MEDIA ROOTS — I’m a huge Bill Maher fan.
I say that not as an empty platitude nor as a way to soften the eventual blow. My dad introduced me to “Real Time with Bill Maher” several years ago and I’ve been hooked ever since. For awhile, he recorded the show and we watched it together every week. Eventually, I was able to afford HBO on my own, but we’d still call each other every week to talk about the episode. As silly as it sounds, I am really grateful to Bill for his show because it gave my dad and I an opportunity to bond.
In addition to being a huge comedy fan, I’ve also dabbled in stand up for several years. Bill’s style and attention to politics and religion have always made him one of my favorite comedians. So naturally, I was really excited when my dad got us tickets to the live taping of his new special, “CrazyStupidPolitics.”
Heading into the show, I thought I knew what to expect. The crowd would be 99% liberal (or so they think) and Bill would spend his entire set trashing Republicans. When you think about it, it’s a great formula for success because the Republican presidential candidates make it incredibly easy. “The jokes write themselves,” as the saying goes.
Being a former card-carrying member of the Democratic Party, I sometimes enjoy reveling in the intellectual wasteland that is Republican ideology. As expected, so did everyone else in the theatre. The crowd was loud and energized because Bill gave us the Anti-Republican red meat that we all came to feast on. In the end, he put on a great show. He was thoughtful and poignant at times while juvenile and mean at others. Nevertheless, he was always funny. After all, it was a comedy show.
Well…mostly.
After Bill finished his set and received his well-deserved standing ovation, he told us all that he had a surprise. To be honest, I was hoping he would bring out the opening act (Amy Schumer) and let her go home with whatever audience member could cheer the loudest. Yes, she has the bone structure of a Cabbage Patch doll but I would still totally take her down. Instead, Maher took the opportunity to present a whopping $1,000,000 in the form of a giant game show check to President Obama’s Super PAC—Priorities USA Action.
For about ten more minutes, this is still a free country. If Bill wants to “donate” his money in this way on HIS show then he should be allowed to do so. The act of donating money to a Presidential candidate is not what concerns me—it was his accompanying message that was so disappointing. Just before presenting the massive $1,000,000 check, he seriously addressed the crowd to convey his displeasure with Citizens United and the Super PACs it spawned.
I was hoping Bill would follow those thoughts with a great plan or at the very least, a hilarious solution. Instead, he took the path of least resistance. Bill’s over-the-top donation was his way of saying, ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.’ What makes it worse is that Bill’s rationale for donating the money seemed to be due to fear of another Republican in the White House instead of a ringing endorsement of Obama and his policies. He even went as far urging those of us in the audience as well as those watching at home to donate to Obama’s Super PAC because Obama “doesn’t have this in the bag.” It’s that exact same type of fear-mongering, for which Bill often chastises Republicans on his show.
For many of you, this might seem like no big deal. However, I remember a time when Bill Maher was fired from ABC for speaking out against the cowardice of U.S. foreign policy. I remember a time when Bill Maher was a cynic, who once famously said you should “question everything.” And I remember when Bill Maher was a patriot, who regularly criticized President Bush for gross violations of our Constitution and civil liberties. Unfortunately, THAT Bill Maher, either, doesn’t exist anymore or his presence is only predicated on whom is currently sitting in the Oval Office.
As I walked out of the theatre, I realized this was nothing more than an Obama fundraiser, in the heart of Silicon Valley, disguised as a comedy show.
Written by Barrett Rodda for Media Roots
Photo by flickr user David_Shankbone
John and I watch Bill all of the time. He has talked about this piuractlar subject often! I am very convinced that many of the diseases that are now mainstream diseases certainly can be avoided by exercising and eating healthy, organic foods! Even for people like myself who have genetic diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, exercising and food combining can make a significant difference in how the disease presents itself on any given day.I completely cut out sodas of any kind on May 23, 2010. I don’t smoke and I don’t eat fried foods. On occasion, I drink alcohol with friends. I try to avoid any kind of processed foods (the center aisles of any grocery store) and work very hard to make healthy, tasty meals for us!Having done all of those things the last few months, with the exception of cardio exercise ( I do stretch with light weights) I have lost 32 pounds since July 17th, 2010. My skin is prettier, my hair is much healthier and I feel MUCH better. Once I am able to start swimming daily (in just a couple of weeks) I’m thinking that a lot more weight will come off and I will feel like a new person. I can no longer do typical exercises my joints are too damaged to allow it.I have also cut out some of my medications. I decided it was ridiculous to be on SO MANY medications. I can’t cut out my arthritis injections and oral meds though. I went off of my diabetes meds and decided to just try and control it with eating healthy foods .guess what my sugars are great! Now, I’m not saying that people should just willy nilly go off of their meds but people need to use their brains and think! WHAT is it that is making us so sick???? I’ve thought about it and I’m doing something about it!
I detect Ryan is leaning towards a 3rd option
C) cloak your partisan loyalty and abject fear of the republican party as intellectual instead of emotional, base-level and child like. also confuse how the citizens united ruling happened and wrongly assume because you have blind faith in things ‘working out’ if democrats get in that the congress will magically repeal it
You can’t always get exactly what you want: Bill Maher is mature enough to understand that.
Here are two options for the next election:
a) Use the superpac system to keep the party of the apocalypse out of the whitehouse and then pressure the next congress to dismantle the system.
b) Sulk like a toddler who didn’t get his ice cream. Refuse to participate, call those who participate names, shit your pants when the republicans get into office.
I detect that the author is leaning towards method b.