Real Time with Bill Maher #336 11/14/14 "Revelations"

by Catherine Giordano

Obama is in Ninja mode.

It was a night of revelations on Real Time with Bill Maher, episode 336, which aired on 11/14/14 on HBO. I’ll reveal what I heard and learned from Bill Maher and his guests in this recap and review.

Obama as ninja

Maher began his opening monolog by revealing that “Obama went all ninja on them” and “He was like Pacino at the end of Scarface. He compared Obama to the idealist President Bartlett on the defunct TV series The West Wing. (I always wished we could have a real-life president like President Bartlett.  

Here is what Obama did that earned Maher’s (and my) respect.  

• He went to China and got a carbon-capping deal that can help reduce global warming.
• He came out strongly for net neutrality.
• Obama announced that he is going to use executive action on immigration. 

Obama will allow illegal immigrants who have close relatives who are citizens—this usually means the parents of children who are citizens because they were born here—to obtain green cards and will not deport them. This is a family-values policy because it keeps families together.

Republicans are going ballistic at the mere thought of this action. They are threatening to shut down the government and to stat impeachment proceedings in retaliation. Ninja Obama is fearless. He has nothing to lose and he has finally realized that Republicans will never cooperate with him on anything.  It’s a shame that it took the loss of majority control in the Senate for him to let his inner ninja out.

Maher also joked about “fake outrage.” The President was chewing gum.  And walking at the same time. Maher quipped, “It’s a blatant attempt to show up Bush.”
 

CLICK HERE

The interview with Rand Paul

Maher began the interview with Rand Paul by showing the cover of the Time magazine that featured Paul with the headline “The most Interesting Man in the World”. The introduction set the tone for the whole interview. Maher said he was open to voting for Paul if he ran for president.  (Maher began his political career as a libertarian.  He has since matured into a liberal, but he still sometimes has a weakness for libertarians.)

Rand acquitted himself well in the interview.  He said, “It’s a low bar” about his title as “most interesting man in the world.” 

 

Rand revealed his progressive side to us. He came out in favor of restoring voting rights to felons. There are 200 million people who can’t vote because they are felons.  He is also in favor of prison reform.  H objects to prisons as a for-profit business.  He also objects to the expense of keeping people in prison when it does not add to the public safety.

If Maher was going for a gotcha moment with a question on climate change, he didn’t get it.  Rand said he favored a “balanced solution.”  He said we should pursue renewable energy, but not shut down one source of energy [coal]. Darn. Why aren’t Democrats saying that? Of course, we can’t shut down the coal industry overnight; it has to be phased out while coal-miners are trained for new jobs in renewable energy.  I can’t imagine there are many coal miners who wouldn’t jump at the chance to earn a comparable wage without having to do the dirty and dangerous job of coal mining.

Rand is for ending the drug war and ending the shooting war in Iraq and the Mideast. He pointed out that every time we topple a secular dictator, things get worse.  

If he keeps talking like this, I might be open to voting for him. However, I’m hoping the Democratic candidate will take the same stands on these issues because Paul is wrong about a lot of other things. Also with common sense rational views like this, I doubt he can win the Republican nomination.   But you gotta give Paul credit--he tailored his message to his audience.  Let’s see what he says when he is talking to Republicans in the primary debates.

 

The mid-term elections

Maher bemoaned the fact that Obama waited until after the elections to reveal the good news.  If he had done if before the elections, he might have motivated some more people to vote.



CLICK HERE

Panelist Margaret Hoover, a Republican political commentator and author of American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party was magnanimous. She said “The map was just not in your favor this year” because the majority of the elections were in red states. 



CLICK HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Panelist Andrew Sullivan is Blogger- in-Chief at The Dish and author of six books.  (His most recent book is Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex, and Survival.) He said, “Show that you believe in something. No one wants to vote for the guy mumbling and shuffling away.”



CLICK HERE

Panelist Jeremy Scahill, an investigative journalist and author of two books. (Blackwater and his new book Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield, said, “It is like an acting troop that comes out for the encore, but they never did the show.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Immigration

Hoover said that the Republicans are “quietly back-channeling” that they are will to move on this.  Maher retorted with disbelief, “VERY quietly.”  Sullivan was also skeptical. He said, “When have they ever won out over the crazies.”


The mid-East and ISIS

Maher said it would take 30,000 ground troops to defeat ISIS. Scahill said this war was a continuation of the war against Bushes troops and that the Bathists had joined a coalition with the Muslim radicals. Sullivan said we need a president to say “This is not our problem.” Maher agreed that we should just let them fight it out among themselves.  

Religion

Maher said that there are power struggles in the Vatican as Pope Frank (as Maher calls Pope Francis) tries to move the church into the new age.  He canned Cardinal Raymond Burke, a very conservative cardinal. (Actually, you can't fire a cardinal. The Pope just transferred him to some minor post.)

Pope Frank has to serve in the unusual circum stance of having another living Pope, the retired Pope Benedict. Maher said Pope Benedict was the Dick Cheney of the Catholic Church. Maher then launched into the mid-show comedy segment where he showed a mock war-of-words on twitter between the two popes. 

The conversation about religion continued when the mid-show guest, Martin Short—comedian, actor, and author-- joined the panel. Maher said the he and Short and Sullivan were all raised Catholic and the only one stuck with it.  “The gay one! “(Sullivan.)

Sullivan said, “We can leave room for doubt.  If you have never doubted, you have never really believed.”

Scahill said Pope Frank is trying to push for economic change.  Hoover said he is trying to go back to “the simplicity of Christ.”  Maher pointed out that after he does these things, he comes out for exorcism. “He’s a good politician, throwing a little something to the base.”

Maher brought up the Mormon religion. The Mormon Church has been trying to modernize by being honest about the history of the church.  They are admitting that Joseph Smith, who founded the religion in the 1930’s had 30 to 40 wives, one of whom was a 14 year-old girl and others who were already married. Maher called it “a sex-cult.”  Maher said, “They can’t hide the facts because this history is so recent.”    

Sullivan then tried to claim that the stories in the Bible wee history true.  There was a virgin birth and Christ did come back from the dead—it can’t be empirically disproved.  Maher said that none of the Bible stories about Christ were written until 40 years after his death.  “It is like no one noticed the Beatles until 2010.” 

Martin tried to end the discussion by saying that the truth of religion is not important: “Who cares if it gives you strength.”   

Maher had one more point to make.  He said that the Mormons have Revelators who get messages from God and that even the Mormon missionaries will no longer go to Syria and Iraq. 

CLICK HERE

Martin Short

The mid-show guest was Martin Short, an actor, comedian, and author of several books. Maher discussed Martin Short’s new book I Must Say: My Life As a Humble Comedy Legend.  Maher praised Short for his beautifully written memoir and for his honesty in talking about the losses in his life the death of his brother, his parents, and his wife of 36 years. In the book Short reveals a lot of personal details about his life and career including the fact that Gilda Radner was his first real love.

New Rules: The Importance of Voting

Maher was on fire about people not voting. He started with the little stickers that say “I voted” that are given to people after they vote. Why should people get a sticker just for doing what they are supposed to do? It is like getting a sticker for flushing the toilet.  Instead, there should be stickers for non-voters that say “I couldn’t be bothered.”


He castigated people like comedian Russell Brand who made a statement saying don’t vote because the system is broken. (It got broken because people didn’t vote.)  Politicians are all the same? Tell that to the 700,000 people in Florida who would have gotten health insurance if the Democrat had been elected governor. Obama didn’t deliver? Maybe you missed it because it wasn’t on TMZ.

 

President Mitt McCain

Maher asked us to imagine life if we had elected President Mitt McCain instead of Obama. (He morphed pictures of the two into one. It was very funny.)  Maher revealed what would have happened.

• There was no stimulus and the auto industry was allowed to die.  We are in the sixth year of Great Depression II.
• Paula Dean and Joe the Plumber is on the Supreme Court.
• The Attorney General is Dick Cheney’s head.
• The nearest abortion clinic is in London.
• There is no renewable energy but one trillion dollars was spent on an electrified fence on the Mexican border to keep out the one Mexican who still wants to get it.
• Homeland Security chairman Ted Cruz deported all 12 million Mexicans and now we have no fruit.

“No fruit, no jobs, your girl friend is having a baby you don’t want, no health insurance and your tap water is on fire!  But you didn’t dirty your hands in the gutter of politics.” I think the bit should have ended with this line. 

The last line seemed a little weak to me. Maher ended with, “If your hands are not dirty, it is not because you are pure. It is because you are not helping.” The writers should have battered that one around a little more. 

Yu cn read more about this and see the video clip at Bill Maher: President Mitt McCain

 

Martin Short

Bill Maher’s Guests: November 14, 2014
 

Rand Paul:  Senator (R, KY), and author (with Ron Paul) of Government Bullies: How Everyday Americans are Being Harassed, Abused, and Imprisoned by the Fed  

Martin Short:  Actor, comedian, and author of several books. His most recent book is I Must Say: My Life As a Humble Comedy Legend

 

Margaret Hoover: Political commentator and author of American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party

 Andrew Sullivan: Blogger-in-Chief at The Dish, blog and author of six books.  His most recent book is Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex, and Survival

Jeremy Scahill: Journalist and author of two books.  His most recent book is Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield 

The Newsroom “Boston” #301 "The Redemption Tour"

"The Redemption Tour"

Olivia Munn and Alison Pill

by Catherine Giordano

The premiere episode of the third season of “The Newsroom” made me think that the show runners have been reading my posts. Episode 301 that aired on November 10, 2014 focused on the Boston Marathon attack of April 2013.

It was very interesting to see the behind-the scenes action as the fictional news station ACN covered the bombing from start to finish. Having been burned by last season’s “Genoa” story where they got it terribly wrong, the newsroom proceeded very carefully with the story. It served them well. The redeemed their reputation as a reliable news channel.

 

CLICK HERE

While they may have been the last to drop their regular programming to begin covering the Boston Marathon story, they got it right while other stations made errors rushing stories to air before they we vetted. This episode showed the pressure that news stations are under—it is important to be first with the story, but it is important to get it right. Sometimes those two mandates collide.

 

The episode also showed the importance of traditional journalism. As the story unfolded, there were a lot of predictions that this would be the first major event solved by social media. It did not turn out to be true. Social media tried, but crowd sourcing the news engendered more problems than it solved. Case in point, men that social media identified as suspects began to receive death threats. They had absolutely nothing to do with the bombing. It was the professionals who found the culprits.

Will McCoy (played by Jeff Daniels) the news anchor at ACN summed it up nicely: “The FBI and the police did a great job. They found two needles in a haystack the size of the world in just four days.” 

The main sub plot featured Sloan Sabbith (played by Olivia Munn), the financial reporter for the station. By studying economic data she realized that CAN was about to become the target of a hostile takeover. This sub plot reinforced the message of the main plot—the painstaking study of data and facts is the way to uncover plots.  

The only romance story of the evening was in the very beginning of the episode. Will McCoy and his executive producer and fiancée, MacKenzie McHale (played by Emily Mortimer) were bickering about their upcoming wedding. Mackenzie wanted nine bridesmaids, but Will thought it was a little excessive because he did not want to have nine groomsmen. In the middle of this argument, the bombing occur in Boston and there is no more talk about weddings. Except in the middle of the show, Will says he cannot survive “without being married to this woman.” A bit over the top which only goes to show why the show must stay away from personal relationships.  

The show goes over the top a few time when both Charlie Skinner (played by Sam Waterston), the president of the news division, and Will make histrionic speeches to the newsroom. There’s a crisis going on and they are making grandiose speeches. The speeches trail off when the characters realize they look ridiculous. Apparently, the producer of The Newsroom, Aaron Sorkin, has a point to make and the only way to do it is to put the words in the mouths of his characters no matter how foolish it makes them look. 

Another subplot concerned the redemption of Margaret Jordan (played by Allison Pill), an executive producer who had quite a few public meltdowns, personally and professionally, in the previous seasons. The Newsroom is caught short-staffed so Margaret is sent to Boston to cover the investigation of the bombings. When the anchor is sidelined by an allergic reaction, Margaret, who has been doing a great job as a producer, must go on camera. She acquits herself well in both roles. 

I’m hoping that Season three, which is scheduled for only six episodes is planned as the redemption tour. The Newsroom wants to go out as a serious show and not the unintentional comedy of errors that it was for the past two seasons.

 

If you enjoyed this review and recap, please like, share , and tweet.

Order the Newsroom DVD

If you are a fan of the show, you might ant to order a copy of the DVD. Both season 1 and Season 2 are available.

The Newsroom Returns to HBO

by Catherine Giordano


The Newsroom Season 3 poster

It’s baaack! 

It’s like the little girl with the curl—when The Newsroom was good, it was very, very good. The show was very, very good when it dealt with the news and the behind-the- scenes look at the workings of a television newsroom

And when it was bad, it was horrid.  When the show dealt with the personal lives, particularly the office romances, of the characters, it was very, very horrid. The characters are all high-powered professionals with serious careers, but most sixth graders handle romantic attractions better.

At the end of season two it seemed like all the story lines had been tied up, and the series was going to its well-deserved eternal rest. But now it is back for season three which will have only six episodes.

Have the writers and show runners have managed to grow up in the year since the last episode? I hope so. You can see it on HBO on Sunday November 9^th, 2014 at 10pm.

For all my complaints, it was a well-loved show among the viewers who loyally tuned in each week. You can read my reviews of all the previous episodes.  Just do a search on this blog for “The Newsroom” Or you can start here with the review of season one, episode one, titled The Newsroom.  

Please share by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing."

 

If you are a fan of the show, you might ant to order a copy of the DVD. Both season 1 and Season 2 are available.

Order the Newsroom DVD

Real Time with Bill Maher #335 11/07/14 'Talking Nice"

Lisa Kudrow

by Catherine Giordano

Real Time with Bill Maher, episode #335, which aired on November 7, 2014, was the perfect antidote for post-election depression. It was one of the best for good conversation. Everyone was talking nicely. Here is the review and recap.

The monolog
In the monolog, Maher got right to the Democratic defeat in the mid-term election. He said, sarcastically, “Finally white men are getting a seat at the table.” How will Republicans govern now that they control both the House and the Senate? I’m not optimistic. Neither is Maher. He said, “The day after the election, they all talked nice; the next day, they were right back to where they were before.”

Maher said that all you had to do to win was have an “R” next to your name. Even Sam Brownback in Kansas, who destroyed the state’s economy and credit rating, got re-elected. Maher quipped, “The Republicans are the party of Reagan, but that shouldn’t mean when he had Alzheimers.  

He called Joni Ernst the new Michelle Bachman. I said it first. (See the Comments Section of my review of the October 31 show, Crazy, Scary, and Weird.) Ernst prides herself on being a hog castrator, so Maher said, “If you want to cut off the Democrats balls, good luck finding them.” This harks back to the New Rules segment from the October 31 show (Crazy, Scary, and Weird) where he urged Democrats to stand up for their principles. I’m so with Maher on this one. If you are going to go down, at least go down fighting for your principles. 

Here’s the kicker. People voted by huge majorities for raising the minimum wage, and for making recreational pot legal in those states where it was on the ballot and, at the same time, they voted for the people who blocked those measures. I can only assume they didn’t know that Democrats were with them on those issues because the Democrats were too busy trying to be “Republican Lite” instead of drawing a distinction between the two parties. Dumbasses! I’m not talking nice here because it makes me so mad. All the candidates who lost on Tuesday will have a job as a lobbyist by the end of the month; it is ordinary Americans who will have to pay for their mistakes.   

P.S.: A thought just came to me. If voters knew that the minimum wage was a Democratic principle, maybe they would have voted it down. They seem to have a blind hatred for anything Democratic.
  

The panel discusses the election

Senator Bernie Sanders

On the panel, Bernie Sanders, senator (I, VT) and author of Bernie Sanders’ 2010 Filibuster on Corporate Greed: An Historic Speech, was, as always, a joy, speaking with intelligence and passion. Robert Costa, a political reporter for the Washington Post brought facts and reason to the debate. And the third panelist, Kristen Soltis Anderson, co-founder of Echelon Insights, a Republican opinion research firm, columnist for The Daily Beast, and author of The New Vote contributed to the conversation without spewing out Republican talking points. 

Maher said the election was about the continued resentment towards the first black president. Costa said, “It was about people staying home.” Sanders added, “Ordinary people are hurting and they have given up on voting.” Anderson said it was about “people being really ticked off.” 
 

I say that people stayed home because the Democrats didn’t give them a reason to vote. Instead of talking about all the accomplishments of the Obama administration (listed in Crazy, Scary, and Weird), they treated Obama, according to Maher, “like “a teenager treats his mom. I don’t know her.”  
 

Also, as Maher pointed out, the Republicans didn’t give voters a reason not to vote for them because they never talked about their principles. They didn’t tell Americans that they are against everything that Americans really, really like—Social Security, Medicare, a higher minimum wage--and for everything that Americans really, really hate--tax breaks for the rich, personhood for fertilized human ova (in some cases, just the ova).  

Maher joked about one of the best things about the election. Scott Brown lost. In New Rules he said, “You have to appreciate the irony of Brown being the hunky pin-up who lost two elections to two women. Scott Brown is like Kris brown only with Scott, women beat him.” 

Poverty in America

CLICK HERE

In the interview, Linda Tirado, a relative newcomer to the public arena, was poised and spoke very well about poverty in America very well, using wry humor to good advantage. About a new ago, she was talking to her friends on gawker about the difficulties of living in poverty, working two or three jobs while raising kids, and it went viral. (It was picked up by the Huffington Post.)


She got out of poverty when she got a book deal to write about her experiences, Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America. Maher quipped that if Romney was asked about how to get out of poverty, he’d say, “Just get a book deal.” 
 

I expect that her book will be just as popular as her previous writing.Tirado appears to be very intelligent and personable, and without her lucky break, she might never have been able to climb out of poverty. Poor people just can’t get a toe hold.  

Robert Costa said that Republicans celebrating their win will be a short celebration. Sanders said that Americans want a jobs program repairing the infrastructure. They want young people to be able to afford college.

Read more about the Linda Tirado interview here: Working Harder, Getting Poorer
 

Climate change

Congress will have to deal with climate change. Maher cited the U.N. report saying that carbon dioxide levels were up, the oceans were getting too acidic to support marine life, the sea levels are rising, and then added “the geniuses in America elect a bunch of climate deniers.” 

Maher quoted Senator Inhofe (R, OK) who said “God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.” Sanders said Inhofe really believes it, but some of the others know better. He is worried though because we are being governed by “the greedy, the cynical, and the truly stupid.”  

Sanders said that the debate within the scientific community of over. Maher mocked Republicans who try to avoid the issue by saying they are not a scientist. Maher said, “You are not a gynecologist either, but you still talk about women’s vaginas.” 

I think about the people who know better. I ask myself, “Don’t they have grandchildren? Don’t they care what kind of world their grandchildren will have to live in? Is there nothing more important to them than their greed?” 

Flip-A-District

Maher was forthright about Flip-A-District. “It went up in flames.” His consolation was, “It was always a long shot.” Then he found the humor in defeat. He did the mid-show comedy segment about other things that need flipping. 

• Flip Mississippi: It is the fattest state in the nation. Challenge them to lose a billion pounds. 
• Flip a Brother: Each congressperson gets their own very large black man to follow them around. 
• Flip a Bigot: Pat Robertson has to engage in receptive anal sex with Michael Sam. The only problem will be in getting Sam to agree to it.

Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish in
The Comeback

Lisa Kudrow

The mid-show guest was Lisa Kudrow, an actress, currently starring in Showtime’s Web Therapy and HBO’s The Comeback. She creates such wonderful characters.

Kudrow is excited about the second season of The Comeback which premiers on HBO on Sunday 11/9/14 at 10pm. It has been nine years since Season One ended. Kudrow joked, “I always knew we’d catch on during the second season.”
 

Maher complimented her on how well she captured the dysfunction and insecurity of her character. He said, “Show business sucks if you are not in the top 1%.” Kudrow said, “It is about how much dignity you would give up for success.”

Endless Governor

In the final New Rules segment, Maher had a lot of very nice things to say about Jerry Brown, the Democratic governor of California. He had a lot of very not-nice things to say about ageism.

Governor Brown is 76 years old, and Maher said his record qualifies him for president—he took the broken state of California and fixed it. He’s active—he runs three miles a day and does yoga, but too many people think he is too old to be president. (Maher quipped, “He’s so old, his sex taps are on Betamax.”

He said that age gives people wisdom. He showed a picture of a beautiful young woman. It was a picture of Ruth Bader Ginsberg (perhaps her highschool year book photo) at the age of 18. “We are beautiful when we are young and wise when we are old.”

Warren Buffet is 84 and he’s the one everyone wants financial advice from. Larry King is 80, and he’s still the best in the talk-show host business (on the web now instead of on TV where he was replaced by a younger less effective host.) The Rolling Stones are great and Beiber sucks.

Then Maher digressed to a rant about America’s current fascination with big asses on women. He said, “Millennials should be called ‘Generation Ass’.” I think he was making the point that America is still a teenager of a county.

Returning to the subject of the linkage of age and wisdom, Maher said, “Wisdom is not something you can just google. Governing is where we need wisdom.”

His final punch line was an ageism joke, but because I am a nice person, I’m going to omit it and let Maher go out on a high note.

Bill Maher's Guests for November 7, 2014

Linda Tirado: Author of Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America, a book about what it is like to live in poverty in America

 
Bernie Sanders: Senator (I, VT), author of Bernie Sanders’ 2010 Filibuster on Corporate Greed: An Historic Speech
 

Robert Costa: Political reporter for the Washington Post

 

Kristen Soltis Anderson: Co-founder of Echelon Insights, a Republican opinion research firm, columnist for The Daily Beast, author of The New Vote

 

Lisa Kudrow: Actress, currently starring in Showtime’s Web Therapy and HBO’s The Comeback

Lisa Kudrow Rules

Lisa Kudrow as Fiona Wallice



by Catherine Giordano

Lisa Kudrow is all over our TV screens. 

Web Therapy

Season 4 of Web Therapy is delivering everything we have come to expect from this Showtime series. It is a stunning success--so quirky and funny with not one, but two or three guests stars, on each show.  Lisa Kudrow plays Fiona Wallice, a therapist with “no patience for patients.”  (A new episode premiers on Showtime, Wednesdays, 11pm) 



CLICK HERE

So far in Season Four we have had Billy Crystal as Fiona’s new step-father , Gwyneth Paltrow as a new age guru who begins as a patient but becomes a friend/benefactor,  and Jon Hamm as a client who is paid by elderly ladies for phone sex. I’m not going to outline the plots because the fun of the show is watching them unfold and transform and then vanish.  It’s like a magician’s sleight of hand—it moves so quickly.

If you would like to see some of my prior reviews, you can go to Web Therapy on Showtime for an overview and then you can do a search for “Web Therapy” on this web site to see reviews of individual episodes..



Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish

The Comeback

Now you can get a double dose of Lisa Kudrow. Starting on Sunday, November 9, The Comeback, is back. It’s ironic because the show was cancelled  nine years ago and now it is back. The premise is that Valerie Cherish, a fading sitcom actress is participating in a reality show hoping to make a comeback.  Valerie couldn’t be more different from Fiona.  Valerie is so insecure; Fiona is so brash. Kudrow plays Valerie as so fragile it is sometimes painful to watch because Valerie may shatter into a hundred pieces right before your eyes. (Anew episode premieres on HBO, Sundays, 10pm)



CLICK HERE

I don’t have any reviews of season I of The Comeback cecause it predates this blog by years.  But you can get up to speed on the Huffington Post.

Real Time with Bill Maher 
And this week we get a triple dose of Lisa Kudrow. She will be a guest on the November 7^th, 2014 edition of “Real Time with Bill Maher.” (HBO, Friday, 10pm.)




 

Real Time with Bill Maher #334 10/31/14 Crazy, Scary, and Weird

Crazy, Scary Weird Jokes

by Catherine Giordano

Things can get a little crazy, a little scary, and a little weird on Halloween. And also just before an election. And also on Friday nights on Real Time with Bill Maher. There was lots of crazy, scary and weird on episode 334 which arid on October 31, 2014.

Halloween Jokes

In the monolog, Bill Maher began with a few Halloween jokes.

• Everything is orange and black on Halloween, just like John Boehner at a funeral.
• If you see a guy running down the street with a bloody knife, you don’t know if it is a costume or ISIS.
• John McCain is looking like the crypt-keeper.
• Rick Perry has his clothes on backwards. Not because of Halloween—just because it’s Rick Perry. (CLICK HERE to see some more Rick-Perry-is-stupid jokes.)

Maher topped it off by saying this year he was going as a sexy Ebola nurse.

Ebola

Maher said ebola was scary, but we need to remember that ebola has killed fewer people in this country than OJ.

He mentioned that politics is so weird. Republicans want to put Kaci Hickox, the nurse who returned from treating ebola patients in Africa lives in Maine in isolation or house arrest despite the fact that she has no symptoms. (No one can get ebola unless they have contact with the bodily fluids of someone who has symptoms. The first symptom is a fever. She is taking her temperature twice daily and she does not have a fever.) “It’s weird,” Maher said “because Republicans never want the government involved and now they want the government involved.”  

Wesley Clark

Panelist Wesley Clark is retired general of the United States Army and the author of several books. His most recent book is Don’t Wait for the Next War: A Strategy for American Growth and Global Leadership. He said, “Republicans see a weakness. They are the party of fear. The Democrats are the party of fair.” Nicely put.

 I say, “Get a grip, America.

In the United States, none of the ebola patients have died except for the first one who did not receive prompt treatment. This suggests that with prompt treatment, ebola is not as deadly as we think.

So far the family members or people who had close contact with the three ebola patients in this country have not become infected themselves. This suggests that ebola is not as catchy as we think.

Another panelist, Senator Angus King (I, ME) and author of Governor's Travels: How I Left Politics, Learned to Back Up a Bus, and Found America said, People have to get educated. When people first heard about AIDS they thought you could get it from a doorknob. The flue kills 20,000 people a year. Ebola has killed one.”

The Muslim Brouhaha

This is like a horror movie where the beast will not die no matter how many times you kill it. There was a stupid argument a few weeks ago on Bill’s show with Ben Affleck. (See my recap at Wake Up, America) Maher said that too many Muslims held beliefs that allow terrorists groups to thrive. For instance large majority of Muslims believe that the death penalty is appropriate for anyone who blaspheme or leaves the faith. He did not say that every Muslim is a terrorist.

Tonight he had to defend himself once again. Maher pointed out that Raza Aslan, a religious scholar and Muslim has agreed with Maher. A panelist, Rula Jebreal, a journalist, novelist,--her most recent book is Miral: A Novel-- and screenwriter launched a tirade. “She called Maher a racist.” Maher responded: “Muslims are not a race:” She said, “You wouldn’t dare say those kinds of things about blacks or Jews.” Maher responded: “Blacks and Jews do not belong to a religion that wants to kill Salman Rushdie for writing a book. (The Satanic Verses: A Novel) Maher added: "I resent that you are comparing me to an anti-Semite."

At one point, Jebreal said she was a secular Muslim. (Be careful, Rula, that could get you killed in some countries.)

Maher himself brought the subject up because he has been invited to speak at the December commencement ceremony at Berkeley College. It is the 50^th anniversary of The Free Speech Movement. Some are trying to get Maher disinvited because of this blown-out-of-proportion brouhaha. Jebreal is one of them

Angus King

Maher said he was not going to be speaking about Muslims in this speech. He will be giving the usual type of commencement speech—words of encouragement for the futures of the graduates. Clark and King defended Maher‘s right to free speech. Maher pointed out that people can disagree on an issue. He told Jebreal that even though she disagreed with him, he invited her on the show. Jebreal continued to scream in his face. Maher continued to respond politely and calmly.

Finally Maher said, “We have to move on.” He says that a few times every week. He has several topics he wants to discuss during the show so he has to cut off debate sometimes. Jebreal committed the unpardonable sin for a talk show guest. She would not stop ranting. Bill repeated that he had to move on. Jebreal kept right on ranting. It got to the point where I thought Maher was going to have to ask security to escort her off the set, but Maher was finally able to get her to stop ranting.

A new country called Reagan

The mid show comedy segment was about another call for secession by the people who love America so much that they want to leave her. Now that is crazy.

Doug McKinnon has outlined the plan in a little pamphlet called The Secessionist States of America. The Blueprint for Creating a Traditional Values Country. They want their new country to be called Reagan. Now that is weird. Maher gave us a few of his ideas about what this country would be like.

• Brunch is never served and dinner is at 3pm.
• A quiet place for heterosexuals who call their wives Mommy.
• If you lived here, you’d be homophobic by now.
• Come for the Pie. Demand an even bigger slice of the pie.
• It’s where the gardeners speak English.

Eva Longoria

Eva Longoria and Migrant Farmers

The mid-show guest was the actress and activist with the Latino Victory Project Eva Longoria. (She looked stunningly beautiful, by the way.) She was promoting a documentary called Food Chains.

 

Her most recent one is Eva's Kitchen: Cooking with Love for Family and Friends.) She compared the plight of the migrant workers to slavery. They get a penny a pound for picking tomatoes; they pick 4000 pounds a day and earn about $40 a day (if they get paid). There has been a campaign to have consumers pay an extra penny a pound in order to double the pay of the workers. Consumers are OK with this as are most fast-food restaurants, supermarkets, and even Wal-Mart. The two holdouts are Wendy’s and Publix. (Remember that whey you decided where to eat or shop.)  

Jebreal, evidently still smoldering about being shut down, interjected asked if the farmers who were mistreating the workers wee Americans. Longoria looked confused, but said that they were. Jubreal replied, “Not Muslims. Thank you.” This earned her a dirty book from Maher. She was so out of line that I couldn’t bear to watch her anymore. Fortunately, I was watching the show via my DVR. From then on, every time she spoke, I fast-forwarded.

The upcoming election

King, who is an Independent, said people have told him, "All my life I have wanted to vote-for-none-of-the- above and you are it." King said people don’t vote on issues—they vote on do they like you; do they trust you.

Is Ernst crazier than Michelle Malkin?

Maher talked about Joni Ernst. “She’s a nut. She wants to arrest federal officials who implement Obamacare. She says states can nullify laws. She says there is no climate change, and the minimum wage should be abolished. Maher concluded, “Democrats don’t have nuts like this.”
 



Kal Penn

Kal Penn is an actor, best known for the Harold and Kumar movies, who left the  successful TV series House, to work for the White House. Penn was on the show to promote his documentary Bhopal: APrayer for Rain. It is about the 1984 chemical disaster that killed 5000 Indians. But Maher soon had him talking politics. 

Penn pointed out that it is hard to predict “the youth vote.” You don’t know if they are a “likely voter” if it is their first time voting. Maher discussed the Flip-A-District campaign to get John Kline (R MN) unelected. Maher is appealing to the college student voter’s because of Kline’s record of raising rates on student loans. “All we need is 29,000 additional votes—half of a Bon Jovi concert.”  

He continued this theme with New Rules. “Voting is one thing that scares Republicans, which is way Republicans try to make it so hard. “ 

Maher went on to castigate Democrats who are distancing themselves from the president. “It is not a winning strategy. Just ask President Al Gore.”  

Maher then listed all of the accomplishments of the Obama administration. 

• 53 months of economic expansion
• A depression averted
• Deficit reduced by two thirds
• A health care law that is working and reducing costs
• Two women appointed to the Supreme Court
• The stock market at record highs.
• Bin Laden is dead.
• Unemployment is down from 10.2 to 5.9. (For Fox News viewers, that means it’s down.)
• Gas prices are down.

“Why is this a hard record to get behind,” he asked.

• “Beheading videos get more likes than Obama.”
• “You gave people health care, not herpes. Own it."
• “Don’t chase polls, Change them.”

He then criticized Clay Aiken, a singer and author (Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life), who is running for Congress in NC, for distancing himself from Obama. “You are a gay man in North Carolina. Instead of rallying liberals you are hoping to get the folks who watch Duck Dynasty to vote for you.” He said “Clay Aiken is having trouble getting the Clay Aiken vote.”

He concluded that Democrats who distance themselves from their president are like Clay Aiken—“Happy to come in second.” 
 

Don’t let crazy, scary and weird take over this country. Make sure you go out to vote and that you vote for Democrats.