Mr. Cinema

D.L. Hughley is on the show tonight. I hope he's one of the 3 on the panel. He's good for a few good jokes.

dhmac

Well, I was responding too what he said...
Not true. Maher is a rather lackadaisical host who doesn't cut panelists off (although there are definitely times when he really should), aside from when he stops discussions due to time limits.

The most shouting done on the show is almost always from the conservative guests.

The audience (not "mob") does applaud for when stuff they like is said, but hoot? Just doesn't happen.

Sorry, but creekdipper sounds like someone who has never actually seen the show... ever. (But I'm sure he's read or heard complete distortions and outright lies about the show.)

creekdipper

Actually, I have seen many, many episodes of the show (in addition to being a regular viewer of Politically Incorrect, which used the same 'stacking' methods although the audience seemed genuinely impartial).

And every event that I described has occurred. It doesn't occur on every show, but it has happened...frequently.

I haven't watched this season because I got tired of the juvenile behavior of not just Bill but also many of the guests (including some of the conservative guests). Seemed to be pretty much a propaganda fest for both sides with little useful information exchanged. When the host has to say, "I know there's something wrong with your statement but I can't think of what it is right now," it's not as though there's a lot of open minds represented anywhere in the studio.

Obviously, you missed those episodes or have just read or heard complete distortions and outright lies about how impartially conservatives are treated on the show. However, I won't suggest that perhaps you have never seen the show.

BTW..."hooting" is the same as jeering or sarcastically laughing at comments with which one disagrees. And Maher's audience frequently hoots. I guess you never saw the episode during which Maher actually had to chide the audience a little because they were getting so carried away and wildly applauding every liberal comment (including Maher's) to the extent that it looked as though they were responding to a flashing "applause" sign overhead and it was a little embarrassing even for Bill.

dhmac

Name the episode where any of this happened.

(And I've seen every episode of at least the last 5 years, so prove me wrong if you can.)

Neil M.

I think last night's overtime would qualify. Avik Roy was butchered on the global warming discussion.

Mike86

They didn't attack him that bad, he got some boos is all. Plus to be fair in that case the guy seemed like a typical ignorant fucking idiot. I honestly don't understand how a logical person can try to deny that global warming is occuring.

Also I find it kind of funny how people were arguing that the show is always more liberal biased and then just this week the panel has two conservatives on and the BBC reporter seemed liberal to a degree but not overly so on every issue.

dhmac

Didn't you see where conservative congressman Jack Kingston kept getting shouted down by the other panelists and hooted at by the hand-picked studio "mob"? Oh yeah, that's right, it didn't happen. Jack Kingston even complemented Bill Maher on having one of the few shows in which people can talk civilly and present different sides on issues.

MikahC

I was convinced he had a drink or 10 before the show to calm his nerves. I almost want to watch it again to see if maybe I missed some of his reactions because his voice was slow and measured in contrast to the shouting and overtalking often going on otherwise. But there was something about him being in a position of leadership I found somewhat scary. Not, "I think we should attack Iraq," scary. More along the lines of, "If a woman is really against being raped, her body would shut down, thus preventing the rape," scary.

That's not what scared me about him. I completely get where he's coming from. Weather patterns DO vary. If you pick any 10 (or even 100) year perioud throughout history, you'd have some periods where temps trend downwards and some where they trend upwards. But assuming what I saw in An Inconvenient Truth hasn't been debunked, looking at the last 100 years (industrial age), this increase has not fallen into any known previous fluctuation -- not even close. If that chart's still valid, Bill just needs to keep a copy on hand to discuss with everyone who doesn't believe in Climate Change (long renamed from Global Warming since Global Warming doesn't really capture what's happening). Yelling, "Can't you tell it's been hotter lately, idiot," doesn't convert people because it isn't enough information to address opponents. Show the chart and then listen to what they have to say. (I admit, I'm seriously curious how they'd address it, and I want to see it.)

It isn't always liberal biased, but it usually is.

Congressman Kingston has the patience of Job and is a living Saint. He has to sit there listening to Bill rip everything he believes in during a segment of the show where he doesn't get to talk, and then he's given the opportunity to respond on the internet streaming segment the vast majority of viewers don't watch.

Without discussing views, I like him. Not because he takes Bill's crap, but because he seems to really want to say, "OK, I come from here, you come from there... let's talk about it." I admire that in a politician.

I'm not so sure how much of his statement was an olive branch as opposed to a statement of perceptive fact.

I didn't enjoy DL Hughley as much as I thought I would. He usually has a sort of street wisdom and expresses it well, but I kept feeling he was going to dip into Eddie Griffin territory (for the uninitiated, trust me, you don't want to be there).

creekdipper

Hey, Harry Reid, it's incumbent upon you to prove that you actually DID see every episode for the last 5 years. All that's required is that you release your viewing records from your cable company. A credible source told me that you actually haven't watched any episode.

I suppose that IF I had recorded every episode of the show and IF I wanted to take the time to sit down and re-watch those installments to cite the exact moment when each incident occurred, it would be possible to do what you require as "proof". However, it's not that important to me. So you can keep your perception of the 'civil' RT and I'll keep my perception of the 'uncivil' RT.

dhmac

Well, that's a typical distorted argument technique you're attempting there, try to shift the burden of proof on the other side. The burden of proof is still on the person claiming that something happen, and not on someone else who saw the same thing and says what the first person claimed did not happen.

You are the one claiming that conservatives who appear on the show are like a "sacrificial lamb" that week, which has the implication that it is a common weekly occurrence for the conservative(s) who appear on the show to be shouted down by other panelists and hooted at by the audience. Yet you can't name a single incident of your claim that this happens on the show, which should be easy to do if something regularly occurs, which means it rarely (if ever) happens.

And that's the main reason I'm calling you out on your claim. All I'm asking you to do is cite an incident of this occurring by just naming the guest who it happened to. The show's on video, so it's easy for anyone to then go back and find the show with that particular guest on it and then watch the episode to see if your claim is true.

dhmac

Avik Roy sounded like someone who is in the right-wing bubble that Bill Maher talks about, people who only use right-wing media sources for information and fall for some rather fallacious arguments made by that well-coordinated spin machine.

Climate Change Denialism comes directly from that spin machine. It's based on trying to present it as a debate with two equal sides to play on most people's view of fairness and the common idea that there are two sides to every issue. (Bill Maher was great in using spherical world vs flat world as an illustration of the problem with this common view.) And the right-wing media is also full of distorts of the Climate Change claims and evidence. For example, Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth claimed that if human activities contributing to climate change aren't altered to reduce it, then within 10 years the changes will pass the point of no return and be irreversible. This claim has been completely distorted by the right-wing media to "Al Gore says the world will be destroyed in 10 years." A complete distortion about what he actually said (even though what he actually said should be enough to argue about), but you'll see that claim about Al Gore's movie in the right-wing media again and again.

I do wish someone arguing for the scientific reality of Climate Change would just bring up the existence of the Northern Passage, allowing ships to sail north of Canada during the Summer. It used to be iced up year-round, but now the Arctic has melted so much that, ever since 2007, regular ships can sail through it in the Summer without needing an ice-breaker ship.

Bill Maher is not ultra-liberal, though. If anything, he's closest to being a '50s-era Eisenhower Republican on a lot of his views. It's just the right-wing has gotten so extreme to the right that the majority of people considered as conservatives before the 1980s are now seen as being liberals (Both Eisenhower and Nixon are now seen this way).

slop101

That's fucking hilarious for so many reasons. You actually have it backwards, as you're the one being "Harry Reid" here, stating something that you haven't been able to prove.

JTH182

Surprised this thread didn't get a bump. I don't think D'Souza knew what he was walking into, even knowing Bill Maher. That got very personal, lol

Double_Oh_7

Does Jason Alexander think he is fooling anyone with that horrible rug? Millions and millions of people watch him everyday on Seinfeld reruns... YOU'RE BALD!!!

Josh-da-man

Every time I see him, I expect Julia Louis-Dreyfus to appear and pull it off of his head.

georgec

I'm watching right now and I'm expecting them to go to blows LOL.

Josh-da-man

I'm watching this, too. (DVR)

Wow. Maher fucked d'Souza in the ass and wiped his dick off on his good sheets.

slop101

Yeah, he was out for blood, and obviously vindictive for what happened to him with his 9/11 fallout.

Mike86

The d'Souza segment at the beginning was pretty great, Maher really ripped into him . Not that it surprised me much but d'Souza really just came across looking like an wacko the whole time he was on. It seemed like most of his views on Obama seem like he's really reaching and are pretty ridiculous.

bootsy

All I was paying attention to was Soledad O'Brien.

mcnabb

Yet Maher kisses Michael Moore's ass whenever he comes on to promote one of his biased films. Both Michael Moore and D'Souza's film are ridiculous and promote their agenda, and it just makes me laugh to hear partisans on both sides defend or trash these guys whenever their movies comes out.

I have liberal friends who love Michael Moores movies, and conservative friends who hate them. Yet those same conservative friends were fawning over D'Souza's movie. So typical of partisanship in todays politics, as I just laugh at both sides anymore as they are bunch of zombies who can't look at anything objectively.

Mike86

Not that I'm necessarily defending Moore, but I don't think I've ever heard him saying things quite as ridiculous as what d'Souza was spouting off last night.

creekdipper

As I type this, I'm watching the segment with D'Souza. The introduction is still going on, and Maher has interruped D'Souza around 15 times (at last count) and just now did it again. The count would be higher, but at least once D'Souza had to say, "Wait a minute..." when Maher tried to cut him off and Maher stopped (that time).

In fairness, I think D'Souza interrupted Maher twice.

Right now Maher is interrupting Ron Christie (twice in 10 seconds). He's not interrupting Soledad O'Brien.

As far as "ripping D'Souza apart", D'Souza challenged Maher's statement that no Republican voted for Bill Clinton's tax bill, and all Maher could offer in response is "We'll fact-check that"?? Really? I thought that when one makes supremely confident allegations, he should have the evidence at hand. Isn't that what Maher was criticizing D'Souza for re: the author's claim that Obama is anti-colonialist?

Maher just cut off Christie again...and when Christie tried to rebut Maher, the host cut him off AGAIN and said "I'm the host of this show, and I'm f...ing bored."

I'm sure that this episode is just an aberration, and that this is the first time Maher has done anything remotely like this in this season, so I'll give you a pass instead of saying that you are just a delusional Maher fan who can't deal with reality.

I happen to think D'Souza is just going out on a limb and making wild speculations, but that doesn't mean that some of what he has to say is a credible argument against Obama.

As far as the 'hooting' goes, I call these loud yells like "Whoo-hoo" the same thing as hooting. I concede that no one actually made owl sounds. Yet the audience DOES (and is now) applaud and cheer wildly after every liberal statement (Maher, O'Brien, Alexander) while murmuring discontentedly, laughing mockingly (right now they're cheering Alexander's remark while Christie is trying to speak), or sitting stone-faced in dead silence. THIS is supposed to be a "balanced" approach to a political show?

Maher is right now interviewing an ex-Mormon (Kirn) and seemed surprised when the guy mentioned that the cult was started by a 14-year-old ("A 14-year-old?"). Maher does ONE show a week. Is it too much to expect that he would actually do some of his OWN research rather than just relying on his staff to hand him a folder an hour before the broadcast? Can't Maher access Wikipedia?

Interesting that Maher is trying so hard to stir up religious bigotry to hurt Romney's chances. And you believe that Maher isn't lying when he shrugs innocently and says, "I just think people would like to know what Mormons believe"? Really? So Maher plans to do a segment on Buddhism next week?

Note that Maher didn't touch the testimonials from all of the people who spoke for all of Romney's kind acts (despite Alexander's assertion that none of Romney's actions match up with the ideals of ANY religion? What would Alexander know about religion?). BTW...Kirn is much funnier than Maher with his dry wit that appears to be spontaneous as opposed to Maher's standard cut-downs.

Right now Maher is distorting what Romney said to make him appear to be anti-environment. It was obvious that Romney was comparing the grandiosity of Obama's promises (as if the worlds' problems would be changed) with a more modest proposal to help his countrymen to pay their bills. Too bad Christie took the bait and didn't correct Maher, and now the discussion is about global warming vs. reasonable expectations. O'Brien seems to know better and is steering the topic back to the economy.

"If you're not a businessman, why even live." Yep, that's a really fair assessment of the views of the majority of GOP voters.

The audience just hooted while Christie was talking, if you're keeping score. And now hooted and jeered again.

Maher is going down the MSNBC talking points one-by-one.

Well, I took the challenge to watch again for the first time this season. And Maher didn't disappoint.

Gunde

No....it's not.

creekdipper

Oh, well, then...that settles that.