Real Time with Bill Maher

Just thought I'd start up a thread (couldn't find the last one), since he does have interesting discussions and people on his show, including the greatness that is Matt Taibbi.

But Rep. Jack Kingston was on last night (R-GA) and I was just so embarrassed that he was a representative from my state. If he's trying to give us a sneak peek over how the Republicans are going to go after Obama, they're firing blanks. Here were a couple of his gems:

- Obama is unpatriotic because he doesn't wear an American flag lapel-pin

- Obama wants to bomb Pakistan (he doesn't, but he will use military force if there's actionable intelligence on Al-Qaeda in the region) and embrace Raoul Castro (you know, because he wants to talk to our enemies instead of shunning them because that's worked out so well)

I also wanted to comment on what Brokaw said about the 60s and how people lost their idealism. Neither Maher nor Brokaw mentioned that the most inspirational figures of that decade: John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy, were all assassinated. How does that not destroy idealism?

I think it's ridiculous. It's an empty symbol like the lapel pin. His record in Chicago and in the Senate proves his patriotism.

It's part of his personality. I hate it too, but it ain't going anywhere. But it gets really bad when he's just plain wrong, like last week's episode where he sounded like a Scientologist as he railed against medication. When Jonah Goldberg is looking at you like your nuts, you may be nuts.

How is it surrendering? If he doesn't play their game, he's "surrendered"? He just thinks it's empty symbolism.

As for his campaign, that's just graphic design. And I have to say, he's taking that red, white, and blue but they've used it well.

It's this all-or-nothing mentality that's just bizarre. Either he has to wear the American flag as a cape or make his website in sepia-tones. That's ridiculous.

Taibbi may be a "smirktalker" but that doesn't make him wrong.

Also, they're haven't been celebrities probably because they just now have the ability to book them since the strike is over.

It was David Frum and Frum was wrong. Doing the same thing they did would be caving to them and the ridiculous status quo. His embracing a lapel-pin doesn't make it mean anything more. It just means he's like every other chickenshit politican that wants to let you know that he loves America and he has the jewelry to prove it!

Running as anti-lobbyist and then having a story break about how deep in the pockets of lobbyists you really are: that's a huge political mistake that leaves you open for attack. Not wearing a lapel pin is on the same level as taking a few lines from someone's speech: it's a lighter-than-air charge.

And buying into symbolism is a little too close to jingoism for me. We should try to BE good instead of just LOOK good. I'm pretty sure that if Obama becomes President of the United States, then the Presidency is no longer a symbol but a FACT. Also, our enemies don't give a fuck about the office of The President. They disdain our country and our institutions (although more than anything, they disdain our presence in their countries), and they're not going to be cowed by the power of the Oval Office. That's why the bullshit embargo against Cuba has never worked and Hillary's tact of forcing Cuba and Iran to "earn" an audience with her is ridiculous.

If you're trying to call him a hypocrite, it's on an all-or-nothing basis. You're saying that either he embraces all the symbolism or he has to eschew all of it. America isn't about three colors. It's about real issues and real people and THAT'S what you have to embrace. If you think his website's color scheme speaks to anything more than a pleasing aesthetic and encourage use, then you're looking too much into the wrong things. And that's what the lapel-pin is: the wrong thing.

And really, I hate to keep using the term "symbol" because symbols are important. But we're not talking about symbols. We're talking about the superficial.

Screw with the audience? How? By making them wonder how sloshed he is? All I know is I can't wait to see him and Bill jerk each other off about how much they hate religion.

As for Taibbi, I don't think he wants a debate. I think he knows he's not going to change anyone's mind so he's fine sitting back and making others look like tools.

Yes, the candidate who is rallying against politics-as-usual should openly be...politics-as-usual.

If you want a candidate that's letting an attack machine dictate their campaign rather than setting a pro-active strategy, then you're innately a failure. That's why the Democrats as a party, tend to suck hard: they let Republicans and their spin dictate Democratic action.

I don't care how Republicans paint Obama. What's next: should he change his name? Change his skin color? Change his past? Maybe he should have confidence in himself and his campaign and control his own message. That might work. He should try that.

I honestly don't understand what this means.

You're completely misunderstanding why Kerry lost. Kerry lost for the same reasons Michael Dukakis lost: refusing to swiftly respond to Republican attacks and lacking any charisma. They let Republicans control the story. Kerry was a war hero and it got used against him because he thought people wouldn't be dumb enough to believe the Swift Boat Veterans and by the time he realized that Americans really were that stupid, it was too late.

Barack has already responded effortlessly to the "patriotism" attack:

Easy. A lot of Dems don't seem to grasp this simple strategy, but it can be done and it's effective. He's combated the charges, counter-attacked, and keeps control of his message.

By the way, how's the Romney support coming? Out of curiosity, are you Bill Kristol? Because so far, it seems like you're always wrong and lack an understanding of political strategy and history.

Wrong. Kerry dismissed them but he didn't hit back. There wasn't the counter-attack. And if the Internet isn't that powerful, how did right-wing blogs manage to keep carrying the story? It's a cyclical thing: the ads air, the Internet picks up on it, they become a "sensation", and then the mainstream picks it up. It's easier for Republicans since they have their own TV network, but the principle works both ways. The point is that as long as Obama keeps countering, he should be okay.

Oh my God! Anecdotal evidence! I am undone!

No, Anya is an Obama zealot. I support Obama, but I constantly remain apprehensive about his ability to live up to his rhetoric. However, it's insanity to keep doing the same things over and over again and expect a different result. I feel like I'm taking a chance on Obama but the alternative is to live as if things can't ever be any better than they are now.

Also, he's just the smart choice to back, strategically. He beats McCain easily, doesn't have Hillary's baggage, and doesn't galvanize the right like she does.

See, I felt a little bad about the Bill Kristol dig, but now I don't. Where do you get off saying I don't love my country? Is it because I don't wear an American-flag lapel pin? Was that issued to me when I came out of the womb and was born a U.S. Citizen? When I go to the ball game and they sing the national anthem, am I unpatriotic if I don't sing along? Am I more patriotic if I harmonize?

I don't get disgusted by people who are "unpatriotic" because unless you're committing outright treason, people have every right to take the piss out of this country. Patriotism is actually giving a damn about what's wrong with your country. It's not a goddamn lapel-pin you bought at Wal-Mart for $3.99. And if you honestly believe that a flag pin is more important than a candidate's message, then you don't believe in America. You believe in a fucking brand.


They're holding a grudge...against the wind?

Yes, he should go to New York or LA when he should be campaigning in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, and Vermont. You must be taking notes from Mark Penn's book, "How To Ruin a Presidential Campaign".

He should get murdered by Dolph Lundgren?

Okay, so let me get this straight: because Republican called him out for being "unpatriotic" over not wearing a flag pin, it's better to keep drawing attention to it when he should be focusing on defeating Hillary, talking to the people of Ohio and Texas, and then blowing loads of cash on national ads when he hasn't yet made it into the general election. But I like the infomercial idea. Nothing says, "I'm confident and PResidential," than appearing after a two-hour spot for a home-gym.

Ah, so I support a Candidate, therefore I must be too enamored to criticize him. I'm too enamored to point out that I don't like that his health care plan doesn't address the big problem of American health care which is that HMOs and drug companies refuse treatment. I'm too head-over-heels to mention that I'm worried about his lack of foreign policy experience because visiting other countries isn't the same as actually dealing with them. I'm too busy masturbating to my giant Obama poster to address my concerns that for all his optimism and charm, that Washington has become too partisan for him to overcome.

Yeah, that's my problem. If only I loved my country as much as you do I could get over my Obama-fetish.

Words cannot express how bored I am everytime I see Bill and a guy like Hitchens jerk each other off over their atheism.

Quite honestly, it was a pretty dull show. I did enjoy Harry Shearer talking about New Orleans during Overtime.

Less Amy Holmes, more Matt Taibbi and P.J. O'Rourke.