Bill Maher Says He Cried Wolf Criticizing Republicans Before Trump — Plus, a Bonus RANT
Bill Maher has expressed regret for crying wolf on Republican candidates for President in the past, saying that John McCain and Mitt Romney were honorable men — but this time is different:
I know liberals made a big mistake, because we attacked your boy Bush like he was the end of the world, and he wasn’t. And Mitt Romney, we attacked that way. I gave Obama a million dollars because I was so afraid of Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney wouldn’t have changed my life that much, or yours, or John McCain. They were honorable men who we disagreed with, and we should have kept it that way. So we cried wolf, and that was wrong. But this is real. This is going to be way different.
I could easily finish my post here by mocking this notion. Of course, Maher is full of it, and next time the Republican will be the worst ever, ha ha, the end. And that’s largely true. But I have a lot more to say about it — with a bonus RANT tossed in.
In one sense, what Maher says is indeed utter nonsense. Bill Maher slammed Mitt Romney as a nasty venture capitalist who got rich in an immoral fashion, and mocked John McCain as a warmongerer who never met a war he didn’t like. (OK, he’s right about that.) This is all on the record. It’s a lovely and meaningless gesture that Maher is willing to call McCain and Romney “honorable” now, when it doesn’t matter. But next time around, the Republican will be one of the most super-evil guys ever.
And yet, I’ll give Maher a tiny bit of credit, for meaning what he is saying about Trump a little more than most. Maher has a personal reason to be afraid of Donald Trump, having been the target of a frivolous lawsuit from Trump (Trump sued Maher for $5 million for saying that Trump’s dad was an orangutan. No, I’m not making that up.) Given that Donald Trump is one of the most vindictive men walking the face of the planet, I believe Maher when he says he is especially worried about Trump.
Remember: Bill Maher is an interesting character. On one hand, in many, many ways, he is the personification of the smug Hollywood leftist. Maher is an unrelenting critic of all religion — who nonetheless touts global warming with the zeal of a religious fanatic. He is a lover of Hillary Clinton, who believes in almost all the standard leftist themes: about gun control, and campaign finance reform, and so on, and so on. Put him up against an articulate and knowledgeable conservative (remember Tony Snow?) and the conservative can eat Maher for lunch. And yet, Maher has also been fearless about pointing out the dangers of Islamic extremism. And, unlike most other leftists, he is genuinely against political correctness. It’s not just a tag line for him.
And yet, everybody knows that, in 2020, the Republican will be the ABSOLUTE WORST PERSON EVER!!! for every partisan leftist on the planet. Except, in Maher’s case, perhaps, for Donald Trump.
But you know what?
TIME FOR A RANT: In an election season, everybody gets into a lather, on both sides, and the current person running for the White House for the other party is always the Worst Person Ever.
Now. The truth is that Hillary Clinton is a bad person. A genuinely bad person. And she is married to another bad person. She should not be in the White House. Nor should he.
She is a liar with no regard for the truth, and so is he. Here is a video online, which I have linked before, showing her lying for 13 straight minutes:
This is who Hillary Clinton is. She wouldn’t know the truth if it stood in front of her and screamed at the top of its lungs: “HI, HILLARY! IT’S ME, THE TRUTH! I’M STANDING RIGHT HERE IN FRONT OF YOU!”
The Clintons have both targeted the reputations of women for personal destruction when those women threatened the political career of Bill Clinton. Even when the women were undeniably telling the truth.
The Clintons are the prototypical corruptocrats. A uranium company would pay half a million bucks to the Clinton Foundation, and Hillary would help them negotiate a deal. To sweeten the deal, another connected company would give Billy Boy a half million dollars for a speech. Or a well-placed Nigerian businessman would pay Bill Clinton $1.4 million for two speeches, and Hillary Clinton would give a waiver to the businessman’s pal, the country’s ruler. Bill Maher these days compares this sort of corruption to the Patriots’ deflated balls — but in truth, it’s a leetle bit more than that.
The lefty hacks at PolitiFact rated true the following statement: “Between 2001 and 2012, Bill Clinton made 13 speeches, 13, for which he was paid $500,000 or more. Eleven of those 13 speeches were at least eight years after he left the presidency while his wife was secretary of state.” That is rank corruption.
People even give Chelsea Clinton a $600,000 salary for being a rookie at a network and doing no significant work to speak of. Chelsea might be a very nice person, but she was not worth that. It was given to her because of the influence it would buy. People give Chelsea $65,000 for a speech. They do this even though (and I say this as nicely as I can) nobody really cares what Chelsea Clinton has to say, because she is a zero without her last name. Again, this is all obvious influence-peddling.
And because both of the Clintons are so genuinely awful, Republicans get themselves whipped up into a lather. I get it, Republicans. She’s awful. But, just like Bill Maher, you did this in the past, too. Remember? Obama was the worst person ever, in all human history, because he attended Rev. Wright’s church. John Kerry was the worst person ever, in all human history, because he was a traitorous coward. And so on, and so on.
And yes, Hillary Clinton may well be the worst of that bunch. I actually think she is. But Donald Trump’s self-dealing is every bit as blatant. It’s just been done on a smaller scale so far, because he’s not yet had the opportunity to be in a position where world leaders and billionaires around the world can advance their interests by putting cash in his bank accounts. But once he’s in that position, it is as certain as the sun rising tomorrow that he will grab as much cash as possible. And his having a business would make it easy. “Can I help it if every world leader wants to bring his entourage to the Trump hotels? Why wouldn’t they? They’re the most luxurious hotels around! And who wouldn’t want to give my son Eric a million dollars per speech? Are you saying my son Eric isn’t a brilliant speaker? Of course he is!”
The fact is, we do have two of the worst candidates in memory. So when each side says that this is the worst it’s been in quite some time, they’re engaged in typical campaign rhetoric — but they’re also undeniably right.
But the thing is, they’re right on both sides. And I’ll continue to say so, because it’s what I truly believe.
[Cross-posted at RedState.]
tl;dr: they really do both suck a lot.
Patterico (115b1f) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:09 pmBut do read it.
Patterico (115b1f) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:09 pmgiving a million dollars of validation to a no-account soros slut like obama is how we started the process of lowering the bar for the presidency so drastically that a perv like mitt romney and a drooling slurp slurp like sarah palin were taken seriously
happyfeet (28a91b) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:15 pmMaybe Maher deserves a wolf in return for crying wolf. Too bad Trump isn’t one. Maybe a fox though, or maybe a bat!
Andrew (b13706) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:16 pmIt’s not a lesson until you get eaten by the wolf.
Dejectedhead (29a273) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:22 pmhappyfeet,
You call Mitt Romney, a very good man, a “perv” — while idolizing Donald Trump like you’re worshiping a god.
Are you for real? Is this just some giant years-long troll? Or is your moral compass that badly broken, for real?
Either possibility is pretty damned scary, but in different ways.
Patterico (115b1f) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:24 pmWait until they die! Then they will become “beloved” too.
Patricia (5fc097) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:25 pmgood gravy, bill maher is what you don’t bother scraping off your shoe, and he used citizens united for his own ends,
narciso (d1f714) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:25 pmLOL.
Patricia (5fc097) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:25 pmMr. Trump is trying so so hard to stop that pig (indefatigable)
Mitt Romney wants to do that pig all up in it (unconscionable)
I got my moral compass in my jacket pocket, but honest to pickles I don’t really need to check it under these circumstances
happyfeet (28a91b) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:28 pmand I don’t give him props for his ‘islamophobia,’ because his million dollar check spoke more clearly then his words,
narciso (d1f714) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:28 pmthe times has been circumspect re the haiti matter haven’t they,
http://nypost.com/2016/11/05/the-clinton-foundations-off-the-books-20-million-mystery/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow&sr_share=twitter
narciso (d1f714) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:33 pmSo, who asked what Bill Maher thinks?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:41 pmMaher pitching to close 72 hours out. Seriously?
So glad we don’t get HBO.
“Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey. A kiddley divey too, wooden shoe…” – ‘Mairzy Doats’ – 1943
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:41 pmGood rant, though.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 11/5/2016 @ 4:43 pmHere is the most succinct and cogent argument I’ve read on this site that explains what’s really at stake and why the #NeverTrump approach is muddle-headed, to say the least… https://patterico.com/2016/11/04/ben-howes-film-the-sociopath/#comment-1946689
Bill Maher is a woman-abusing, drug-addled, smug and self- impressed leftwing D-bag who doesn’t deserve the time of day.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 11/5/2016 @ 5:00 pmPatterico #6: Mr. Feet is bizarre, that’s for sure.
Notice the dig about Palin, as well? Something tells me looking at the former governor makes him uncomfortable, like climbing the rope in gym class.
As you yourself cited, he used to write in a clear fashion that was interesting, and brought value to your comments section. Now?
I think he is just lazy and likes to kvetch. Also, I think he feels that being rude and crude is somehow cool. I doubt he really cares about any of this. Just graffiti on someone else’s wall.
Look at his endless excuses about his not voting, while at the same time carrying on how darned important this election is, and criticizing people who don’t vote the way he wishes!
I continue to think that his name calling and vulgarities are part of the problem we face in society (well, he is more symptom than cause). But the continual “perv” thing is pretty unsettling.
I think it is fine to say that Romney might not be a good President. Attacking him personally with vulgar little comments? That’s weird. But it’s not just Romney. Pretty much anyone he agrees with, if memory serves, gets the “obnoxious goth twelve year old in detention” treatment.
But it is a weird time, and a weirder election.
Simon Jester (c63397) — 11/5/2016 @ 5:11 pmColonel, I went to an American Booksellers Association convention many years ago, and ran into Mr. Maher. He is paler than a vampire, is tiny, and wears a hairpiece.
So I roll my eyes whenever he holds forth.
If I am particularly irritated with him, I just look at this, the apotheosis of acting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfe97wjoPvk
Bonus Shannon Tweed and Adrienne Barbeau.
Simon Jester (c63397) — 11/5/2016 @ 5:15 pmThe fact is, we do have two of the worst candidates in memory
Depends on your memory.
Vividly recall sitting in my grandmother’s kitchen back in Pgh. She was a quiet soul by nature not taken to expressing strong opinions. She stood at the sink in a flowered dress and a white apron making a cake. She let me crack the eggs for her on the edge of the silvery steel bowl. Three of them. First time. As she patiently picked the shells out of the batter, I asked her about the two people running for president we’d seen on TV who were pictured in the newspaper sitting on the table thaty day.
To my surprise, she said: “They’re the worst candidates in my memory!”
Never forgot that moment. Probably because of the eggs. It was October, 1960.
When she passed in 1965, we found a small coin purse of hers at the back of a drawer. It had a dozen Dewey/Warren buttons in it.
“Ask not, what your country can do for you; Ask what you can do for your country.’ – JFK Inaugural Address 1/20/61
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/5/2016 @ 6:03 pmthis brings a further point, when did the third rate jesters become political savants, I guess it began with letterman, then whoopi, stewart, maher, camelbert, et al,
narciso (d1f714) — 11/5/2016 @ 6:07 pmTrump rushed off stage by Secret Service in Reno.
Returns to give speech.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/5/2016 @ 6:10 pmSimon Jester
IDK, I’d have to say Maher’s high water mark was DC Cab, alongside Gary Busey and Mr T.
The most bizarre thing I remember about his first show, Politically Incorrect, was Chevy Chase going off on Steven Bochco for bringing too much sex and violence to television.
Pinandpuller (dd360c) — 11/5/2016 @ 6:21 pmcan’t forget his comic one man show, pizza man, lord knows I tried,
narciso (d1f714) — 11/5/2016 @ 6:28 pmA simple question for Maher: Given the fact that you’ve realized – in hindsight – that perhaps you were mistaken in your judgement on both John McCain and Mitt Romney, is there even a teeny-tiny portion of your brain that’s questioning if just maybe, perhaps, there’s a wee small chance you might be mistaken in your judgement on Donald Trump?
I’m gonna go ahead and guess the answer is “No”. Frequently wrong but never in doubt.
Jerryskids (16a4d5) — 11/5/2016 @ 7:06 pm@22- If memory serves, sponsors let ABC know they weren’t comfortable w/his ‘airplanes versus cruise missiles’ comments after 9/11 which essentially deep-sixed his show when advertisers steered clear.
On the other hand, it worked out well for Jimmy Kimmel.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/5/2016 @ 7:11 pm@Patterico: I liked this post. I agree with like 99% of it.
Gabriel Hanna (c791b9) — 11/5/2016 @ 7:33 pmThe open acknowledgement of crying “wolf” is refreshing.
However, we can never forget that decent, honorable Republicans who truly adhere to limited-government and socially conservative principles are far, far worse than Trump to progressives like Bill Maher.
Gabriel Hanna (c791b9) — 11/5/2016 @ 7:37 pmwell it’s more than just dealing with one company,
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2606590
narciso (d1f714) — 11/5/2016 @ 8:18 pmYes I remember Tony Snow. What a blessing it would be if he, or somebody of his caliber and character, was heading the ticket instead of DJT. But DJT still better than HRC.
gp (0c542c) — 11/5/2016 @ 10:28 pmThank you, Gabriel.
Patterico (bd09f6) — 11/5/2016 @ 10:36 pmIt would be nice for us to spend as much time as possible about the 99% we agree about. The magic of Donald Trump makes that impossible for three more days. But then, there will be some clarity. It will take time to come into focus. But it will.
Patterico (bd09f6) — 11/5/2016 @ 10:38 pmgp,
Tony Snow left a comment on this blog once. One of the highlights of my blogging career.
Patterico (bd09f6) — 11/5/2016 @ 10:39 pmKinda tough to be objective about someone who has filed a frivolous lawsuit against you. Trust me on this one.
Patterico (bd09f6) — 11/5/2016 @ 10:41 pm@Patterico:But then, there will be some clarity. It will take time to come into focus. But it will.
I think that regardless of what happens Tuesday it would be most wise for the #NeverTrump, #MAGA, and #NeverHillary factions to agree to a mutual amnesty. There will be great need for united efforts.
Gabriel Hanna (c791b9) — 11/6/2016 @ 1:00 amDrudge is leading with a Cavuto youtube video featuring our ear leader saying there will be no repercussions should an illegal immigrant vote.
The next step will be for Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell to file a lawsuit right after they pass yet another budget that meets with Obama’s approval.
Donald Trump is a symptom, he is not the problem. And you are pleased with Maher because he verbalized what has been obvious for decades? This country was based on a Constitution that afforded certain powers to the legislative branch. The Tea Party and its allies gave the Republican Party the majorities required to exercise this power. The Republican Party chose not to. Trump may be a bad person, but he is not the problem.
BobStewartatHome (b2bab4) — 11/6/2016 @ 8:58 am@BobStewart:Trump may be a bad person, but he is not the problem.
I agree that he is the symptom, he is not the disease. The disease is that Washington DC is too powerful and doesn’t listen, and that half of our nation is fundamentally ok with that and half of it is not.
Gabriel Hanna (c791b9) — 11/6/2016 @ 10:04 amThat’s not quite what the link says.
Trump sued to claim a prize, except that Bill Maher was probably not in earnest.
Bill Maher told Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” at the beginning of 2013 that he would donate $5 million to a charity of trump’s choive (and he named some mock charities) if Trump could prove he wasn’t the “the spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvrrm3i2Lfo&feature=youtu.be
Trump produced his New York birth certificate (which he had handy since he’d demanded Barack Obama’s) that said his father was Fred Trump. And asked Bill Maher now to send him the money.
Now Maher had said that because Trump had said, before the 2012 election, that he’d give $5 million to the charity of Obama’s choice if he publicly released his college transcripts and his passport records. But Obama didn’t try to take Trump up on his offer.
As a aside, Trump had once offered $1 million to anyone who hit a hole in one at one of his golf courses. He had taken out “Hole in One” insurance. But the insurance company didn’t pay because they said he had shortened a hole below the minimun that the insurance covered. Trump (and the insurance company also) got sued, and Trump eventually settled for a smaller contribution – to charity – which he paid from his foundation, and this is one of the two examples the Washington Post had of his using his chartible foundation to settle a lawsuit.
Also, related, last year, an anti-Trump group said they would pay $5,000 to anyone who shouted on Saturday Night Live taht Donald trump was a racist. Right near the start of the show Larry David did.
The group paid.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/larry-david-wins-5-000-for-calling-donald-trump-a-racist-on-snl-20151108
Sammy Finkelman (6d2ca9) — 11/6/2016 @ 10:31 amWorse yet, “DC” is contagious. We send apparently decent people to “DC” only to discover that their desire to be accepted by their peers, toadies like McConnell and Ryan let alone Schumer and his ilk, overwhelms what little character they had. Would it really have been so awful to “shut down” the government? Contrast the consequences of sending a fraction of the Federal work force home for six or seven months with giving Iran nuclear weapons and access to international markets … monetary, technological, and commodity. This is the same Federal work force that freely and without consequence takes the 5th when testifying before this same feckless Congress. And this is the same Iran that just seized more U. S. hostages just months after ransoming off the last four for $1.7 billion. Our country’s priorities, as exemplified by the Republican Congress, the nominal opposition to the traitors in the administration, are beyond comprehension.
BobStewartatHome (b2bab4) — 11/6/2016 @ 10:36 amYour examples are again expressions of a false equivalency.
Why should Trump, as a business person who might ascend to political office, be required to forsake the benefit of business dealings that result — SO LONG AS HIS BUSINESSES ARE MANAGED BY A BLIND TRUST OVER WHICH HE HAS NO INVOLVEMENT WHILE IN OFFICE. The Trump Hotel in DC existed prior to him becoming a candidate. That business is supposed to suffer because he makes a choice to run for office by prohibiting foreigners from staying there because Trump benefits financially and THEY might be seeking to curry favor by picking the Trump hotel over the Hyatt? (I know this is only a symbol of the problem you see, and not meant as an actual “real world” example of what you claim is a conflict he’ll not only avoid, but likely embrace).
The false equivalency stems from the fact that Clinton Inc was CREATED for the very purpose of cashing in on Bill Clinton’s time as President, and Hillary Clinton’s status as SOS. As you correctly point out, that is the very definition of “corruptocrat” as you so accurately have coined the term.
“Lets create a business through which we can monetize our public service while in office” is worlds apart from “Businesses which I’ve spent 4 decades building might benefit from my time in office, and I’m okay with that.”
On Trump being a liar — no disagreement from me. But a rationalization:
Trump was born into a business world where telling the “truth” is not a necessary or valued personal characteristic. In fact, avoiding disclosure or providing misdirection (i.e., lying expressly or by omission) are seen by many many many in that world as necessary to get the deal done. That’s the reality of the world. Its only a short step from there to fraud, and many businessmen fail to see that line when they take that step, but the world of big business is populated with successful people who negotiate that line with finesse.
In our shared profession, there is no such option — although now as a defense attorney I can assure you that “suggesting” certain things might or might not be true to demonstrate a failure of proof by the party with the burden of proof is a routine and sanctioned tactic. The “truth” in the courtroom is based on facts put forward and scrutinized.
So you have a guy in his 70’s for whom the concept of the “truth” and the need to speak the “truth” is a situational circumstance in the only world he has ever known. I think its a bad character flaw, in that regard he’s might be somewhat different — but only in degree and not in kind — from Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Eric Schmidt, Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Cuban, etc.
But now he come into the world of politics and political office, and “truth-telling” is some kind of necessary qualifying virtue????
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 11/6/2016 @ 11:42 amMy comment @35 begins with a sentence about remarks made by our “ear leader”, aka Obama. Patterico has looked into Obama’s statement and provided a correction that makes these remark harmless. He did not say that casting a vote illegally would not be prosecuted. I’m very disappointed in Cavuto, but not surprised by Drudge.
I stand by my remarks about the Republican leadership, but they not warranted by events in the video.
BobStewartatHome (b2bab4) — 11/6/2016 @ 12:27 pmBreaking news that Comey has informed Congress that new emails don’t change his prior view that no recommendation of prosecution is being made.
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 11/6/2016 @ 12:35 pmNot exactly true, Pat. Had the Dems nominated James Webb I wouldn’t be in a lather, calling him the worst person ever. He belongs to the wrong party, but I believe I said during the Dem primary he was the only one on the debate stage who gave a correct answer to the question about which enemies he was most proud of making. He was the only one I recall whose enemies didn’t include other Americans. He was most proud of the enemy he killed in Vietnam, the VC who tried to kill him.
Of course, I believe even he now knows he belongs to the wrong party. No one can get nominated in the Democratic party unless they hate other Americans as domestic enemies more than foreign enemies. In particular Republicans, members of the NRA, and straight white men in general.
The problem with the Dems is that they really do keep getting worse. I was too young to form an opinion of Lyndon Johnson, but while I figured Jimmy Carter for a fool (as did most people about halfway into his one and only term) I didn’t think he was the worst person ever. But I could see through Billy Jeff easily. And while I thought he might not be the worst person ever, he was easily the worst person the Dems had nominated to that point. Al Gore would have been even worse. Obama is definitely even worse; his compulsion to “fundamentally transform” America was based upon his easily discerned and documented hatred of America and Americans. That’s why the Scandis gave him a Nobel Peace Prize. He hadn’t done anything yet, but they knew he shared the same hatred for America and Americans they did, and that was enough. I wouldn’t say she’s the worst person ever as that would mean I have to rank Pol Pot or Stalin ahead of her in terms of basic humanity which I’m not willing to do (yet), but Hillary Clinton is easily the worst person ever to be nominated for President and that includes Trump. Because Trump never got anybody killed or gave Islamic butchers their own country and brought the Jihad to Europe or put his Filipina maid in charge of his SCIF giving her free run of the classified material (just a few of Hillary!s sins). Hillary1 really is the scummiest, dirtiest, most awful person to ever get this close to the presidency.
It would help your “both sides do it” case if the Democrats didn’t keep nominating Constitution-shredding, hate-America-first eliminationist progressive leftists.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 11/7/2016 @ 4:38 am