Anybody else tired of the ideological purists BITCHING about Bill Maher?

[LostInAnomie]

He's a entertainer for god's sake. 99% of his shows are devoted to bashing Bush and the rest of the Repukes. And yet most of the purists here will not let drop that last week he rhetorically gave Bush credit for Iraq to make the larger point that he lied to get us there.

He has a small show on HBO and it is hard to get conservatives to come onto the show. He can't lambaste every Repuke that comes onto his show or he would never get guests.

Read his book if you want to know how he really feels. He is VERY pro woman, pro environment, pro free speech, anti corporation, anti imperialist, anti fundie, etc. He is one of the good guys, you might not always agree with him but he is on our side.

[Maat]

1. While I hear what you are saying ...

and you make some very good points ... I just don't enjoy the show anymore (and that's that).

Maybe I should ... whatever ... but I have stopped watching. My hubby still watches it, though, when I'm in another room reading or whatever.

[aquaman]

2. I agree with you overall.........

I disagreed with some of his comments last week, oh well, he has the right to express whatever he damn well wishes. Overall, he speaks for many of the same principles that I stand for, so what if I don't agree with him all of the time. I guess I should HATE HIS GUTS CAUSE HE DOES NOT THINK JUST LIKE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I'm sure I will continue to watch Bill even though I don't always

agree with him. I do appreciate that he brings people with different viewpoints together to discuss important (and not so important) issues. I disagree with him on the Iditarod, by the way. :) Definitely NOT an important issue, but something that means a lot to Alaskans.

[LostInAnomie]

8. Bill likes animals.

To someone who doesn't have a place in their heart for the Iditarod it can seem very cruel. Just like a rodeo seems cruel to people who don't care about the rodeo.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. Yes, I do understand that.

But the mushers love their puppies, and the puppies love to run. But I'm not going to get in a debate about it -- I got creamed too bad the other day on ANWR.

Peace -- I'm off to wait for Real Time to be on up here, not for another hour and a half.

[Swede]

4. I'll have to agree with you.

I do disagree with some of his views,but that's ok.

[Wonk]

5. Did you and CJ synchronize your new threads on purpose?

Just wondering.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3298451

Oh, fwiw, I haven't watched Maher in years. For a comedian he's not all that funny, imho.

One thing I am kind of tired about though is folks who insist on starting new threads instead of replying inside already existing threads on the subject. Signal to noise ratio, and all that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal-to-noise_ratio

[Elidor]

6. Subtlety is lost on many people these days

I haven't seen the show in question, but if he's not joking, I'll be the first to lump him with Dennis Miller. One has to be careful when saying one appreciates Bush, even if one is kidding. It's a fine line to walk.

Frankly, if he can't lambaste Bush, there's little point having a political show. And as for being an "entertainer," Rush has hidden behind that facade for years.

I think Maher's a decent guy, but his politics are hard to fathom at times. Libertarians always let me down.

[minkyboodle]

7. I'll assume that is directed towards me (as I have bitched of late)

I have defended Maher on this forum in years past and will continue to do some on issues I feel are consistent with his stated viewpoint. Maher is the classic libertarian idealist, and I can respect that as long as he is consistent with that viewpoint. Many (including me) have has issues with his recent shift in views about Bush's policies in the Middle East. Real Time is supposed to be about keeping it real so I'm sorry if I take issue with him swallowing the most ridiculous of the neo-con's viewpoints concerning developments in the middle east (articles will be provide upon your request). I don't expect him to agree with me on every issue, in fact I relish the fact that he doesn't and his show is one of the few forums in which opposing views can come together concerning things other than the Scott Peterson trial. Last week's show was a disgrace in both planning and content, this weeks show was wonderful but only because matters of foreign policy were barely discussed. If you go and check Real Time's guest list on matters of foreign policy its rare that you find a descenter on the neo-con view of things (specifically the middle east, I know Chomsky was on but he was defamed without the chance to defend himself by Sully and company after his interview). That being said, Maher is an entertainer and I will continue to watch him barring a MIller like performance as its about the best thing we have going at the moment.

[ellenfl]

21. were we watching the same show? he had 4 righties on last

night and was playing 'straight man' for them! the worst show i have ever seen. i liked his first show, way back when it was on cc . . . especially the night he had sandra bernhard, patrick(?) shriver (the 'actor' in the shriver family), and one of those rw religious fanatic preachers (who really laid into sb but was totally shut down by her). when asked by the preacher, shriver called himself a 'recovering' catholic. those were the good old days.

bm's show of late has been too homogenized, altho' hbo IS an improvement over network.

ellen fl

[mcscajun]

9. I'm still watching...I don't have to agree with someone 100% of the time

to find them funny, witty, intelligent, or worth my time. I don't think anyone is ever totally ideologically pure, nor can we expect them to be; we're human, not cookie-cutter clones of some standard.

Sometimes Bill Maher is all of these things, sometimes only one or two, sometimes none. He's an entertainer, as you say. He's not my husband, my Senator, or my best friend. I don't have to take what he does or says seriously, or hold him to a high standard or rigid set of principles.

Bill finds provoking opposites to share their opinions on his show to be both interesting and occasionally humorous; an echo chamber can be so boring!

Others' mileage may vary. Their right. I'm not going to say he's on our side, either, though. He's a libertarian, not a liberal, by his own declaration. He agrees with us on a lot of things, but sometimes he goes his own way. His right.

[minkyboodle]

11. BTW

Karl from AQTHF and FDR in the same post.. you must be on to something there I must say :) Mooninites Unite!!! :)

[Archae]

12. Maher is a moran with his head up his ass.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x2868135

[fujiyama]

19. That vaccine thread

is pretty indicative of how ignorant he really is on certain issues.

He really is full of himself and believes he knows a lot more about certain issues (especially scientific ones) than he really does. Sometimes he's amusing but I don't know what the big deal about him is.

[B Calm]

13. Bill lost me when he said he loves Ann Coulter

http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:MyHwMYSM9P8J:www.townhall.com/acimgs/

[jonnyblitz]

14. I am more tired of people who worship celebrities and freak

out if others don't like or criticize the ones they worship. like you said "he is just an entertainer for god's sake." I also am very tired of the term "ideological purist". DINO apologists love that term. :puke:

[LostInAnomie]

20. I guess it makes more sense to call...

... someone who is fiercely pro environment, pro animal rights, pro womens rights, pro gay rights, anti corporation, anti imperialist, anti fundamentalist, and spends 99% of his time railing against anything Bush a republican shill.

You think I am freaking out, maybe you should check out the 200 other threads of people going into hysterics because Maher paid * a back handed compliment. I think "ideological purist" fits very well.

[latteromden]

15. I said, "Whatever [don't watch him]," until they started agreeing with

that Arianna Huffington article that said something about Jon Stewart going over to the side of the neocons - COME ON, FOLKS. Honestly.

[KG]

16. jeez, people should direct their outrage towards someone that matters

[Catchawave]

17. I'm a fan....!

He's always been an equal opportunity politico basher, and his pot shots are well deserved on both sides of the aisle. It's obvious he leans left and anti-war.

Had the pleasure of seeing him at his Broadway run of Victory Begins at Home, which was brilliant theater, and well worth my $100 ticket. His audience was not only sold out, but a very diverse age range, and we all laughed for over 90 minutes. I believe this show was shown on HBO, so a dvd may be available ?

[Paladin]

18. You Don't Have To Be An Ideological Purist........

....to be dismayed by what's happened to Maher's show this season.

As I said in another one of the interminable number of "Maher Really Sucks!" threads, there's a lot more to it than Maher doing some sort of Dennis Miller conversion to the Dark Side. His guests this season aren't for shit---clunky, non-responsive, bland (when even Richard Belzer comes off as subdued, you know there's a problem). Maher himself seems listless and sullen, even trips over his lines on occasion. The quality of the writing and the overall timing and pace of the show are terrible, nothing like the sharp production values of prior seasons.

Sometime in the future, six weeks or six years from now, the whole story will come out. If I had to guess, I'd say either (a) rampant drug use, or (b) a new production team that doesn't know what the hell it's doing---a la "Saturday Night Live." In any case, it's very unfortunate. Maher's show used to be one of my favorites; I can't watch it anymore......

[ScreamingMeemie]

22. No. The day I lose my opinions is the day I die.

;)

[LiberallyInclined]

23. i agree with you.

bill is definitely on the correct side of the aisle.

[RetroLounge]

24. I lost interest in the show and dropped HBO

so I could care less...

RL

[dzika]

25. Videos - Selected clips from HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher on 3/18

March 18, 2005

Video - HBO: Maher's liberal phone sex joke has "Gannon" punchline - 3/18

Bill Maher now has a "bi-partisan" audience on HBO's Real Time. He still manages to squeeze in a Gannon punchline.



Video in Real Media format (4 minutes)

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Video - HBO: Maher on Global Warming, New Rules, Homeland Security rant - 3/18

Video in Real Media format (7 minutes)