WTF was Bill Maher doing last night when he let that lying fuck, Jenna Ellis, totally off the hook?

[mtnsnake]

She was allowed to run rampant with her lies for what seemed like forever. She totally dominated him, and Maher appeared to be completely caught off guard. He had no comebacks and no good response, other than a feeble "Just stop it" after she had already gotten everything out of her mouth that she wanted to. How he could allow her to get away with what she did on his show was embarrassing to watch. The only thing I can think of is that he must have made some sort of an agreement with her just to get her on his show. Either that, or he is simply losing it. Either way, he should be ashamed of himself for his poor performance, letting her puke her lies out to the viewers for as long as she did and pretty much letting her kick the shit out of him in the manner she did. I used to enjoy Real Time, but ever since the pandemic, some of his shows have become real Debbie Downers.

The same thing happened several months ago when he let a Republican Congressman totally run all over him, spinning bullshit and lying through his teeth with virtually no response from Maher at all. I forget the guy's name, but it was just as embarrassing as what happened on his show last night. I can understand letting him letting people such as them on his show, but to give them a forum to do nothing but lie, and let them completely get away with it, is unforgivable.

Did any of you happen to catch his show last night?

[servermsh]

1. No one should watch Bill Maher.

Many of us have been saying it for years.

[Bev54]

33. Have not watched him for at least 5 years now

Cannot stand his double standard BS.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Stoking hits on social media.

Bill's a narcissist. He likes it when people talk about him.

[Hortensis]

38. Yes, but inciting an enraged and deranged religious right

to come after him might just be too much attention. They are powerful enough to take him out, and many are crazy enough to kill him. I'd be surprised if that wasn't why he showed her passively.

[Under The Radar]

3. I think he was holding his tongue and being well mannered

...that is rare for Bill where he would normally tell her to STFU.

[llashram]

4. Maher is sometimes on

and as in this case seemingly too soft. I hope maybe he was letting her spout the RW bullshit line to show just ho delusional these trump-pets are. Especially these evangelicals for trump. Other than that, you are right, not enough pushback.

[mtnsnake]

9. I hope it was the same thing you're hoping it was, but if you had to score this as if it was a fight

I'd say she definitely got the best of him. Using the term you used, "pushback," he seemed completely unprepared to give her any, or maybe he just didn't want to for the reason you mentioned.

[llashram]

17. No argument from me

he was run over by her train...of RW bullshit

[mtnsnake]

18. haha, that is the perfect way to describe it! nt

[Progressive dog]

5. Never watch him anymore.

This isn't new for him, he lets people walk on him because he wants their message to be heard.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

6. I'm not that old. But I'm old enough to remember when he would

criticize the, so called, mainstream media for their bullshit softball interviews. Let me guess. Did he tell his guest how "brave" they were?

[octoberlib]

7. He did this with Steve Bannon as well.

Then when he got shit on Twitter over it he said he liked having people on his show he doesn’t agree with. That’s fine as long as he doesn’t let them sit there and spew lies and he holds them to account but he doesn’t .

I tweeted him afterwards that he let the guy who has a project to literally destroy democracy in Europe just sit there and lie without challenging him and that was dangerous.

[onecaliberal]

8. We stopped watching a couple of years ago. He's awful.

[dsc]

10. I fast forwarded through that part it was cringe worthy

The rest of the show was good though.

[mtnsnake]

14. If I had recorded it I would have done the same thing.

Unfortunately, I watched it live. And yes, I thought the rest of the show was good, too, but just barely.

[PCIntern]

11. Yes I saw that

And on top of everything else, he should have asked her why she had that continuous shit-eating grin through the whole episode She is one repulsive human being.

[smirkymonkey]

15. Ugh!

That drove me crazy! Are they trained how to do that? It is infuriating! I wanted to punch my computer screen.

[smirkymonkey]

12. She was a nightmare.

A typical Trump bimbo. Thank god we are not going to have to put up with this much longer. He put up some resistance, but not enough. Personally, I wanted to slug her. I have had it with this shit. I hope she knows that she will be unemployed and unemployable very soon. I wonder if she will think it was all worth it.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

13. Yes I saw it

He was too nice. I wouldn't have been. The woman was pulling crap out of her ass, throwing it at the wall and hoping it would stick.

[IsItJustMe]

16. He makes a good point every once in a while.

I take him with a grain of salt. You have to keep in mind, while watching him, that he is an entertainer, not a news person.

You know, sort of like Fox News.

[stopbush]

19. Bill is never prepared. RWers know that his counterarguments are limited to one

rejoinder. Once they’re past that, he’s got nothing.

They also know to toss out “facts” that will be new to Bill, because they’re not facts, they’re lies. Last night it was “632,000 missing ballots in PA.” Ellis tossed that bs out and Bill stood there stammering. He could have asked the obvious: where did you get that number? But he didn’t.

[rso]

20. Bill Maher

This is definitely not the first time he was unprepared to deal with a trumpster. He’s trying too hard to show “fairness”, but he’s not good at it. He needs to stick to segments like “New Rules” or his monologue, which are normally the only worthwhile parts of his show.

[Dem4Life1102]

22. Did you see his "New Rules" last night?

[rso]

24. Bill Maher

No, not last night’s.

[Dem4Life1102]

25. It was a disgrace

Filled with right wing talking points demonizing the Democratic Party.

[Dem4Life1102]

21. Maher was horrible last night

He didn’t push back hard enough on Ellis’ lies.

He let Caitlin Flanagan spew right wing bs.

And then went on an anti-democratic party rant filled with more bs right wing talking points.

I think Maher is quickly becoming the next Glen Greenwald.

[MustLoveBeagles]

29. That's disappointing to hear

He used to be so good.

[superpatriotman]

41. Don' believe it

I urge you to watch for yourself then decide.

This whole thread is nothing but denial and armchair internet bs

[Cartaphelius]

23. Bill exposed the sheer idiocy of the right.

Seeing him provide a hater all the rope necessary to
hang herself as a completely incompetent attorney and
human will go a long way in her future employment
prospects. That she demonstrated an ability to show
her utter lack of a logically derived argument wasn't
sufficient to establish any credibility.

Emulating Rudy Ghoulinai, is anathema to honor,
honesty and a future in law.

[Grasswire2]

26. Is Jenna Ellis a Bush cousin?

It was cousin John Ellis who called the 2000 election prematurely for W. as he was manning the FOX Decision Desk that night.

I want to know if Jenna is W's family member.

[Azathoth]

27. It's hard to debate someone who is willing to lie and fabulate

The premise of a debate is that there are a common set of facts and the two sides use that toolbox to construct arguments.

When one side is willing to simply invent new facts as needed, the other side is at a disadvantage because they don't know whether it's just a lie, or a legit fact they missed, or something in-between.

[MustLoveBeagles]

28. I didn't catch his show

It sounds like I didn't miss much. What's going on with him? He never used to put up with this shit without pushback. I guess he's not as sharp as he once was.

[NurseJackie]

30. After I'd "given up" on him... I'd fast-forward over the interview and panel discussion.

I'd watch the monologue, the half-time bit, and new-rules. And then... even those got to be sanctimonious and preachy.

My husband was a hanger-on much longer than I was... but now, he's lost interest as well. Instead, we watch John Oliver.

[mtnsnake]

35. Yes John Oliver is a good option. Another HBO show I like a lot is Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel

[gulliver]

31. He did call her out as an Evangelical, and she did go snarky on China's congrats to Biden.

There was little Maher could do short of cutting off her mic. She was doing a pretty good Kellyanne Conway impression for most of the interview. We were left to wonder whether we're dealing with a constitutional scholar for a while. She had great poise.

But then Maher pointed out that she's an Evangelical (many of whom have unfortunately shown themselves to be pro-Apocalypse nihilists and self-discrediting cultists). To me, she immediately lost a lot of cred. Had Maher opened with her being an Evangelical, no one would have listened to her right off the bat. The Republican Evangelical is, thanks to false prophet Trump, lying in their own sick for a while.

She also snarked about China's congrats to Biden. That was too easy, of course, so no damage done to us. But it did show she's just political, not scholarly. Alan Dershowitz, numbskull that he is, would not have done that.

[mokawanis]

32. I liked watching his show when Shrub and Darth Cheney were in office

Watched the show once in a while during the Obama years, and stopped watching after Trump got elected. Maher's show, imo, gets worse as time goes on.

[occupant]

34. tipping point

I've held on to watching Maher for years now and last nights show was it ! I'm done. He has driven enough people away. I really think he is losing it. He is not even entertaining anymore. Hes just mean , crabby, and is becoming a bloviated mess himself. I'm done, cancelling HBO and saving myself $15.00 a month...

[betsuni]

36. She made a fool out of herself, that was the point.

He didn't "let her off the hook."

[beaglelover]

37. His New Rules section was spot on last night.

[Dem4Life1102]

39. How?

What democrats have said looting is not violence?

[theaocp]

40. It's been disgusting since the beginning and letting Coultergeist

sit on his stage for any reason whatsoever. People keep giving these awful fucking people an audience and then act aghast when awful people are awful. There’s actual damage that comes from letting these deranged folk spew. Maher needs to find some shame and kick them to the curb. Imagine the productive adult conversations that could be had then.

[mtnsnake]

43. "There's actual damage that comes from letting these deranged folk spew"

That sentence of yours I quoted really sums it up for me. With Maher letting her spew her guts out for as long as he did, it really could have done some damage last night. As much as every word out of her mouth was nothing but complete horseshit to those of us who know the facts, she was extremely convincing in her delivery to those who don't. I wouldn't be at all surprised if her presentation will soon be posted on some of the right wing message boards showing how she kicked ass on Real Time and taught Maher a lesson.

[haele]

42. Maher doesn't know how to handle a Gish gallop.

On his old show, politically incorrect, he always had comedians, celebrities hawking books or albums, and at least semi-intellectual pundits, and they all knew they were supposed to tell jokes and be "funny", and that it was supposed to be Bill's show, not a platform for their particular idiotology. But even then, the few times a guest was too aggressive, he didn't seem to know how to stop it, and that show tended to be ruined.
Always a problem when a show host is not really interested in his guests, but is more concerned about getting a clever quip or bon mott out in public.

Haele