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Posted on 04/14/2008 1:14:50 PM PDT by NYer
On his April 11 HBO show, “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the comedian went into an extended assault on Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church. For a transcript, click here.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows:
“Maher’s obsession with the Catholic Church continues, only this time there isn’t enough material for him to use as a club, so he literally makes things up. His lies include the following statement: ‘When the—when the current pope was in his previous Vatican job as John Paul’s Dick Cheney—he wrote a letter instructing every Catholic bishop to keep the sex abuse of minors secret until the statute of limitations ran out.’
“A similar lie was floated by an angry ex-Catholic bigot, Rosie O’Donnell. The fact is that before he was named pope, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger had absolutely nothing to do with policing allegations of sexual abuse until 2002, after the scandal erupted that January. And he certainly never counseled bishops to keep sexual abuse secret—this is a bald face lie. Indeed, a week before Pope John Paul II died, he addressed the scandal by saying, ‘How much filth there is in the church, even among those who, in the priesthood, should belong entirely’ to God.
“Maher also lied when he said the pope ‘used to be a Nazi.’ Like all young men in Germany at the time, he was conscripted into a German Youth organization (from which he fled as soon as he could). Every responsible Jewish leader has acknowledged this reality and has never sought to brand the pope a Nazi. That job falls to Maher.
“In 2005, after complaining about another bigoted outburst, I was told by Richard Plepler of HBO that ‘it’s a free country, and people are free to say silly things—even on HBO.’ Last year, after another assault, I was told by Jeff Cusson (replying for Time Warner’s CEO Richard Parsons), that Maher’s anti-Catholic remarks were a matter of ‘creative freedom.’ Well, folks, no one has the freedom to libel someone.”
Contact HBO CEO Bill Nelson at bill.nelson@hbo.com
I think Maher is mentally ill and I don’t understand how he has a show at all.
Well, it's not his looks . . . maybe he has something on someone . . . ;-)
He is a tool and gets away with it because he says what the elitists and Gay Mafia like.His condescension and arrogance is always directed towards flyover country.
His run on HBO has just about run it’s course. He has to stir this kind of crap up to stay in the headlines and hope he can be thought relevant. I can’t imagine his silly a$$ show has any ratings.
90% of the show revolves around BDS, and the remaining 10% isn't funny, either.
In the few times I've watched the show, I've never seen a conservative, or a Republican, call him on his BS. They're too busy kissing his rear, presumably in the hope of getting a return gig.
A little man lies about a great man, and is made even smaller in the process.
I’m no fan of Bill Maher. But Donohue is splitting hairs. The Roman Church has still not come clean on the issue of sodomizing young boys. And it is an objective fact that priests were moved from parish to parish — by the Roman Church hierarch — when said priests were known to have sodomized little boys.
I have called my cable company and demanded an explanation as to how this anti-Catholic bigot can be part of their programming.
I would have cancelled HBO, but I already do not allow that trash into my home.
In the first place, almost all of the sodomizing was done by fag priests with teenage boys. And it was the American bishops who covered it up-not the Pope.
Accusing the Pope for the problem is like accusing Bush for Abu Graibe-gratifying for the haters but ultimately dishonest.
“The Roman Church has still not come clean on the issue of sodomizing young boys?”
Well then you have apparently not been paying attention.
It has been well documented and publicized that the Roman CATHOLIC church was led to believe by psychologists that these priests could be rehabilitated.
Once it was realized that such “rehabilitation” was not to be. The Roman CATHOLIC church proceeded to remove these priests.
In the future, I suggest you “google” before you make false accusations.
dyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Every one of us has the freedom to not subscribe to HBO, which is a freedom I intend to continue exercising for a very, very long time.
I saw this sad paparazzi video where Bill Maher dressed in a leather bomber jacket and jeans like some raving mid-life crisis viagra addict was hanging out in front of some L.A. club at closing time trying to pick up tramp girls in their early 20’s as they walked out.
He probably hits them with the “I’m Bill Maher. You know from HBO. I’m someone famous. Are you drunk or a gold digger? I’m not picky.”
It always astonishes me that Ann Coulter is actually friends with Bill Maher! Does he kiss his mother with that mouth?! >:-(
And where did the Roman Church find these psychologists? Did they kiss the pope's ring?
Seriously, that's the biggest cop-out I've ever heard. Ever.
I find it very interesting that Maher’s rhetoric sounds an awful lot like some of the Evangelicals on FR. Do you think he converted?
What is a “Roman Church”?
And sodomizing little boys. Where are you getting that from? Do you know what false witness is? Because making false and misleading statements is a form of false witness.
Thanks for this article. I just cancelled HBO after having it for ten years..... (sent in my thoughts on the whole thing to the CEO too) Most of it is garbage....I’m just not going to be part of it anymore....Our society is really breaking down before our eyes...
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