On Friday's Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, host Maher repeatedly made jokes about conservatives being racists, and at one point even acknowledged that the main criticism that conservatives make about him is his tendency to make cracks about them being racists.
Maher also defended liberal hatred of President Bush, claiming that the left hated Bush for what he actually did, in contrast with conservatives, whom he claimed mostly make up complaints about President Obama.
As he spoke during the panel segment, the left-wing comedian brought up complaints about his labeling of conservatives as racists:
The one complaint they have is they really are sensitive about the idea that they are racist. And not all of them, of course, are. But then they do like nine racist things every week.
He continued:
And this is what I want to say to them, is like stuff like this strikes me, like saying that you're threatened, Newt Gingrich calling Obama the "food stamp President" because he took office in a recession when people were needing more food stamps. It's like calling George Bush the "planes crashing into buildings President."
As he closed the show by dismissing Saul Alinsky as a role model for President Obama, Maher ignored such left-wing conspiracy theories 9/11 trutherism, claims that President Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and the Internet rumor that President Bush had a secret plan to reinstitute the military draft during his second term, as the left-wing comedian defended hatred of George W. Bush. Maher:
Say what you will about the left's hatred of Bush, at least we were hating on the real guy. We didn't invent a boogeyman who tanked the economy, took us to war on false pretenses, and tortured prisoners. That was the actual guy.
Below is a transript of relevant portions of the Friday, January 27, Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO:
FROM OPENING MONOLOGUE:
I am here to tell you the state of our union is ridiculous. It's ridiculous. Did you see that speech this week? Oh, my gosh, I tell you, I say this, everybody got what they wanted this week. Liberals got a home-run State of the Union from the President of the United States. And conservatives got Heidi Klum back from Seal, so.
Oh, and you saw the drama this week, right, with Obama on the tarmac in Arizona with the governor, Jan Brewer. Did you see that? so here's what happened. Jan Brewer, governor of Arizona, went to see Obama in the White House about border stuff a couple of years ago, and after the meeting she said it went really well, he was a great guy, very cordial. Then she wrote a book about it and said, "A******."
So Obama gets off the airplane in Arizona, and she rushes up to him unannounced with a letter saying, "I want you to talk to me again and invite me to the Oval Office." And Obama said, well, you know, "What happened? I read your book." And that's when, look at the picture, this is what everybody's talking about. This is, look at that, right to the President of the United States.
Now, Jan Brewer says she regrets the confrontation, but these are the kind of problems that arise when you permit Negroes to read.
She also said, too, I swear to God this is her quote, today she said, or yesterday, she was interviewed about this, she said she felt a little bit threatened. Really, on the tarmac in broad daylight? What was he going to do, deck her or buy the house next door? Wow, Lord help this woman if she ever runs into a really scary black guy like Wayne Brady, or Urkel.
(...)
DURING PANEL SEGMENT:
One thing I must say that Republicans, conservatives always say to me, probably the number one thing they do, is, "I like you sometimes," you know, "I watch you, I don't agree with everything you say," the one complaint they have is they really are sensitive about the idea that they are racist. And not all of them, of course, are. But then they do like nine racist things every week.
And this is what I want to say to them, is like stuff like this strikes me, like saying that you're threatened, Newt Gingrich calling Obama the "food stamp President" because he took office in a recession when people were needing more food stamps. It's like calling George Bush the "planes crashing into buildings President."
(...)
CLOSING THE SHOW:
I even asked Surry, the voice on my phone, "Who is Saul Alinsky?" she said, "F*** if I know."
surry said that. So I Wikipedia'ed the guy. Instantly I discover the problem: He liked black people.
Way back in the '30s, he started organizing the Civil Rights Movement, and as a historian like Newt Gingrich will tell you, the Civil Rights Movement turned out to be a huge burden on white people.
Alinsky also fought slum lords and taught poor people to band together to improve their lives. Or what Mitt Romney calls a "divider."
So I tried skipping to the part where he and Obama became BFF's, but that part never happened since he died when Obama was 10. And yet somehow it turns out that this guy, who was never a communist or even a socialist, has become the right wing's all-encompassing figure of evil, a radical activist who controls Barack Obama from the grave.
You know, Republicans have created this completely fictional President. His name is Barack X, and he's an Islamo-socialist revolutionary who's coming for your guns, raising your taxes, slashing the military, apologizing to other countries, and taking his queues from Europe, or worse yet Saul Alinsky.
And this is how politics has changed. You used to have to run against an actual candidate. But now you just recreate him inside the bubble and run against your new fictional candidate. That's how Bush won in 2004 - by running against John Kerry, a French war criminal.
And speaking of Bush, I know conservatives are saying, "Oh, Bill, come on, Democrats did the same thing to him."
No. Say what you will about the left's hatred of Bush, at least we were hating on the real guy. we didn't invent a boogeyman who tanked the economy, took us to war on false pretenses, and tortured prisoners. That was the actual guy. ...
- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center