Posted on 08/27/2004 10:50:52 AM PDT by areafiftyone
Bill Maher returns with a new edition Friday at 11 pm. Bill's guests this week: reporter Ashleigh Banfield, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and author Michael Eric Dyson. Plus, author and Swift Boat veteran John E. O'Neill, talk show host Chris Matthews and Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski via satellite.
As the Campaign of 2004 heats up, Bill Maher and his guests examine "527" ads, Vice President Cheney's stand on gay marriage, toxic fish, "eugenics" as a campaign platform, and the church's involvement in politics.
Interesting. But the one thing I want to hear repeated, wasn't -- John Kerry got 3 purple hearts in 4.5 months without one single serious injury.
Ah well.
The end of the show was very interesting, also.
Bill Maher spent a few minutes at the end talking to the NY protesters. He said he wanted them to riot. Word for word. He said he wanted to see the kind of riots that made 'Whitey' move to the suburbs.
He went on about it. It was a funny bit. But -- you know!
Damn.
O'Neill kept repeating that Maher should read New Soldier and see all the atrocities that Kerry claimed to have seen -- and not just the hearsay from the Detroit meeting. O'Neill pionted out Kerry would not allow it to be reprinted because it was so damning. Despite all this, O'Neill's comments could not penetrate Maher's thick skull. Maher was not going to hear anything that might change his opinion. For example, O'Neill several times tried to tell the Christmas in Cambodia story and Maher cut him off.
Maher tried to get O'Neill to condemn the vets supporting Kerry for "lying for Kerry" but O'Neill would not. He said that many of the Kerry vets statements were supportive of Kerry but lacked key details that would be neede for a full corroboration. O'Neill also said Rassman may have thought shots were being fired from the banks because the sailors were firing at both banks from the several boats.
Maher also tried to get O'Neill to condemn President Bush for saying Kerry deserved his medals. O'Neill said that the President "was not there." Maher said "you got the right" or some such and the audience roared with luaghter. O'Neill was not affected. He went on. He said the President's views were based on what Kerry was saying and perhaps on official documents.
Maher tired to make a case for Kerry based on official documents for the medals. O'Neill pointed out that the Navy documents supporting Kerry were written by Kerry and, thus, reflect only his views. He noted that all the reports focused on Kerry's boat and not the boat that was blown upwards from the river by a land mine. He got in quite a few licks on this point and I think the audience was affected by his comments here.
Maher was visibly shaken when a few in the audience applauded for O'Neill at one point. "What, is this like golf now" he asked lamely? I should note that in the beginning the audience was cheering wildly Maher's put downs of Bush, the Swift Boat vets, et cetera, but toward the end Maher's snide statements were not getting applause.
Maher tried to get O'Neill to condemn Bush for traveling overseas and being in Vietnam as a young man, and for his failure to get to know "furriners." He asked O'Neill if he had learned anything about foreign cultures and how different they are from his years in Vietnam. This was the only softball question, but it was aimed at discrediting Bush.
O'Neill said that his experience in Vietnam lead him to appreciate Asians, especially Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese. He also said that Asians were pretty much like everyone else, contradicting Maher's theme. O'Neill also said he identified with the suffering of the Vietnamese under a Communist regime.
O'Neill said that 1.5 million Vietnamese died fleeing the oppressive regime. Maher was visibily uncomfortable with that. This segment completely destroyed Maher's efforts to make Bush look bad and gave O'Neill a chance to trump Maher.
Maher was trying to say that America should put Vietnam behind it, implying the U.S. was hung up over Vietnam more than the Vietnamese. O'Neill said the South Vietnamese were still suffering the effects of the war while America had largely put it all behind it.
Early on, O'Neill asked why O'Neill and the Swift Boat vets were doing this? Did they just have a grudge against Kerry. O'Neill said that he had to do because Kerry was unfit to command. Zing!
Quietly and persistently O'Neill gradually shut Maher completely down. Maher was really blustering at the end, lamely trying to shore of up his end of the discussion.
You know GD well that Mathews and Maher will interupt everytime he goes to make point.
I hope he got a little grandstand in him hisself and gets up and walks off the show the minute they start fillibustering him.
Thanks for the report!
You're welcome. The whole thing was "seared - seared" into my mind. I had to file a report to share it. O'Neill was truly courageous to go onto that show!
Thank you very, very much for the detailed report! That's what one expects on these kinds of threads!
Thank you WashingtonSource. Great reporting!
"THIS EPISODE WILL REAIR (all times Eastern; program will also air 3 hours later on West Coast feeds):
Sat, Aug 28: 10:00 PM - HBO2
Mon, Aug 30: 1:00 AM - HBO/HBOHD
Mon, Aug 30: 8:00 PM - HBO2
Wed, Sept. 1: 12:00 AM - HBO/HBOHD
Wed, Sept. 1: 11:30 PM - HBO/HBOHD
7 posted on 08/28/2004 1:07:06 AM PDT by Dont Mention the War"
I sat thru the rest of the show, and it was staggeringly anti-Bush the whole way thru. The one righty they had was as usual ridiculed and shouted down.
Chris Matthews came on by video at one point, and went into a spiel whose theme was:
If you are interested in voting for bad things to happen, then vote for Bush because he is bad. It was so outrageously partisian that he should not be allowed to host another of his own shows.
That was a revealing moment, I thought.
Did you by chance see the rest of the show? Some very interesting stuff. Did you see the Chris Matthews seqment? He came completely out of the closet (as if the world didn't already know) and parotted the D party line word for word.
But the end was absolutely amazing, when he went into his, "I wanna see riots like there were during the D convention in the 60s" speach. His, "you can't be for peace unless you're willing to disturb it" drivel.
These folks are coming completely unhinged as it starts to do dawn on them that Kerry might not be a winner . . .
Thank you for that comprehensive description of the show and your impressions.
Ella, thought you'd be interested in post #82.
Matthews or Maher?
I should note that in the beginning the audience was cheering wildly Maher's put downs of Bush, the Swift Boat vets, et cetera, but toward the end Maher's snide statements were not getting applause.
This about says it all. The crowd became embarrassed by Maher.
Game - set - match.
By the way, isn't it interesting that O'Neill has been on every possible TV and radio show, and has done probably 100+ interviews by now? NOBODY can ever call O'Neill a hit-and-run cheapshot.
I cringe when fellow FReepers insult people's looks, on either side of the aisle, because I feel it is not fair discussion to insult people for things that they cannot help. However, Bill Maher is to me the ugliest creep on the planet. Possibly part of it IS his fault, though, with his self-important, sarcastic expression. UGH.
Someone should put crazy glue into his tube of vaseline in his dressing room.
Thanks so much for the detailed account!
I agree.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.