Bill Maher Sorry the Assassination Attempt on Dick Cheney Failed

[Gan]

And now Ann Coulter's political opposite takes his turn.
________________________________________________

In 2002, ABC made the decision to not renew Bill Maher's contract after he made some disgraceful comments on his program "Politically Incorrect" concerning America's military response to 9/11. After what transpired on "Real Time" Friday, the heads of HBO should be equally outraged, if not more

As the discussion moved to the attempted assassination of Vice President Cheney last week, Maher asked his panel why it was necessary for the Huffington Post to remove comments by readers concerning their disappointment that the attempt failed. As the conversation ensued, Maher said one of the most disgraceful and irresponsible things uttered on a major television program since Bush was elected.

In a nutshell, the host said the world would be a safer place if the assassination attempt succeeded. And, he even had the nerve to reiterate it. Here’s the deplorable sequence of events for those that have the stomach for it (video available here (http://msunderestimated.com/RealTimePt2.wmv) courtesy of our friend Ms Underestimated (http://msunderestimated.com/)):


Maher: What about the people who got onto the Huffington Post – and these weren’t even the bloggers, these were just the comments section – who said they, they expressed regret that the attack on Dick Cheney failed.



Joe Scarborough: Right



Maher: Now…



John Ridley: More than regret.



Maher: Well, what did they say?



Ridley: They said “We wish he would die.” I mean, it was (?) hate language.



Barney Frank: They said the bomb was wasted. (laughter and applause)



Maher: That’s a funny joke. But, seriously, if this isn’t China, shouldn’t you be able to say that? Why did Arianna Huffington, my girlfriend, I love her, but why did she take that off right away?

After some discussion about why Huffington should or shouldn’t have taken these comments down, the following occurred:
Ridley: It’s one thing to say you hate Dick Cheney, which applies to his politics. It’s another thing to say, “I’m sorry he didn’t die in an explosion." And I think, you know…



Maher: But you should be able to say it. And by the way...



Frank: Excuse me, Bill, but can I ask you a question? Do you decide what the topics are for this show?



Maher: Yeah, I decide the topics, they don’t go there.



Frank: But you exercise control over the show the way that she does over her blog.



Maher: But I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power, people wouldn’t be dying needlessly tomorrow. (applause)



Scarborough: If someone on this panel said that they wished that Dick Cheney had been blown up, and you didn’t say…



Frank: I think he did.



Scarborough: Okay. Did you say…



Maher: No, no. I quoted that.



Frank: You don’t believe that?



Maher: I’m just saying if he did die, other people, more people would live. That’s a fact.



http://newsbusters.org/stories/maher_sorry_cheney_assasination_attempt_failed.htm l

[Parkbandit]

Freedom of speech. This is not even close to the outrageous comments about Edwards being a faggot.

I just hope that the Dead Poet's Society condemns this attack as vehemently as the Gay and Lesbian Society did Coulter's.

[Stanley Burrell]

I was fairly certain that there was no assassination attempt on Cheney vs. a bomb asploding while he was in a high profile meeting that would most likely be targeted at X interval.

There is no doubt in my mind that if it was broadcasted to the world that VP Dick Cheney died today from whatever reason (old age, oil intoxication, mishap hunting incidents, etc.) that there would undoubtedly be a quelling of violence in direct correlation to such a hypothetical death, due to the ugly ideologies of extreme fundamentalists who happen to cover the VP under their umbrella of said terror-related angst.

I agree that there would be less deaths tomorrow, as Maher said, if any quasi-high profile U.S. whoever died publically today, for that matter.

I don't feel that this addresses the fact that the same nuts who probably won't fire an AK-47 for a 24 hour period if the above happened still possess the same clusterfuck of motor neurons that make them murderers in, say, 72 hours afterwards.

Bill Maher speaks to an audience the same way Coulter does, imho.

[Latrinsorm]

Being picky, he doesn't appear to be saying that he would rather Vice President Cheney be dead. I'm betting this was intentional, but the language he uses suggests that he's only making a "what if" case.

[Stanley Burrell]

Being picky, he doesn't appear to be saying that he would rather Vice President Cheney be dead. I'm betting this was intentional, but the language he uses suggests that he's only making a "what if" case.

Same song/different tune in all walks of life while standing infront of the pedestal with birds of a feather for an audience, ach aye?

[Gan]

The fact of the matter is, Cheney is only one man. Not the administration. If he were to die, the policies and practices of this administration would continue as would their efforts. The only change would be a newely selected VP moving into his old office.

Get a clue people.


(example of said cluelessness)


But I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power, people wouldn’t be dying needlessly tomorrow.

Lets take this one step further. How would Bill Maher feel if some crackpot watching RealTime heard him say this, and truely believed it, and went out and successfully assasinated Cheney because he logically believed that, as Maher said, if Cheney wasnt in power, people would stop dying. Is this Maher encouraging Cheney's assasination? I think people, who hold a position of public attention, need to stop and think what their words should be before they say them. You know, take some responsibility as to their accuracy and logic.

[Kranar]

Oh my God this is absolutely hilarious.

This entire discussion revolved about how some blogger that Bill is a fan of refuses to allow any discussion regarding the assasination of the VP on her website.

And on this same show, in fact just shortly before this transcript, someone tells Bill Maher that before they discuss this topic that Bill should make it absolutely clear that he doesn't support the notion of the VP getting assassinated for any reason or else people will take the entire conversation out of context and accuse him of wishing the VP were dead.

So Bill says right afterwards in a pretty clear manner that he doesn't want the VP dead and is glad he didn't get assassinated, but that people who do discuss that should not have to be silenced and that thinking about such a scenario in hypothetical terms isn't immoral.

It's just funny how even after its explicitely pointed out on the show that the conversation they're having will be taken entirely out of context, people still find a way to take it out of context.

Anyhow, feel free to watch Real Time to see it for yourself. I bittorrent it every Saturday, it's absolutely hilarious.

[Stanley Burrell]

Oh my God this is absolutely hilarious.

This entire discussion revolved about how some blogger that Bill is a fan of refuses to allow any discussion regarding the assasination of the VP on her website.

And on this same show, in fact just shortly before this transcript, someone tells Bill Maher that before they discuss this topic that Bill should make it absolutely clear that he doesn't support the notion of the VP getting assassinated for any reason or else people will take the entire conversation out of context and accuse him of wishing the VP were dead.

So Bill says right afterwards in a pretty clear manner that he doesn't want the VP dead and is glad he didn't get assassinated, but that people who do discuss that should not have to be silenced and that thinking about such a scenario in hypothetical terms isn't immoral.

It's just funny how even after its explicitely pointed out on the show that the conversation they're having will be taken entirely out of context, people still find a way to take it out of context.

Anyhow, feel free to watch Real Time to see it for yourself. I bittorrent it every Saturday, it's absolutely hilarious.

Whorish pre-meditated lightning rod potential either or.

Not that there isn't any irony involved in that which you just mentioned :(

[Back]

Looks like you got caught with a misrepresentative title too.

[Gan]

Looks like you got caught with a misrepresentative title too.


What was the excuse you gave???


Actually, thats not my title. Its the title from the YouTube page. And I agree with you, that title does misrepresent what she actually said verbatim.

yea, that.

[Hulkein]

Bill Maher is a dirtbag.

[TheEschaton]

Bill Maher is awesome. ;)

And, Kranar, Arianna Huffington is more than just "some blogger" that Maher loves.

-TheE-

[Back]

Bill Maher is awesome. ;)

And, Kranar, Arianna Huffington is more than just "some blogger" that Maher loves.

-TheE-

Eh. I’ve never been crazy about Maher. What I like about his program is that he has get. Meaning, he gets some rather high profile guests. Not only that, but guests with opposing viewpoints. When those kind of people all sit at the same table and talk... its the opposite of what you might expect. A completely rational and cordial discussion. (Though I think Maher panders to the late night crowd with his carefully constructed commentary on the obvious)

Ariana is a personality I have only just recently become aware of. Apparently she was on the other side of the fence in the Regan years. Her blog never really makes news, but it does consolidate a good amount of information that portrays current hypocrisies. I’ll admit it. I find her sexy too.

And Ariana is more the opposite of Coulter than Maher is. We know Maher is a carousing profiteer. Ariana is far classier than either of them.

[Gan]

I laughed at Maher's satire of the "spirit of Strom Thurmond" clip, but I still think he's an ass.

[Mistomeer]

I laughed at Maher's satire of the "spirit of Strom Thurmond" clip, but I still think he's an ass.

He blows. I quit watching his show the first time when I watched him get beat in a debate then throw a temper tantrum saying something along the lines of, "Shutup. It's my show. I'm right and you're wrong."

More on topic, I don't think he was advocating the death of Cheney, but rather he was just blaming him for the war in Iraq.

[StrayRogue]

There's a bit of a difference saying that it's sad some single moron didn't get a taste of the shit they themselves brewed, and being stereotypical, derogatory and unenlightened in regards to millions of people across the planet.

[Back]

One other element to all of this is the “outing” of anonymous abusive comments about the VP made on a fairly innocuous blog. Some conservatives have tried to portray those anonymous comments as something far more important than they actually were in an attempt to yet again divide the population into warring camps.

If they haven't done it already I would not be surprised if some conservatives used the anonymity of “liberal” sites to create defamatory posts that they could then point to as “the hate-mongering left”.

[Artha]

Some conservatives have tried to portray those anonymous comments as something far more important than they actually were in an attempt to yet again divide the population into warring camps.
Those evil conservatives!

[Back]

Those evil conservatives!

I said “some conservatives”. And I really hate the whole conservative vs. liberal thing on both sides. The two are not mutually exclusive, diametrically opposed, or polar opposites. But in this instance I have to use the label “some conservatives” for context. Really it should be “agents of divisiveness.”

[CrystalTears]

And I really hate the whole conservative vs. liberal thing on both sides. The two are not mutually exclusive, diametrically opposed, or polar opposites.
Are you seriously saying this with a straight face? You're such a hypocrite.

[Gan]

Are you seriously saying this with a straight face? You're such a hypocrite.

I laughed when I read that. Loudly.

[Back]

Are you seriously saying this with a straight face? You're such a hypocrite.

Ah, yep. Do you personally disagree with what you quoted me as saying? Or do you just disagree that I could/would/should say something like that?

I can easily say I’m sick of the c vs. l thing.

[CrystalTears]

Or do you just disagree that I could/would/should say something like that?
I can't BELIEVE you said something like that.

I can easily say I’m sick of the c vs. l thing.
And yet you do it all the time.

I repeat, you're a hypocrite.

[Parkbandit]

Are you seriously saying this with a straight face? You're such a hypocrite.


Duh.. I think his hypocrisy has been sufficiently documented. Even he has to agree.

[Parkbandit]

Ah, yep. Do you personally disagree with what you quoted me as saying? Or do you just disagree that I could/would/should say something like that?

I can easily say I’m sick of the c vs. l thing.

For someone who is sick of the C vs. L thing... you continuously promote it with your ignorant posts.

[Back]

I can't BELIEVE you said something like that.

And yet you do it all the time.

I repeat, you're a hypocrite.

Criticizing this administration, the Congress, the republican party and the GOP is not the same as bashing all conservatives.

Like...

This administration is ruining America.

is not the same as...

The conservatives are ruining America.

[Gan]

Criticizing this administration, the Congress, the republican party and the GOP is not the same as bashing all conservatives.

Like...

This administration is ruining America.

is not the same as...

The conservatives are ruining America.



Seriously... Gan can rationalize and sematicise anything into anything else. Its quite a gift actually.

What was that about rationalizing???

[CrystalTears]

Between the 450 pound woman giving birth to an unknown child, and Backlash saying he likes to bash the republicans but not conservatives, I'm speechless once again.