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Bill Maher's Angry Rant Is Wrong About Republicans and Mainstream America

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What are Americans angry at? Have you been asleep for eight years? George Bush and his Republican pals trashed the United States of America like it was somebody else's frat house, and you can't figure out why we're angry?
Bush and the rest of the Republicans declared financial class warfare against middle and working class Americans, redistributed huge quantities of the nation's wealth to his rich buddies, and you're confused as to why we might be upset?
The cretinous thugs tortured in our name, spit on the Constitution, destroyed our international reputation, and you can't figure out what is the problem?
Bush took us into a war based on lies, got thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of others killed, radicalized an entire generation of Muslims, and we should just smile?
And the list goes on and on.
And it isn't just 'the left' that holds the Bush Administration Republicans in such low regard. Unless by 'the left' you mean the eightysome percent of Americans that don't identify themselves as Republicans, and who think George W. Bush was a bad president.
If you are honestly confused as to why the remaining Bush-style Republicans engender anger (and don't bring up Meghan McCain in the teabagging conversation), you need to hang it up. Go back to sleep, mutter 'ditto' every little while like you did for eight years and you'll be fine.

jimatmadison of WI 11:41PM April 26, 2009

Why is the left so angry? What's going on here? HMMM maybe Bill Maher and the left are angry because not only did Republicans stand by and support the Bush administration that has been accountable for the most absurd and wasteful spending possibly ever and waged an unfounded war that cost BILLIONS of dollars while our economic and education systems are falling apart before our eyes in the US. Not to mention, stood by in silence through thick and thin with an administration with the most lack of respect for the Constitution and Bill of Rights since the founding of this country. And now that Obama is trying to make progress and clean up the mess created in the last 8 years through spending/stimulus that he HAS to spend to fix this horrible financial crisis created by the deregulation of the most wealthy Americans and Wall Street, the Republicans stand in opposition with no viable alternatives or solutions of their own. They criticize him for his lack of respect for life for his views on abortion, contraception and stem cell research but yet have no respect for life themselves as they stand by and do nothing about the real threat of global warming and the CO2 emmissions and waste that is contributing to the demise of this planet and human life here on earth. So FYI, that's what's going on here Mary Kate. Obama and the Democrats won and with that come all the rights of being the party in control and getting to make decisions without consideration for bipartisanship as so many Republicans were fine with as long as they were the winning party. Now the left gets its turn or do we need to revert back to preschool to show the right wing that we must take turns? So the right either needs to start cooperating, offer alternative solutions (and not just "Jesus will fix it") rather than mere complaints, become more relevant to people that actually vote, or get out of the way and let the winners do what they were elected to do.

CG of AZ 7:31PM April 26, 2009

Maher used to be funny. But then he started to believe what he made fun of and he found others who agreed with him. His humor, as some call it, became obsessed with demeaning those who disagreed with him or his views. He is willing to insult, degrade others for their views but will have no one question his. When someone does question his statements, they are racist, bigoted, illiterate and the rest of the usual spoutings one hears used to insult the other's opinon. What I do believe is that he has to use this tactic to ensure that someone will listen to him otherwise he would be out of a job. Bill Maher has forgotten what comedy is or was. That's a shame. He had potential but he has allowed himself to be typecast as a rude and shallow minded individual. It is hard to believe anyone with sense could not see through this phony. Tho he probably believes (?) what he says, I think he says it more to improve his ratings on his program, otherwise he would be off the air.

Garry of WI 4:29PM April 26, 2009

Good comedians make you think, whether you agree with them or not. Maher is an entertainer, who obviously can twist things just enough to bring attention to the truth of matters, and he is certainly not trying to dictate partisan policy, like some other windbags.
But Ms Cary's reaction exposes her opinion that the whole tea sandbagging deal is about Republicans and their falling from grace. The GOP is groping for a rung on the ladder of new political realities they apparently don't understand, resulting from their own squandering of our economy, but I leave it to the comedians to articulate the ironic humor of it all.

PJ of TN 3:22PM April 26, 2009

Maher is paid to be funny. That's his job. Being outrageous is how me makes his living. His remarks are indeed nasty (and quite funny), but to me it's not nearly as offensive as when nastiness comes from someone whose job it is to provide serious commentary. I'm thinking about Limbaugh and, to some extent, Oberman.
And Maher does have at least one point. Republicans, rather than put out a coherent alternative to Obama, seem to be reveling in name-calling (Socialists!) and pessimism (I hope he fails!). In this sense they do sound a bit like rejected husbands.
Evan Adamson
readtakeover.com

Evan Adamson of NY 2:39PM April 26, 2009

What's funny to me about Ms. Carey's righteously tone-deaf bit o' fluff masquerading as editorial journalism is that she seriously considers Bill Maher a bonafide member of "the left". Dear, he's a COMEDIAN/PROVOCATEUR with a strong libertarian bent who, like Coulter, with whom he's done a speaking tour, makes his money from amusing or annoying people. The big difference I see between the right and the left vis a vis professional provocateurs like Maher and Coulter is that elected Republican politicians feel the need to publicly apologize to Rush "Sleep Number" Limbaugh after noting that he doesn't reflect the mainstream of their party. As for the tea parties, progressive Democrats like me are bemused and saddened, mostly, by the lack of understanding of folks like the poster who believes that Bill Clinton left the country saddled with a deficit. No, honeychild, a quick jaunt around that great Enclyclopedia Brittanica known as the Internet shows that President Clinton left us with a substantial surplus that GWB more than squandered in a mere 8 years. I chalk what little actual grassroots energy is behind the tea parties up to the permanently aggrieved and disaffected in our country-- so deeply cynical about politics and easily swayed by their own limited willingness to educate themselves and think critically and with a modicum of nuance about the world that they'll back any demagogue crying crocodile tears all the way to his Canary Islands savings account.

Melissa M. of MA 11:22AM April 26, 2009

We listen to comedians and actors as though THEY somehow have a clue. Sort of like hiring a MAN that has NO EXPERIENCE ever running a State, City, Town, Hamlet to RUN OUR COUNTRY!
Sort of like paying attention to Polls that ask 1000 people and saying THAT reflects the mood of the entire COUNTRY.
Sort of like listening to "NEWS" that is owned by companies that have something to win or lose in Governmental circles.
I encourage EVERYONE to do your own research and figure out the truths yourself. You won't like it but at least you'll have a valid opinion. Oh yes, this will be useless if you already made "your mind" up from listening to all the above.

Chris Petty of GA 9:38AM April 26, 2009

Dottie,
What mess? Islamic extremism? It hit home under Carter. It's called reading, try it.

Joe of KS 7:08AM April 26, 2009

Yean, Bill Mahr is merciless. And it's completely appropriate. Conservatives illegitimately took control of the nation for years on end, and ran it into the ground. They deserve all the scorn and ridicule they have provoked. Conservatives put conservatism into effect, and it conclusively refuted itself. The only unimpeachable truth in politics is that conservatism has proven that it doesn't work, yet conservatives continue to insist that they are better, more perceptive and smarter than the rest of us. If they are so perceptive, why haven't they notice that CONSERVATISM ALWAYS FAILS? If they are so much smarter than the rest of us, why do they have NO PLAN to offer us, and yet expect us to trust their judgement, which has proven to be wrong time after time? Pretty obvious questions. And pretty obvious answers.

Querent of WY 1:59AM April 26, 2009

He just calls it the way he sees it, it has been 100 days, and the Republicans that were with Bush think they are still in Office, We got rid of them on Nov, 4, 2008. And all this mess started on Bush's watch remember.

Dottie of WV 10:22PM April 25, 2009