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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBill Maher is a sanctimonious ass.
His style of Catskill comedy is as tired as his political pieties.
He doesn't have a friend that isn't on payroll. I'm sick of hearing about him.
LetMyPeopleVote
(177,766 posts)Tribetime
(7,113 posts)mr715
(3,331 posts)I was so naive and mistook smarm and sanctimony for criticism.
Now he is as predictable as he is arrogant. Nothing worse than haughty AND boring.
Trueblue Texan
(4,308 posts)Just sayin'.
SheltieLover
(79,058 posts)Prairie Gates
(7,671 posts)IA8IT
(6,387 posts)Locally I have a Jill fucking Stein democrat that still walks the earth.
The Dude Abides
Never burn bridges until you're across.
SocialDemocrat61
(7,325 posts)in New York for decades. Doesn't give him a pass either.
Intractable
(1,842 posts)By reminding us, he tries to buy our loyality.
Bettie
(19,527 posts)he was funny at one time, but hasn't been for a while now.
mr715
(3,331 posts)The shelf life on his schtick has expired. He is so desperate to cling to his status as a philosopher-artist. He is not. He is a hack.
And he's another person that has been personally offended by Trump. Be still my bleeding heart. Poor guy, can't catch a break without a producer getting some applause started.
gulliver
(13,871 posts)He's among the stronger in terms of audience reach and skill. He's eclectic in terms of liberal and progressive values. He will talk to just about anyone. For example, he talks to Obama and Newsom, and he talks to Trump and Mace. Maher just had one of our rising stars, Talarico, on the show.
Maher has said he has no interest in talking to the prion, Nick Fuentes.
I doubt there is much that Maher has said that the vast majority of Democrats wouldn't agree with. He occasionally makes mistakes, but that's fine. There's nothing and no one that ever got to be strong that didn't make a mistake once or twice.
His big issue, I think, is that some people peg him as "centrist." For them, all I can say is, listen to him a lot. Pay no attention to what other people say about him.
mr715
(3,331 posts)Which in one swoop diminishes Talarico and elevates Boebert.
He is, to use a technical term, a whore.
He has no values other than the unwavering belief that he is the most significant mind of his generation and that he never gets the deferrance he deserves.
His "liberal voice" is an illusion. He is interested in celebrity, not substance. He is as much steeped in grievance politics as Trump, and he'd happily sell his soul for a smoke and the ability to say the N-word.
I've listened to him my entire life. I'm over him.
And no, he isn't a centrist. He isn't anything.
gulliver
(13,871 posts)I'm not sure how anyone could not want to watch it. I thought Talarico did great. Boebert too. Both of them got some hot potatoes.
I think he's quite strongly liberal. Take just about any position or issue, and, if you disagree with him on it, dig in deeper. I think most liberals and Democrats would agree with him, as I said, on most things. And, on the things with which they disagree, a little deeper thought might show they aren't that far apart in reality. Just my opinion.
mr715
(3,331 posts)Maher is not a Democrat, never has been, never will be.
The label matters but doesn't disqualify him in my eyes. What does is his vanity.
He is basically Joe Rogan off steroids. He is debate club Joe Rogan.
I did think Talerico did great. I think he is a serious person. Boebert is not a serious person.
So, was it a kids table or a grownups table? In my middle age, I see Bill Maher as an entitled manchild that has been so insulated by wealth and celebrity that he has no grounding in politics.
Bill Maher never met a student he couldn't smirk and scorn. He's just someone who punches down, and complains when he gets smacked.
We aren't going to agree, but tastes differ. Experiences differ. I respect and appreciate you.
Good discussion. Yes, we disagree on some things. But I respect and appreciate you too.
True Dough
(26,254 posts)"I agree with you."
I see Maher reviled here on the DU regularly. I'm not going to argue with anyone anymore that he's more on our side than theirs, but I get that impression when I watch his show.
So he doesn't treat Democrats like they're beyond reproach. That offends some Dems right off the hop.
I listen to his critiques. I occasionally see merit in them. Sometimes I think he's missing the mark. Such is life.
I laugh at some of his jokes, I find others unfunny. But, on balance, I tune in most weeks. I will periodically skip a guest when it's someone I cannot stand to listen to.
I won't be watching this Friday because he's taking this week off. But I'll be back the next week. He mentioned that he's going to respond to Trump bashing him for cracking jokes about Trump. That ought to be good.
lame54
(39,398 posts)Are his obsession
They're both phony issues
SunImp
(2,670 posts)Like him because he trashes people who think like AOC, Palestinian protestors because he bought into the bs against them and has no problems misinterpreting what they believe in, & people who question party leaders. Maher & his hardcore fans that constantly defend him are out of touch with the youth & actual working class people.
AZProgressive
(29,897 posts)In terms of who he associates with especially when it comes to right wing guests and his podcast he tends to have even worse guests like RFK JR and the things he agrees with him on which isn't backed by reliable science. Democrats that he think should be President are conservative Democrats such as Fetterman.
He may have been a strong Obama supporter but even during that time I stopped watching him because of his stance on Muslims which is to lump the mainstream ones with the Wahabbi or ultraconservative sects. These days he may even be a shy Trump voter or at least defender but the topics he covers are often to the right of where regular resistance liberals are.
However, Bari Weiss is a self-described centrist so he may be considering where centrists are at during the Trump era.
gulliver
(13,871 posts)I think RFK Jr. is about half nuts. More than half. I still want to listen to him because some of it isn't nuts. When he or Bill Maher talk about vaccines, you might as well look at your phone for a while. But when they talk about Big Pharma, Big Insurance, and the big medical and psychological guilds, I listen.
In my old age, I think I've finally become comfortable with the idea that people are nuts. You people anyway.
Maher would never endorse Trump. Ever. Bill Maher was among the very strongest voices telling us that Trump was going to pull a January 6th. Maher never fails to point out how destructive to democracy Trump has been.
Ilikepurple
(535 posts)They have both had 20 years of insulated engagement that I feel has weakened their abilities to parse facts and reason effectively. That being said, I mainly commented to say I involuntarily chuckled at you people anyway and appreciate you taking time to spell out your opinions. It helps me understand why people still listen to either of them.
nilram
(3,525 posts)More liberal than not. Not as interesting as his guests, but has an interesting talk show at least part of the time.
MuirHero
(125 posts)Can't stomach the guy.
Johonny
(25,866 posts)And become myopic. His writers don't appear to be all that anymore either. Don't really seek him out.
Maru Kitteh
(31,491 posts)Truthfully, I couldnt possibly agree with you more. He is . . pathetic.
mr715
(3,331 posts)Packaged in this lovely little snippet is some subtle misogyny and a little bothersider-ism for flavor. Couldn't help but get a dig at Democrats!
MuirHero
(125 posts)Johnny2X2X
(23,928 posts)Hes a transphobe and gave a platform to and agreed with even worse transphobes than he.
Basically called trans people groomers. Thats when he lost me.
mr715
(3,331 posts)His sense of decency is hamstrung by his utter inability to conceive of the fact that there is stuff he doesn't know about.
He is, to himself, the greatest mind and critic of his (and any) generation. Socrates reborn.
To me he is the living embodiment of observer biases. And (imagine this in Bill Maher's distinctive voice) his humor is sooo 1993.
MuirHero
(125 posts)He's a washed-up piece of shit.
Shermann
(9,034 posts)wiggs
(8,741 posts)NoMoreRepugs
(11,920 posts)betsuni
(28,932 posts)patient plodders who put in their ten thousand hours mastering the details of public service. It comes from people trapped in tiny rooms at three a.m. with stale pizza and cold coffee, crafting laws line by line that few will ever read or thank them for. I know it's not the sexy answer, but change happens from people like Henry Waxman. What if I told you there was a single member of Congress who brought the tobacco industry to its knees, paved the way for less expensive drugs, expanded Medicaid to include pregnant women and children, put the teeth into the Clean Air and Safe Drinking Water acts and wrote most of Obamacare? ... And not just the Affordable Care Act. Nursing home reform. Food safety reform. AIDS research. ... As one top Republican put it, 'Fifty percent of the social safety net was created by Henry Waxman while no one was looking.' And that's the thing about being a workhorse instead of a show horse: no one is looking. Waxman never went on the Sunday talk shows; he didn't do TV at all. ... Kerry, Hillary, Barney Frank, John Lewis, Nancy Pelosi, Obama -- these are the wonks who never satisfy the radicals but know how to make actual progress, as opposed to doing progressive theater. It's not the screamers and the tweeters, it's the worker bees with the name tags and the binders.
"Pundits have always referred to the Republican Party as the Daddy Party, which makes Democrats the Mommy Party... . But Republicans aren't the Daddy Party anymore. They're more like the Absentee Father Party ... . But for so many who are just trying to survive in this American family, they have to come to terms with the reality that the Daddy Party is the Deadbeat Dad Party ... and you know what happens when Daddy's a useless piece of crap? Mommy has to take over. That's why the Democrats are no longer the Mommy Party -- they're the Single Mom Party. They're the party that has to work two jobs because Daddy went out for cigarettes and never came back. The Single Mom Party is the only one that cares about the kids' future."
Bill Maher, "What This Comedian Said Will Shock You"
mr715
(3,331 posts)The Daddy party? The Mommy party?
The single mom party, oh how droll.
fujiyamasan
(1,473 posts)I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt even right after the election, but theres no edge now. He doesnt hit Trump and the republicans the way he used to either. His tone is boring. He simply lectures democrats and whines about woke. Fine, I get it democrats are weak and dont come off very forceful or strong. But theyre also not in power so attacking them feels kinda pathetic.
None of that really matters when you have fascists in power, threatening to take comedians off the air (something he has actual experience with) and having roving gangs terrorize and murder people in the streets. Oh, and dont forget the pedophile president files and his administrations coverup.
In short I agree fuck bill maher.