokes are dogmatic in my opinion and propably unable to convince anyone to vote for Obama who are not already favoring him.
Click to EditRequest Deletion (10 seconds)
I can;t stand Maher and I don’t watch his show.