Real Time with Bill Maher #364 09/18/15 High Energy

Mark Cuban

by Catherine Giordano

There was no interview on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, episode 364, airing on Friday September 18, 2015. The guests were all so high-energy high-wattage superstars--we never missed the interview.  

It was a great show with a very lively debate among the panelists. What did they discuss-- Donald Trump, of course. Can any show that touches upon news in any way go more than 10 minutes without mentioning Trump? They discussed the Republican debate that occurred on CNN on Wednesday. They discussed the Muslim boy who was arrested because someone thought his science project electronic clock was a bomb.They discussed religion, politics, immigration, and the improving economy.

Republican Debate

Bill Maher had a few quips about the debate in his monolog. He said, “There was a clear winner at the Republican debate, and it was a woman, Hillary Clinton.”

Maher described Trump and Carson as the old couple—Trump has manic energy and Carson acts like Bill Cosby had given him a little something.

The answers the candidates gave to what woman should go on the dollar bill were absolutely crazy. Jeb Bush said Margaret Thatcher. Err, Jeb, it is supposed to be an American woman. Others wanted to put their wives/mothers/daughters on the bill. Err, excuse me, the president’s family is not royalty—they don’t get put on our currency. Bill Maher said the answer was oblivious—Nancy Reagan. (The debate was taking place in the Reagan library.)

During the debate, Jeb Bush said that his brother George Bush kept us safe. Errr, not quite. The worst terrorist attack in American history took place during his watch. Jeb went on to say what a great moment it was when GWB stood on the rubble with a fireman and a bullhorn. Bill Maher scoffed. “He was standing on rubble. That shows how safe he kept us.”

He kept us safe!? I don't think he kept the 4000+ soldiers who died in the useless mismanaged Iraq war safe. I don't think he kept the hundreds of thousands of maimed soldiers very safe. It seems like Bush is taking a lot of heat for that ridiculous comment acorss the spectrum of media commentators.  

Maher added that if 9-11 had happened on the Democrats watch the country would not have been so forgiving of its president. Republicans go on and on about Benghazi, but the tally of the dead is 3000 vs. 4.

Bill Maher said that Republicans demonstrated an amazing conspiracy of delusions: “Obama has ruined the country and the only debate is whether he did it on purpose of by accident.”

Donald Trump

The panel discussion began with a discussion of--who else?—Donald Trump. One panel member—Mark Cuban likes Donald Trump. Maher said, "you're not a birther, your' not a cist, yu're not a climate change denier, why do you like Trump?" Cuban said “I want change.” [Mark Cuban is an entrepreneur, owner of the Dallas Maverick’s basketball team, and one of the “sharks” on the TV show Shark Team. (The 7th season begins on September 25th.) He is also the author of How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It Maybe Cuban like Trump because he is a fellow billionaire.

George Pataki, former governor of New York and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president, president of The Pataki-Cahill Group and author of an autobiography (with Daniel Paisner) Pataki: An Autobiography, said that Trump was unfit to be president. “He may be changing politics, but not for the better.”

Bill Maher gave a long list of things that have changed for the better in America since Obama took office. “Do we want to go back to the old numbers?” he asked. Maher suggested that we look at facts. “I know facts aren’t in the Bible, but can we use them now?.” Here are just a few of the long list of facts he gave. 

• Unemployment down from 7.2% to 5.1%
• Gas prices down from $3.24gallon to $2.31/gallon
• The number of people without health insurance down from 15% to 7.2%
• Dow Jones from 10,365 to 16,384 [Note: It was in the 18,000s for a while, but has slipped lately.]

Pataki tried to counterpunch with a list of things that were less than perfect, saying that there are not enough jobs. Maher countered that he didn’t say Obama made America perfect, just better. Cuban added, "No one ever left America because he couldn’t find a job." 

Trump did a Town Hall with Q and A in New Hampshire last week. Maher said the questions sounded like what yu would hear at a “Klan rally.”  He followed up with this advice: “Never give the mic to a man who thinks Trump should be president.  Maher said that the xenophobic hate reminded him of a Hitler rally.

The mid-show comedy bit was titled the King Trump Bible. Maher said Trump hadn't actually read the Bible because he is not in it. Trump doesn't read the King James Bible because he has his own Bible, The King Trump Bible. It's brilliant parody capturing the style and content of Trumps speeches. Here's the video. 

Jorge Ramos and Immigration

Jorge Ramos was the mid-show interview guest. He said, “I take Donald Trump very seriously. He is dangerous.” He also added that the people Trump wants to deport are people that he (Ramos) knows.

When Bill Maher used the term “illegals,” Ramos interrupted him. “Don’t call them illegals,” He said. He pointed out that we don’t call the companies that hire the immigrants “illegals.”

Ramos complained that Obama has not worked hard enough to make good on his promises to the Latino community. Maher told him that the Latino community shares blame for that. They did not come out to vote in 2014 and that gave the Republicans control of the House of Representatives. Maher added, “Obama also promised to come on my show. Let it go.”

Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews and author of six best-selling books--his most recent book is Tip and The Gipper: When Politics Worked—told Ramos that he should blame the Republicans because they are the ones blocking the bill.

The clock bomb

Mark Cuban said that he talked to Ahmed Mohamed and that he is a great kid who is very interested in science. H said that the student had carried the clock into six classes and showed it to each of his teachers before anything happened.

Bill Maher said, “You can’t blame the school. Lots of young people are blowing things up. They have to err on the side of caution.”

Up to a point I agree. Question the boy. Take a look at the device. Even call the police. The school did those things and quickly determined that it was not a bomb. The Bomb Squad was never called. Once they knew it was not a bomb, they should have apologized and sent the boy back to his class. Instead they interrogated this very polite and soft-spoken 14 year-old boy for 90 minutes, refused to allow him to contact his parents, and arrested him for bringing a science project to school.

The Pope

The Pope will be visiting the United States from September 22 to 27. He will even be addressing a joint session of Congress. Maher pointed out that in the United States over half of the Catholics have left the church.

Maher said that Pope Francis is bringing some Catholics back to the church because he is a more humble and compassionate pope than his predecessors and because he takes a softer stance on issues like abortion, contraception, homosexuality, or divorce.

The New Rules finale was more genius. Maher compared Republicans to the victims of fortune tellers. In short, they are highly gullible--they will believe anything and continue to believe even after no of the predictions ever come true. Here's the video.

New Rules: Gypsy Hustle

The New Rules finale was more genius. Maher compared Republicans to the victims of fortune tellers. In short, they are highly gullible--they will believe anything and continue to believe even after none of the predictions ever come true.  Here's the video.

It was an hour of high-energy people debating high-energy topics. Every week Maher exposes Republican lies, but the lies just live on. It would be a waste of energy if it wasn't so funny. 


Bill Maher's Guests: September 18, 2015

There was no interview this week. The mid-show guest was Jorge Ramos, the anchor of Fusion’s America with Jorge Ramos Univision’s Noticiero Universidad. Everyone knows who Jorge is--he’s the one Donald Trump threw out of his press conference. Ramos has written several books about the immigrant experience, including A Country for All: An Immigrant Manifesto.

The Panel:

Mark Cuban: Entrepreneur, owner of the Dallas Maverick’s basketball team, one of the "sharks" on the TV show Shark Tank. (The 7th season begins on September 25th.) He is also the author of How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It.

Chris Matthews: Host of MSNBC’s  Hardball with Chris Matthews. He is the author of six best-selling books; his most recent book is Tip and The Gipper: When Politics Worked.

George Pataki: Former Governor of New York and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president. He is also the president of The Pataki-Cahill Group which works in energy, infrastructure, and clean-tech. In 1998, he wrote an autobiography (with Daniel Paisner) Pataki: An Autobiography.

CLICK HERE

Real Time with Bill Maher #337, 11/21/14 "Tis the Season to be Stupid"

Seth Rogen

by Catherine Giordano
 

Tis the season, the season for stupidity and jollity on Real Time with Bill Maher, #337, which aired on November 21, 2014 on HBO.  Maher, the avowed atheist, even came out in favor of Christmas.

 

Obama and Immigration

In the monologue, Maher got right to the issue of the day, Obama and immigration.  “If you like your gardener, you can keep your gardener.” Maher said, Republicans are in a snit about it—it really is a Mexican stand-off.”

Michelle Bachman said the illegal immigrants will be voting. Maher said, “There is no evidence of illegals voting. Maybe they should because voting is another job that Americans won’t do.” He added that if Obama is (acting like) a king, the Boehner must be a knight—“Sir Rhosis of Liver. (Ha Ha. Boehner is widely known for liking his drink. He fact he is something of a lush.) 

During the panel discussion, Maher said that Obama just insured Hillary Clinton’s election.  Chris Mathews (host of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Mathews and author of several books including his most recent book, Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked) agreed. “You can’t spot the other team 15% and expect to win.”

 

During the panel discussion, Maher said that Obama just insured Hillary Clinton’s election.  I say, “Don’t be so sure.” 

Roland Martin

Roland Martin, a journalist, host of TV One News and author of Speak Brother: A Black Man’s View of America pointed out that a lot of Latino’s are not registered. I say, “Where were they in the mid-term elections?” Even the ones who were registered did not vote. And while some Latinos are crying tears of joy because they won’t have to worry about their families being deported, others are complaining Obama did not do enough.  

 Martin said the Boehner made a stupid mistake when he refused to bring the bi-partisan Senate Immigration bill to the floor. The votes were there to pass it, but Boehner did not want to pass it with Democratic votes plus a few Republican votes.  (He cited the Hastert rule that legislation must be able to pass with a majority of the votes coming from the majority-party. Denny Hastert said he never had such a rule.) If they had passed it, Republicans would have looked good. Boehner refused to bring it up for a vote—stupid.

 

Mathews said, “Obama did the nice stuff. Now they [Republicans] could do the hard stuff --law enforcement and illegal hiring.”(He meant that the anti-immigrant base would never go for the nice part but would vote for the harsh part.)

 

Maher said, “When has America ever been welcoming to immigrants. Certainly not to the Irish, the Italians …”

Christia Freeland, journalist, politician, and author of Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else is Canadian.  She said, “America’s strength is being able to absorb immigrants. Canada’s too. Europe can’t do it.  That is why Europe is fading.”

John Cleese

John Cleese

The interview was with John Cleese, an actor, comedian, film producer, Monty Python cast-member, and author of several books. His latest book is Say Anyway…

Maher was fawning over him as he did last week with Rand Paul. Only this time, the fawning was totally justified.  Maher said, “I swoon over you.”  Me too.

Maher said, “You lampoon the establishment because you are one of them.” (Cleese is a lawyer—I did not know that.) “Your book is so great. It explains your work.”  And, “Life of Brian” is the best movie ever made.”

Cleese said that he is a member of The Church of England.  He called it “The Conservative Party of Prayer.”

 

Cleese said, “I’m against stupidity, but the world wouldn’t work without it. Comedy is about people being stupid and screwing things up. Almost nobody has any idea of what they are talking about.”

Bill Cosby

The panel discussed the allegations of rape made by 16 women (so far) against Bill Cosby. Maher joked about it in the monolog.  “Vegas cancelled him.  How sleazy do you have to be to get cancelled by Vegas? Now black teenagers can tell Cosby, ‘Pull up your pants.’”

Maher said, “Celebrities are targets, but when this many women come forward with no financial incentive you have to think there might be something to it.”

Seth Rogen, an actor and comedian who starred in The Neighbors, said, “It was well-known in the community I was in.” Essentially he was saying people who were in a position to know, knew." (Read more about Seth Rogen and his new movie, The Interview at The Bumbler, The Dictator, and the Senator.)

 

Of course, the question is why didn’t the women say something at the time of the rape.

Christia Freeland

Freeland, the only woman on the panel, had to explain it to the men.  “There has been a cultural shift. At the time, it wasn’t OK to say anything. I hope this is a turning point. “What people don’t understand is that women blame themselves, they fell embarrassed, they are afraid of hurting their career and that no one would believe them.  Maher talked about how attitudes had changed. It used to be OK for Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners sketches to threaten to punch his wife. (Likewise, it used to be OK for powerful men to rape women. That is just how it was and women could be ruined if they spoke about it publically.) 

Martin said, “We will never have finality. There won’t be a trial because the statute of limitations has run out and lawyers always advise their clients not to speak about it.”

Jonathan Gruber

Stupidity is in the news because of Jonathan Gruber. He is a consultant who worked on the Affordable Care Act.  Gruber said that the behind the scenes, the drafter of the act were saying that the American people are stupid.   

Maher said, “You know who else has called the American people stupid? Me” He showed clips of him saying it. He said, “42% of Americans don’t even know there are three branches of government and even more can’t even name one.” “They believe the Noah’s ark story is true, “You have to slip the pill in the ham to get the dog to swallow it.”  

I agree Americans are stupid, not because they are unintelligent and incapable of understanding, but because they prefer to be ignorant and to act on emotion and not reason. Why did they vote to put the party that caused an economic collapse that was only narrowly averted by Obama’s leadership back in power? Why do they vote by huge margins for an increase in the minimum wage and then, in the same election, vote for the people who have promised to block a minimum wage increase? Why do the ones who don’t vote say “It doesn’t matter who gets elected”? Why did Latino’s sit out the mid-term elections and let the people who want to deport them take office instead of the people who would protect them? Why do people say that because Democrats only gave them half a loaf, they’ll vote for the ones who will not only give them none, but take away the crumbs they already have? Why?  Why?  Why?

Rogen was right when he compared America to the movie Dumb and Dumber.

Chris Matthews

Politically incorrect

Maher and Cleese discussed “political correctness” and how stupid it is.  Cleese said he could do jokes about Swedes, and the French, and the Germans, but if he did a joke about Mexicans, everyone gasped.   

Maher said that it was like not doing jokes about Islam. “Islam is a religion of peace. A piece of you over there, another piece of you over here.” 

Cleese said that Jesus did not expect his words to be taken absolutely literally. He was too smart for that.    

Mid-show comedy segment.

Whenever Maher goes on hiatus (the show will be back in January), he gives a series of predictions for newspaper headlines for the period he will be off the air. They are ridiculous and funny. For example: 

• Amazon to Offer Baby Delivery
• Pope Francis OK with Just About Everything
• San Francisco Bans Straight Marriage
• U.S Tour of Liberian Monkeys Sees Low Ticket Sales
• Bruce Jenner to Plastic Surgeon: Give me Renee Zellweger’s Old Face

Read more about headline predictions and see the video clip at Bill Maher #337 Headline Predictions Winter 2014 ( I do some predictions of my own and I invite you to do some of your own.)

New Rules: “Present Tense”

In New Rules, Maher said Christmas needs saving. He likes Christmas. “As a fable, it is cute.”  Also, “How can you not like eggnog? It’s like getting wasted on ice cream.” 

One problem with the holidays is that they start in October. There should just be one holiday: Thankshallowismas.  “The whole family gets together in costume and gives thanks for a big meal of turkey and candy and then gathers around a tree decorated with toilet paper to exchange presents and tell ghost carols.”

Another problem is that the stress of families getting together is worse than ever. “Thanks to the internet and Fox News, half your family is insane and impossible to talk to.” Then Maher gave a list of things it was OK and not OK to talk about.

Finally, there is the stress of gift-giving. “You are spending money you don’t have to buy stuff for people that they don’t want. The parking. The shopping. The returning. Sometimes I wonder how my assistant does it. “

Maher said despite being an atheist he likes the holiday season. (Me too.) It’s fun. Then Maher ended the show with an orchestral version of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” as snowflakes floated down on him and the panel.

(I bet they liked the snowflakes part in Buffalo, the ones who still had power.)

Read more about this segment and see the video clip. Bill Maher Wishes you a Merry Thankshallowismas.

 

Merry Whatever

Enjoy the holidays and don’t do anything stupid. Unless it is really, really fun.

HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher #297 "Time for Thorazine"

By Catherine Giordano

Jesus and Satan duke it out on New Rules

It was time for Thorazine on October 11, 2013 on episode #297 of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. Nobody is ever going to stifle Chris Matthews and the two conservatives, Jim Glassman and Carol Roth were quite the extroverts as well. Bill had to threaten them with Thorazine to get them to calm down.The panel was a bit raucous. 

Maybe a dose of Thorazine would do us all some good. Congress is a hot mess and I’m really scared about what this means for our country and for me, in particular.  Rising interest rates, dropping-like-a-stone stock markets--forget the Thorazine. I may need something a little stronger, like arsenic.

Bill called out Republicans in Congress in his monologue. He said that at Thanksgiving they go around the table and everybody says what they are hateful for. He said that  they don’t believe in evolution , they don’t believe in global warming, and now they think defaulting on the nation’s debt is a good thing—the moron trifecta. Then Bill added that the Republicans have said (and yes, this is true) “We are standing up for an important principle and as soon as we figure out what it is, we will let you know.”

The interview was with Maya Wiley, a civil rights attorney and president of the Center for Social Inclusion. She said that saying the government shutdown is a good thing is like saying to the homeless, “You are saving so much money on rent. Aren’t you lucky.”

She said that the Republicans in Congress just don’t care about the people who are working two 40-hour-a-week jobs and they still can’t make it. The minimum wage needs to rise. By a lot. And soon. Bill said that the war on poverty has become the war on the poor. People have already done all the belt-tightening they can do. I agree. I know I have.

Bill began his discussion with the panel by mentioning data from the latest polls; 53% blame Republicans for the shut down and only 24% have a favorable opinion of Republicans. Jim Glassman is the founding executive director of the George W. Bush Institute and the author of several books (which got very poor reviews). He’s also a fan of Ron Paul. But his 20-20 hindsight is good--he said the Republicans chose the wrong cause. Their focus should have been on cutting spending and not on gutting the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Carol Roth, an MSNBC correspondent, agreed and said that if they had they just held off, they could have used the glitchy opening of the program as an excuse to delay it. Neither one of these two did themselves much good on the show.

Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s evening news show, Hardball with Chris Matthews and the author of Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked  broke in: “This is ridiculous. When Apple can’t handle the demand for a new product, it’s called a success.” Exactly, the only problem with the ACA right now is that too many people are trying to buy the insurance.  Republicans never know when to quit so Matthews had to chime in again: “If the airplane is an hour late, you don’t get rid of the airplane.”  Bill added that the ACA is working very well in blue states; the troubles are mostly in red states where it is being sabotaged.

Carol Roth is the typical Republican air-head. She says ridiculous things just to be provocative. She’s a brunette Ann Coulter, only younger and prettier. Bill referred to Roth as a Republican. She promptly denied it saying indignantly, “I’m an Independent.” Bill allowed her to get away with it, saying that she leaned Republican. But Republicans never know when to quit, so she said “It depends on the day.”  “What about today?” Bill asked.” “I’ll decide at the end of the show,” she shot back. This is the “who–do-you-think-you’re-fooling” moment of the show.

It also makes me wonder why MSNBC hires these conservative airheads. You won’t see any liberals on Fox. But then MSNBC is not a liberal network the way Fox is a conservative network. I think it is the smart-people-telling-the-truth network.  Maybe they need a few airheads just for contrast.

Glassman did the typical Republican trick of changing the subject when he was cornered. Bill said that the Republicans did not have a coherent strategy. So Glassman changed the subject. I don’t understand Obama’s foreign policy strategy. The best- defense-is-a-good-offense I guess, but it was so transparent. And then he goes way over the top. “I don’t think winning WW II was a joke,” he said. No one said it was.  Please Glassman, if you don’t have a response, just shut up.

Talking about the debt ceiling, Matthews brought his wit to bear once again. Glassman was saying the country doesn’t need to raise the debt ceiling—no one knows for sure that economic disaster will ensue.  Matthews retorted, “Let’s find out what it is like to be dead. No one actually knows what that feels like either.” And, Roth made another stupid comment saying the United States credit rating was downgraded after the last debt ceiling brinkmanship games because the U.S. had too much debt. Absolutely false! It was clearly stated by S & P that it was because of concern about whether the U.S. might default in the future considering how close they came, averting default by mere hours. And now the U.S. has had its credit rating downgraded again. This means that the U.S. has to pay higher interest to borrow—billions more.  Way to go Republicans! Tell me again how you want to reduce the deficit.

Oliver Stone, the movie producer who has a new documentary coming out, The Untold History of the United States, was the special guest. He had some very interesting things to say about the U.S. using the atom bomb against Japan in WW II. He said that Japan probably would not have lasted more than two weeks, the bomb was unnecessary, but a lot of money had been spent developing it so it had to be used.

The mid-show comedy segment was about campaign posters for the next Congressional race when new Republican crazies have to prove themselves crazier than the current Republican crazies. “Read my gums. No more food stamps.” The segment was not all that funny, except maybe for the last one. “I can do this job providing that it is not within 500 feet of a school or daycare.”

The final New Rules segment was titled “Raptures Delight.” Bill began, “If you think we are living in the end times, we get to take the car keys. Next year’s budget doesn’t concern you.”  His target was Michelle Bachman. Bill said, “If Jesus is coming back, it will be the first man that Michelle ever saw coming.”  (Ouch!”) 

But it is not just Bachman. It is Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court justice. He believes that the devil is a real person who is running around trying to get people to not believe in God. “Bachman and Scalia are the exact same moron, but Scalia gets to interpret our laws.”  Bill reported that Scalia said they you don’t see the devil around very much, not like during Biblical times when he was everywhere. Why, because the devil has gotten wilier!.  Are you laughing yet? This would be funny, if it was a joke, but it isn’t. 

People who believe that the world is divided between good and evil--and the evil is winning--can’t ever compromise. How can you compromise with evil?  And these are the people who are running our country.  It’s enough to make me say ‘God help us.”  Now where did I put that Thorazine?

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Real Time with Bill Maher September 21, 2012 #260

I enjoyed episode #260 (September 21, 2012) of the Bill Maher show.  It rolled along at a good clip with some humor and some serious discussion.  “I’m naming it “You Make Me Sick.” 

I chose that name because of a joke Bill did in his opening monologue. The video of Romney dismissing the 47% of the people in this country who don’t pay income taxes led Bill to joke, “Romney’s new campaign slogan should be “Get out of my sight , America. You make me sick.”  But when Bill was being serious he said, “Romney is doing something very stupid. He’s expressing the core beliefs of the Republican party publically.” Thank you, Bill Maher. For a week all the talking heads are talking, talking, talking, about this video, and you summed it all up in two sentences.

Another good joke. Bill commented on Tim Pawlenty resigning as co-chair of the Romney campaign. “Tim Pawlenty is afraid Romney will make him look like a loser.  (Get it. Tim Pawlenty is such a big loser that his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination was over right after Iowa. And now Pawlenty is worried that Romney’s loser cooties will rub off on him, the losingest loser of the Republican primary.)

The interview was with Eugene Jarecki, a documentary filmmaker whose film “The House I Live In” is now in theaters. He talked about how the “war on drugs” was just Jim Crow in another form. It is all about keeping black progress down. They are down to begin with and then get pushed down further. It reminds me of those parents who when their child is crying, yell at the child, “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to really cry about.” It’s a vicious, nasty, abuse of power in both cases.

Chris Matthews, the host of MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” was on the panel, complete with his signature derisive “Ha!”  When he thinks somebody is really reaching and/or stretching the truth, he says “Ha!” It’s a one-syllable take-down. He did it a few times on this show. Usually it is the conservative on the panel sucking up all the air in the room, but Chris Mathews took on that role on this show. I’m OK with that because at least Chris makes sense when he talks.

That being said, I’m not giving the conservative a free pass. The conservative seat was taken by Roger Hedgecock, described as a radio talk show host. I had never heard of him before. He’s a tall thin man who reminded of a line from Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, “Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look.”  He looked dangerous to me, like he could spit daggers out of his mouth. What actually did come out of his mouth was the usual Republican mantras—lies, exaggerations, evasiveness, false analogies, etc.  For instance, during overtime, the group is having a perfectly reasonable discussion about whether or not regulating business helps or hinders the economy.  Roger pipes up about some little girl who had her lemonade stand closed down because she didn’t have a permit. For goodness sake, Roger, if that is all you can add to the discussion, shut up and let the grown-ups talk.

The “expert” seat on the panel went to Rana Foroohar, an editor and columnist for economics at Time Magazine. She was definitely the grown up in the room. She had the facts and presented them fairly and calmly. She reported that Romney’s ideas are George W. Bush’s ideas, the ideas that have been a disaster for the American economy. She pointed out that Obama has done good things for the economy; for instance, the stock market has doubled in value, and the unemployment rate is falling as new jobs are created every month. I wish people who complain about Obama would realize that without Obama the economy would be much sicker than it is. When he came into office the economy was heading for a death spiral.  And if the Republicans had not blocked just about every jobs bill, the economy would most likely be much better.

Bill pointed out that the 47% who are not paying income taxes is mainly composed of the elderly, the veterans and the working poor.  He then summed that up in a pithy remark, “They raised you, they defended you, and they did the work that allowed you [Romney and the other 1-percenters] to have your cushy life.”  It makes me sick that the rich whiners cannot see that.

Bill also pointed out that Romney is not the problem, he is the symptom. He said, “The Republican party doesn’t need new people, it needs new ideas.” Bill was appalled by the people in the room to whom Romney was speaking during that video.  The questions they asked were sick. They have so much, but they are whining and complaining because they can’t have even more. (By the way, the people in the room paid $50,000 each to be there—more than the average working American earns in a year.)

The comedy break on this show was very pointed satire. It focused on the new iPhone 5.  Bill joked that the “personal assistant,” Siri, is now Romni.

·         If you tell Romni to call home, he responds, “which home, the summer home, the winter home, the lake home….?”

·         If you ask to find a pizza restaurant, Romni responds, “Buy it, load it up with debt, and sell it off.”

·         If you ask for Starbucks, Romni responds “Coffee is forbidden by Scriptures.”

·         If you ask what 15% of the restaurant bill is so you can leave a tip for the wait staff, Romni responds, “I’m not telling.”  If you persist, Romni starts to sing “Oh beautiful for spacious skies…”  

The special guest was Salmon Rushdie, the author who had to go into hiding because he was perceived to have insulted the prophet Mohammed. The mullahs had issued a fatwah calling for his death. He said his life was turned into something out of a spy novel. What’s worse, he said, “I don’t like spy novels.” 

This gave Bill his opening to talk about religion.  He said, “All religions are not alike. No. Islam is different.”  He was referring to the very militant attitude of Islam. My take on this is that present day Catholics will excommunicate you for heresy; but present day Muslims will kill you for it.

“New Rules” was very funny.  Bill ended the segment with a riff on “undecided voters.”  If you are an “undecided voter” it could be bad for your health to get in a room with Bill. He called the undecided ignorant and said “They just don’t give a shit.”  It’s clear he is sick and tired of watching these focus groups with undecideds. He said, “The dial should be hooked up to their foreheads to see if it can detect any brain activity.” He concluded with, “If I want to listen to a bunch of ignorant jackasses bullshitting about the election, I’ll watch Fox and Friends.” Toche! The-two-birds-with-one- stone moment of the week.

This was a very good episode. Watch it, learn something, and laugh.  Remember, laughter is the best medicine. When politics starts to make you feel sick, Bill Maher is the cure for what ails you.

This picture is from HBO.com

Note:  No Bill Maher next week, 9/28/12, but the show is back the following week,10/5/12.