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I saw it tonight and was gleeful...oh is this man so incredibly arrogant...I knew he was going to say something totally defiant in the face of prevailing sentiment just to be a punk...but ABC puts up with Peter Jennings (and Koppel)... This guy is such puke...here is hoping he is pressured off the air...he now wants to wrap himself in self-pity and acting like a martyr and he makes sure he has butt-kissers on his show at this time. He was incredibly off base and he got caught stealing the pretense of liberty and truth... what a cad...

I think what you are all failing to realize it that what makes this country so beautiful and strong is that we allow dissenting, fringe, unpopular, and offensive speech to be broadcast. (Everything is offensive to somebody)

PI isn't about agreeing with Bill Maher -- it isn't about trashing the government or advancing a liberal or libertarian agenda. Its about provoking discussion.

If Bill Maher is good at anything its provoking discussion. Agree with his viewpoints or not -- his show is important and represents in part what makes America what it is. Airing dissent, and differences of opinion, questioning those in power, and commonly held beliefs that go unquestioned and that may need to be re-examined.

I won't try to stop you from using your boycotting power - thats your right, but I hope that you won't use your current rage/intolerance/sensitivy or patriotism to silence a voice just because it disagrees with you.

I've watched the show for years, and while I don't agree with Bill most of the time I respect him for bringing to network tv something missing from most franchised-big-media fare. His show was the only network tv outlet for third party candidates to get some quality airtime. I got to see them talk about the issues without the sanitized conditions so prevelant in nomral news interviews. For those shows alone he deserves some credit.

Lastly, anybody who has regularly watched the show knows for a fact that last thing you can call Bill Maher is anti-military. He has repeatedly called for increased pay and respect for our armed forces -- he considers government's first (and potentially only) function is to protect its people. When he referred to "we" as cowards, he was blasting both Clinton AND our government, whether Republican or Democrat. Our stance on terrorism is more than just cruise missiles in Sudan -- there are policies, enacted by more than one man which shape our efforts. He criticizes the government for not taking a stand against terror because it would lead to unpopular actions -- a criticism that doesn't single one man out. The "we" refers to all of us -- himself included -- and if you actually watched the show you'd know that...

And you'd understand why he's being defended -- even by his detractors.

peace,

the Unpopular