The night after CNN's debate in New Hampshire with seven Republican presidential candidates, Anderson Cooper brought aboard left-wing 'comedian' Bill Maher to ridicule them. Asked if he 'had to vote' for one of them, he named Ron Paul since 'he's a cut from a different cloth than the rest of those people who are of course selling their souls to the corporate interests who back them and who have just horrible, society-killing ideas about America.'
Later discussing Anthony Weiner, Maher used it as an opportunity to deride one of the left's favorite targets they never tire of vilifying: 'Dick Cheney used to go out and shoot birds by the hundreds that were like in a cage. To me, that's a lot more psychotic than anything Anthony Weiner ever did.' Maher insisted: 'He shot and killed an incredible number of birds for absolutely no reason than a blood lust.'
From the pre-recorded interview aired on the Tuesday, June 14 Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, transcript below video (Audio: MP3 clip [1])
ANDERSON COOPER: You've been pretty hard on the field of GOP candidates so far. I think you said at one point that you've seen, and I quote, 'more appealing lineups on an episode of Law and Order Special Victims Unit.' Did you change your mind at all after last night's debate?
BILL MAHER: No. Of course it got even worse. It's tough sledding there. As a progressive, as a sane person just to watch that, to see that, you know, Republicanism has really become a religion. And when I say religion, I mean they just have a series of baseless assertions that they cleave to, you know. And it's like if there was just one sane person in that room to give perspective. But there wasn't. So you have seven people up there who are all claiming things like, you know, things we know don't work like reducing taxes will somehow magically increase revenue and somehow by keeping the profit motive in the health care system that's going to solve that problem. So, you know, it's very hard for someone to watch that debate who is not in that bubble. And I am not in the bubble.
COOPER: If you had to vote for one of them is there one you would vote for? Who would you vote for? I mean, if you had to pick?
MAHER: I'd vote for Ron Paul, if I had to pick. I mean, Ron Paul is at least not a panderer. He's sincere. He's got the right ideas about getting our troops home. And I like Ron Paul. I think he's a cut from a different cloth than the rest of those people who are of course selling their souls to the corporate interests who back them and who have just horrible society-killing ideas about America. And either don't know what's real or don't care.
COOPER: What do you mean by society-killing?
MAHER: Well, like, like Tim Pawlenty and every one of them competing for this idea of continually reducing taxes when we are – on the one hand they are screaming about how we're in debt and on the other hand the answer is to somehow decrease revenues. You know, they all act like god created the world in January of 2009, and then Barack Obama completely screwed it up.
....
COOPER: Do you think he [Anthony Weiner] should resign?
MAHER: At this point, yes. Not because I think he did anything so incredibly awful. I mean, Dick Cheney used to go out and shoot birds by the hundreds that were like in a cage. To me, that's a lot more psychotic than anything Anthony Weiner ever did. But the point is this is America. We have to live in reality.
COOPER: Dick Cheney wasn't shooting birds in a cage. He was hunting.
MAHER: He was not hunting, Anderson. There's a difference between hunting which, I'm not a big fan of either, and when you go out into this controlled situation where they - I forget what they do to the birds but they do something where they can't fly. It's the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. And yes, look it up. That's what he did. He shot and killed an incredible number of birds for absolutely no reason than a blood lust.