The Phony Liberalism of Bill Maher

[Dem4Life1102]

The Phony Liberalism of Bill Maher

Despite everything he does and says, media still call HBO host a 'liberal'
ALAN MACLEOD

Bill Maher rose from being an “edgy,” opinionated comedian to becoming one of the most influential and recognizable faces in our media. His political talk show, Real Time With Bill Maher, has been on HBO since 2003, spanning 17 seasons with over 500 episodes to date. Real Time continues to be one of the most popular shows on cable TV, drawing in more than 4 million viewers per episode, according to a new New York Times interview (9/30/19), which frames him as a straight-shooting satirist on an “antihypocrisy crusade,” with Maher presenting himself as the voice of liberals across the country fed up with PC culture. Certainly, he has a legion of dedicated, primarily Democrat-voting Baby Boomer and Generation X fans, who take seriously his every pronouncement.

That is why his latest outbursts are noteworthy. On the September 20 edition of Real Time, he condemned the Democrats for reviving their opposition to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, claiming that continuing to “go after a guy for what he did in high school” “looks bad.” He implied that Democrats lost seats in the Senate for their “preposterous” opposition to what Kavanaugh did when he was just 17 (which, for the record, was multiple alleged attempted rapes or sexual assaults).

A week previously, Maher appeared on MSNBC’s flagship breakfast show, Morning Joe (9/12/19), where he claimed that the Democrats’ left-wing (i.e., Bernie Sanders) was a “cancer” destroying the party, warning that the left is “scarier and crazier than Trump,” and nominating a leftist as its presidential candidate would spell disaster in the next election. (Decrying the supposed unelectability of the left is a favorite pastime of elite pundits—FAIR.org, 2/26/19, 7/2/19, 8/21/19.)

Media almost unanimously present Maher as a “liberal” (e.g. Salon, 10/11/14, 9/21/19; USA Today, 7/8/18; New York Post, 6/29/19) or even a “progressive” (The Hill, 2/2/17) comedian. Yet any inspection of his political positions dispels this illusion. To be sure, he generally supported President Barack Obama and opposes Donald Trump (although he has been known to do the opposite of both). But he also has a long history of repeatedly taking reactionary positions on many subjects, especially war.

https://fair.org/home/the-phony-liberalism-of-bill-maher/

[TreasonousBastard]

1. But he never called himslf any sort of liberal. He's always...

said he's a libertarian.

He has toned down any extreme libertarian ideas for good reason, but he's an entertainer first.

[TwilightZone]

3. He initially made that claim for attention.

He knew it would be viewed as controversial.

His stances on many issues are more in line with being a liberal than with the modern-day version of libertarian. He claims to be a libertarian in part because he thinks it grants him the ability to "both sides" things, as he occasionally does. It's also a bit of plausible deniability.

[kentuck]

2. He is more of a libertarian...

..although he espouses many "liberal" views.

He can be thought-provoking, although he tends to piss off a lot of people.

If you cannot stand to have any of your viewpoints challenged, you probably should skip his show?

His show, "Politically Incorrect" was canceled on ABC.

I usually record his show, although it has been sub-par without his live audience. He chooses to have "opposing" viewpoint guests on, rather than just those that agree with him.

[luv2fly]

4. Fake lib, real racist

But some people will likely still defend him because they think he's funny.

*insert long sigh here*

[kentuck]

5. He is a bit of a "shock jock"..

a la Don Imus-type. He offends a lot of people.

[msfiddlestix]

16. Exactly, a shock jock the more he offends, the more he likes it, the more ratings apparently

I did watch his show way back in mid 2000's, but I recall being disgusted with almost every show I watched. He knew just how much red meat to toss to Liberals and progressives, having Bernie supporter Michael Moore on at least once every few weeks. But I finally cut the cord with him even after Trump was installed.

He's a fraud. A shock jock. a political charlatan. a hack opinionated generator of fake outrage.

Worse than any of that he's an arrogant narcissist, bigot and misogynist. His value is only as a corporate whore he services on behalf to which benefits both. I don't find him entertaining and it saddens me to see his shows promoted here.

[dalton99a]

10. +1

[catbyte]

14. But he has donated millions of dollars to Democratic candidates in the last decade.

I have to give him props for that.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. I stopped paying attention to this person a long time ago

[PatSeg]

7. That article was from over two years ago

and he has gotten a lot worse since then. Being isolated during the pandemic seems to have turned him into an erratic, angry old man, who is all over the place politically. Or maybe after trashing Trump for years, he's lost his bearings and can't find something or someone to take his place. Now he attacks "woke" millennials and California regulations ad nauseam, which after awhile does not make for very interesting television. He has gone from edgy to annoying.

[Bradshaw3]

8. Is he a "fake Democrat" for giving millions to elect Democrats?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bill-maher-summons-rich-f-s-los-angeles-donate-democrats-1137543

He gave $1M in 2012 to Obama in an effort to spur people not to think Obama had it won, and obviously it was closer than expected. He gave $1M in 2018 to the Democratic congressional committee because he wanted other Hollywood types to donate as well. So was that all part of some nefarious plan to make people think he was a Democrat when he really wanted to elect repubs?

Maher's biggest "crime" is that he takes on the wokes and they are on a crusade to get rid of him, like they have others. He goes overboard in my opinion on this topic and now it's become personal for them and him (for example that asshole from the Daily Beasts has to character assassinate Maher at least once a week in a display of how not to do journalism). Maher is also hurting himself with his reactions to quarantining and this latest solar bullshit. I agree with another poster that isolation has not been good for him and he is coming off like an angry old man.

And many don't like him giving platforms to people like Megyn Kelly. I don't like it either so I turn it off. He has always done that so the wokes want to cancel him for it, in essence proving him right about them.

[Martin Eden]

9. Bill Maher is a mixed bag

Occasionally funny, occasionally spot-on, always smug and full of himself. Still launching assaults at "political correctness" and too often crossing the line from justified criticism into a loss of perspective and context.

Some of his guests and panel discussions are worth watching but what really burns me is his unpreparedness in dealing with rightwing extremists he invites as guests, like Steve Bannon -- who came off as much smarter than Bill though nearly everything that came out of his mouth was a lie. Maher simply was unequal to the task of shooting down those lies. He laid what he thought were some clever traps which Bannon expected and deftly sidestepped while delivering his next rapid fire narrative. Maher simply says OK, then moves on to his next unsuccessful attempt to dispel the fallacies of his guest.

I found myself shouting at the TV, not for the first time at Maher's ineptitude in anything resembling a debate. I was done, but my wife still likes to watch his show so I rarely miss it. There is occasional value, but not enough to make it worthwhile overall.

Just my opinion.

[betsuni]

11. LOL

Old article. Oh, mel... nevermind. Why would anybody not want people to watch a talk show?

[kcr]

12. LOLOLOL

Why would anyone want to label someone as a liberal who isn't?

[betsuni]

13. Sorry, what?

Bill's donated at least three million dollars to elect Democrats, doesn't do the "both sides" thing or insinuate Democrats are corrupt corporate shills and neoliberals, status quo elites, etc. as others do, which is bullshit.

[SCantiGOP]

15. I'll stay out of this discussion

The same way I have avoided watching his show for about 3-4 years.