Maher: Why Couldn’t Rush Limbaugh Have Croaked from OxyContin?
Bill Maher, speaking about Rush Limbaugh and OxyContin:
Why couldn’ta he croaked from it instead of Heath Ledger?
I offer the more stubbornly partisan leftists among my commenters (you know who you are) these five possible responses:
1) Ignore it.
2) Agree with it.
3) Discuss how unimportant Bill Maher is.
4) Note all the ugly things that Republicans have said.
5) Talk about how this is a distraction from [whatever you want to talk about].
Feel free to mix and match. Or come up with your own! Surely I’ve missed some.
The one thing we know you won’t do is say, without qualification, that this comment is way out of bounds, whether you like Rush Limbaugh or not.
UPDATE: aphrael weighs in with an appropriate response in the first comment. I figured he would — but he’s not the sort of “stubbornly partisan” leftist I was referring to.
Now let’s see how many people from the left emulate him. It’s fairly predictable. I see maybe one more such comment on the horizon, tops.
The comment was out of bounds. Jokingly wishing death on someone is never appropriate.
I will go back to ignoring it now. 🙂
aphrael (db0b5a) — 2/11/2008 @ 11:46 pmI knew you’d be able to do it. But then, you’re not who I had in mind when I wrote the phrase “stubbornly partisan.”
I know, you may be that. I meant the phrase to connote someone pigheaded, but I don’t know if it does. Rewrite?
Patterico (4bda0b) — 2/11/2008 @ 11:51 pmI guess that, for my part as some right-wing hack, I would probably respond with “Maher? People actually listen when he talks?”
He’s like Olberman without the perfect hair or poor-sexual-performance rumors…
Scott Jacobs (a1de9d) — 2/11/2008 @ 11:55 pmSome clarification about the context: Here’s what the ostensibly conservative P.J. O’Rourke said that led to Maher’s comment:
P.J. O’ROURKE, WRITER: Well, I think a couple of things are going on. It’s the it’s the twilight of the radio loud-mouth, you know? I knew it from the moment the fat guy…refused to share his drugs (audience laughter). I was, you know…he never called, he never wrote. I’m ready to party, you know, come on! No, I think it’s kind of over for those people.
I am frankly more shocked at O’Rourke’s comments. We all knew that Maher is filled with hate; I didn’t know O’Rourke — who has made his living being a right-leaning guy in a left-leaning scene — was such a jackhole that he would toss it up for Maher to swat out of the park.
L.N. Smithee (2eff85) — 2/12/2008 @ 12:11 amYou forgot 6) Talk about how unfair OxyContin’s reputation is.
And actually, 7) Harangue and pile invective on Maher, with or without past examples of rude things he’s said.
Dude, you’re slipping. Or, more likely, bored.
Merovign (4744a2) — 2/12/2008 @ 12:57 amor #8 the resounding success the “war on drugs” has become!
#9 it takes Maher two lines to get to the third ever night! The first two are not textual either.
Well maybe to law enforcement it’s a win, as they count their toys.
Reality?
TOTAL FAILURE!
Viet Nam was a resounding success by comparison!
Oh and as an aside, if we left Dr.s alone, it’s just possible that we would not have to deal with Rush today, eh?
TC (1cf350) — 2/12/2008 @ 1:25 amPatterico:
I refuse to dignify this completely reasonable comment from the non-entity Bill Mahr with a response in an atmosphere where the Vice President of the United States can openly say he’s happy we tortured thousands of innocent Iraqis picked up in a dragnet for no reason other than to shift the focus from unbridled corporatism.
Dafydd
Dafydd ab Hugh (db2ea4) — 2/12/2008 @ 1:26 ami don’t get to pick who dies from oxycontin, but i’m certainly willing to deal. i’ll sign on to bill maher getting hit by a train while driving across railroad tracks, as long as ann coulter (who once expressed the desire to see justice stevens poisoned) is in the car with him. do you think i could sell enough advertising on my proposed new blog wishyouweredead.com to finally give up my life of crime?
assistant devil's advocate (bf6a69) — 2/12/2008 @ 1:57 amOnce more we are faced with the reality that Progressives can never be insensitive because their intentions are always pure. Only Conservatives, who because they are inherently evil, can be villified for the monsters that they are, without the stigma that attached to such conduct in a pre-PM world.
As an example: Idi Amin was known to eat his political rivals; CPAC is a bunch of “meat eaters”. Which is the target of greater opprobrium?
Another Drew (8018ee) — 2/12/2008 @ 2:47 amMr. Ledger was a fine actor. It’s a shame that he is gone.
Joe M. (5d215f) — 2/12/2008 @ 2:56 amIt’s a rude comment, one of a gazillion rude comments, uttered every day, including, no doubt, by yourselves. Are you so superstitious that you think by uttering such a thought it is more likely to come true? Or, is this just another game of “gotcha’.”
tired (0d7e30) — 2/12/2008 @ 4:43 amI hope Osama Bin Ladin died of overdose instead of Heath Ledger.
LiveFromFortLivingRoom (cc236b) — 2/12/2008 @ 5:10 amtired – How many other people wished death upon another on national tv during that same day? Week?
Patterico predicted your response in his post, and aparently, you just could not help yourself.
JD (75f5c3) — 2/12/2008 @ 5:42 amtired,
National TV is different, wouldn’t you agree?
Patterico (4bda0b) — 2/12/2008 @ 6:15 amThe remark is not appropriate. Except for the names, it sounds like something Ann Coulter would say.
Andrew Lazarus (871b1f) — 2/12/2008 @ 6:36 amThat would be #4…
Scott Jacobs (3c07ad) — 2/12/2008 @ 6:48 amScott – They are as predictable as the Cubs not winning the Series.
JD (75f5c3) — 2/12/2008 @ 6:52 amAnyone linking to mediamatters might as well be lying themselves. They know that place distorts and takes out of context right wing pundits words but yet still they go there to read it. They like people lying to them I guess as long as it reinforces their pre existing opinion of the evil Reich Wing.
LiveFromFortLivingRoom (cc236b) — 2/12/2008 @ 6:57 amI really think it’s some sort of pathology. I mean, the READ the list, they KNOW what is asked for, and yet they can’t help themselves…
It’s really very, very sad…
Scott Jacobs (3c07ad) — 2/12/2008 @ 6:57 amyou know, we don’t exist to supply you with what you demand.
Andrew Lazarus (871b1f) — 2/12/2008 @ 7:11 amLMFAO
Are you going to stick your fingers in your ears now and shout “LALALA CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!”?
Are you utterly incapable of condeming what Maher said on it’s own? Are you unable to even THINK about doing that?
Penn of Penn and Teller had an interesting observation a while ago. He tried to get democrats to say one good thing about their canidate without saying something negative about republicans…
They couldn’t do it. You know why?
People with mindsets like yours. Congrats on killing rational debate, Lazzie…
Scott Jacobs (3c07ad) — 2/12/2008 @ 7:20 amHBO is as Left as the LAT, MSNBC, and the rest of the Big Media. Just check the “Hate America” movies they are now running….they paid money to get the rights to movies that in some cases grossed less than 50K at the box office. Bill Maher is lionized as a very intelligent comedian by all the Left who presumably tune in and laugh their butts off at “kill Cheney” and “hope Rush dies” jokes.
Me? I haven’t watched a single Maher program in years. I find him unfunny and tedious. I think his ratings indicate the same, but HBO, like all big media, seems insulated from failure.
Howard Veit (cc8b85) — 2/12/2008 @ 7:22 amThe gay cowboy is dead. Long live gay cowboys.
NJ Wop (437fe0) — 2/12/2008 @ 7:28 amWhat is the mindset of people that knowingly use a website that lies to them?
LiveFromFortLivingRoom (cc236b) — 2/12/2008 @ 7:34 amWould anyone come on here if Patterico lied about left wing politicians words like Rutten and media matters do?
LiveFromFortLivingRoom (cc236b) — 2/12/2008 @ 7:35 amThey use places like mediamatters because it keeps them from having to think for themselves. It makes them feel good that someone out there is reinforcing their political beliefs, and since they are already predisposed to believe them, they are not inclined to critically view the statements made by them.
JD (75f5c3) — 2/12/2008 @ 7:37 amJD I know that someone would use a website or source that reinforces what they already think. People on both sides of the political spectrum gravitate to these things. What boggles my mind is the ease in which they site it and tell it to others. I myself would not go around quoting Patterico if I knew he lied (not like I do anyway). It is a known fact that media matters is a Hillary Clinton front group, it is also a known fact that they distort and take out of context people’s words. I am just wondering why someone would go and use them as a “credible” source knowing these things.
LiveFromFortLivingRoom (cc236b) — 2/12/2008 @ 7:47 amJD: You’re an idiot.
Patterico: No.
tired (0d7e30) — 2/12/2008 @ 7:47 amtired – That was devastating. I am crushed.
JD (75f5c3) — 2/12/2008 @ 8:25 amI think Dafydd’s in the lead right now.
SPQR (26be8b) — 2/12/2008 @ 12:56 pmWho really cares what this cupid stunt says?
Person of Choler (b26272) — 2/12/2008 @ 1:20 pmPerson of Choler just pulled ahead. Maher is in that category of “comic” without real imagination or a sense of humor who compensates with nastiness. There are too many of them around, unfortunately. I blame Moe Howard.
nk (514d4e) — 2/12/2008 @ 1:33 pmJD: You’re an idiot.
Watch out, JD, the next insult coming is the dreaded “Your mother wears Army boots!”
Paul (bcc0a7) — 2/12/2008 @ 5:43 pmPaul: I was more afraid it would be the classic chant:
Foxfier (74f1c8) — 2/12/2008 @ 6:19 pm“you’re ugly, you’re ugly, your momma says you’re ugly—you’re ugly!”
That was pretty weak, wasn’t it. I am numb to that one. My better half has called me an idiot so many times that I can just tune that one out.
JD (8f1753) — 2/12/2008 @ 6:23 pmA serious question: Do you think Maher’s comment about Limbaugh was in some way less “out of bounds” than it would have been if Maher had said it about, I don’t know, say, Tony Blankley or David Brooks? Are there degrees of out-of-boundness on such comments?
Not Rhetorical (e16728) — 2/12/2008 @ 11:46 pm#36
Certainly not. The issue is Maher’s offensive behavior, not his target.
Yr. Fthfl. Svnt. (712ec6) — 2/13/2008 @ 1:04 amThe gay cowboy is dead. Long live gay cowboys.
Comment by NJ Wop — 2/12/2008 @ 7:28 am
Yeah it was a drab pathetic disgusting little insult. But Maher, schmaher. The real insult is to the gay SHEEP-HERDERS! /pet peeve off
no one you know (1ebbb1) — 2/13/2008 @ 3:32 amI think Limbaugh is a moron, but that doesn’t excuse what Maher said.
Leviticus (68eff1) — 2/14/2008 @ 12:10 pmThese clowns all need to grow up.
“He’s like Olberman without the perfect hair or poor-sexual-performance rumors…”
– Scott Jacobs
He’s thrice divorced, once for “incompatibility”. If that’s not a poor-sexual-performance rumor, I don’t know what is.
Leviticus (43095b) — 2/14/2008 @ 1:56 pm