Bill Maher?

[Libel]

I agree with pissed, those ads have got to go. And whoever said him berating the audience or sitting there with his thumb up his ass when a joke bombs as faults was right on the money. That stuff makes me want to punch something, doesn't he watch the show and see how pathetic he looks in those moments.

Beyond those issues tho I really love the show. I look forward to it, he has amazing guests, interesting talking points, and a mostly cool political view overall. Real Time's great and New Rules is the icing on the cake.

[tuggboat]

He did his last special wearing an Ed Hardy shirt.

AN ED HARDY SHIRT.

I wanted to see pictures, so I went to the Ed Hardy website, and all the pictures/videos of Bill Maher in the "celebrity gallery" have been taken down...

What's Bill Maher trying to hide?

[PunditFight]

Yes Bill Maher is a formidable Punditfight Wrestler.

One of the best things about Bill Maher is he is willing to debate. He isn't afraid to go on someones homecourt and still hold his own in a mano-a-mano. I can recall (which i've referred to) two debates, appearing on Bill O'Reilly's and Tucker Carlson's show where he was able to rebutt each of the memes they were pushing forward.

He's an able and well equipped debater. Agreed on the smugness.

[scamboogah]

To anyone that said that Maher is a shitty interviewer, I suggest you watch the Jay-Z and Bill Moyers interviews from last weekend. They were both great.

[skcub]

Did anyone else catch him in the 2009 Speaker Series with Ann Coulter?

[Umlaut]

I don't know, but your use of "else" makes me assume you did.

Care to recap (as best you can recall)?

[PunditFight]

I really hoped someone grabbed footage of that speaker series, will check YouTube when I can. I like the idea of Ann Coulter and Bill Maher touring together. I get the impression its very jovial because they are friends/friendly so no going for the jugular but more kneeslapping, backslapping and "aaaaaw I got you good there buddy". The Ann Coulter, Al Franken debate would have had more venom, not that that's a great thing for constructive dialogue.

But yeah I'd wanna see it for myself.

[KeithTalent]

I found the Jay-Z interview pretty awkward.

A couple weeks ago Maher went on this tear about how important it is to restrict people's freedom in order to make public health care more fair. You can't have people out there taking risks when we have to foot the bill! I was disappointed to hear that. He used to have a pretty strong civil libertarian streak, now he's ok with telling people what they're allowed to eat because the government says it may not be in their best interests?

[aenemaTron]

Another in a series of "hey, this guy's a fucking idiot."

[Hated Milk Machine]

Another in a series of "hey, this guy's a fucking idiot."

I don't get what is so offensive about this. I mean, I agree with the blogger that most "alternative medicines" are unscientific scams, but Maher doesn't point to anything in particular, so his point was kind of self-neutered. Other than being unclear, what did he say that was so wrong here?

[aenemaTron]

Nothing that was true?

[scamboogah]

It seems like pointless, in-fighting nitpickery for the science-based medical community to decry Maher for winning an award for his atheist views just because he has a couple of wacky views on medicine that he's expressing on an internet-only after show of his that is probably watched by 10 or 12 people. Aren't there targets that are doing a lot more damage to their cause? Like the state of Kansas, for instance?

For the most part, I tune him out on the rare occasions that he starts talking about alternative medicine and his admittedly boneheaded views on nutrition and such. But to use something that he might spend 1% of his on-air time talking about to somehow label him as a complete lunatic that can't be trusted is more than a little unfair, and smacks of something that Ann Coulter or Shaun Hannities would do...

[aenemaTron]

Nothing indicates this one blog post is letting Kansas slip into caveman days. And they're more decrying the Atheist group for giving him the award.

Apparently you like him too much to admit that regardless of how often he brings it up, he's clearly a paranoid idiot regarding this and it calls all of his principles into question if he can't be bothered to fact-check his own rants.

[ericluxury]

A couple weeks ago Maher went on this tear about how important it is to restrict people's freedom in order to make public health care more fair. You can't have people out there taking risks when we have to foot the bill! I was disappointed to hear that. He used to have a pretty strong civil libertarian streak, now he's ok with telling people what they're allowed to eat because the government says it may not be in their best interests?

I think he is fine with telling people to stop eating bullshit. But I believe his idea when it comes to government involvement is to end corn subsidies. He's one of the only people talking about it and seems to be pretty up to speed on the issues.
To put this issue in terms of freedom is laughable. It's an economic issue where the government is setting up incentives so that large food companies will control the food supply and raise the price of food that is not processed. Its pretty ridiculous but at most grocery stores the price of a single apple is higher, often significantly, than a pack of M&M's. The issue of food supply is pretty obfuscated and if you are going to have a libertarian stance, don't have it be a lazy one.

[Berliner]

Wait, what's this about corn subsidies: my old archenemy?

[KeithTalent]

I think he is fine with telling people to stop eating bullshit. But I believe his idea when it comes to government involvement is to end corn subsidies. He's one of the only people talking about it and seems to be pretty up to speed on the issues.
To put this issue in terms of freedom is laughable. It's an economic issue where the government is setting up incentives so that large food companies will control the food supply and raise the price of food that is not processed. Its pretty ridiculous but at most grocery stores the price of a single apple is higher, often significantly, than a pack of M&M's. The issue of food supply is pretty obfuscated and if you are going to have a libertarian stance, don't have it be a lazy one.

He didn't mention corn subsidies at all in the thing I was talking about (the New Rules segment from 9/18). He states as fact that "the only way to get Americans to do anything is with money", and thus the only solution to our obesity problem is to tax unhealthy foods. He advocates taxing sodas based on portion size, etc. As I recall Maher didn't used to be such a big fan of sin taxes.

This mindset is what I find troubling. During this healthcare debate there's already been talk in congress of how people's lifestyle choices might be evaluated for riskiness, one guy suggested that anyone who has unprotected sex should pay a higher premium. I'm not an advocate for indiscriminate barebacking or a steady diet of Slurpees, I just see how this line of thinking could be a slippery slope.

[scamboogah]

So what does Bill Maher eat when he's stoned as much as he says he is? Wheat Grass Juice?

It will be just my luck if the day they legalize pot, they criminalize snacks.

[Berliner]

He didn't mention corn subsidies at all in the thing I was talking about (the New Rules segment from 9/18). He states as fact that "the only way to get Americans to do anything is with money", and thus the only solution to our obesity problem is to tax unhealthy foods. He advocates taxing sodas based on portion size, etc. As I recall Maher didn't used to be such a big fan of sin taxes.

This mindset is what I find troubling. During this healthcare debate there's already been talk in congress of how people's lifestyle choices might be evaluated for riskiness, one guy suggested that anyone who has unprotected sex should pay a higher premium. I'm not an advocate for indiscriminate barebacking or a steady diet of Slurpees, I just see how this line of thinking could be a slippery slope.

They could effectively do the same thing by removing corn subsidies. I shake my fist in anger at corn subsidies!

[Berliner]

I think the bottom line is that Bill Maher is a comedian, not a public policy expert. I can't listen to him, or the Daily Show, or a certain podcast without my head hurting from the empirically incorrect things stated sometimes.

[thedudeabides]

Bill Maher is a left wing nut job I'd like to see him go talk to the muslims and try to make peace