Bill Maher said toniught that Obama was trailing McSame in the white women votes.

[BrklynLiberal]

Is this the latest assessment? I thought I had heard that there had been a bounce back to Obama after that crazy barracuda bounce.

[DesertFlower]

1. i heard today that obama is doing

better with white women while McCain is doing better with men.

[Miss Chybil]

2. I think CNN said today Obama was ahead with white women voters. nt

[gateley]

3. I heard something similar to what you did -- I THINK on Rachel??

I think Maher is wrong - not au currant.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

4. Bill has been smoking too much pot.

First off, Obama is now leading ALL women!

Secondly, I'm sick and tired of him complaining about why Obama isn't beating McSame by double-digits and blaming Democrats, but saying NOTHING about the impact of the M$M and RACE!! I was shocked that neither Naomi nor Andrew gave him an answer on that. It pissed me off. Andrew knows damn well why the race is "close." It's due to the two reasons I gave.

[Beregond2]

7. Mahre is a pompous dick.

[ruggerson]

8. Uh, they talked about race at length

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

Yes, but they didn't connect the dots. Bill has been criticizing Obama for weeks now...

complaining that he hasn't "hit hard enough," complaining that he "isn't playing hard ball, etc." What Bill doesn't seem to grasp is that Obama CANNOT do that!! If he does, he'd be branded as the "scary black man." Neither he nor the panelists hammered this point at all. Furthermore, they didn't discuss how the M$M simply refuses to do its job and tell the truth about McSame. Yes, Bill may have mentioned it in passing but he didn't go far enough in connecting the dots.

Bottom line, this race is close for two primary reasons:

1. Obama is BLACK!!
2. The M$M is in the tank for John McCain. They love him. Always has, always will. And they simply refuse to call McSame out for all of his lies, ties to lobbyists, flip-flops, etc.

[ruggerson]

16. Sullivan said that Obama has to be ahead by five to seven points

in the polls in order for him to win (because of the Bradley effect). Maher quoted some poll that said that independents would break to McCain in large numbers. Maher then went on to say that the unspoken reason is because Obama is a black man. He said the only reason the race is close is because of Obama's skin color.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

24. Yes, they did, but I if Maher knows that this campaign is about race, why does he continue

to complain about Obama not hitting back hard enough? Why does he continue to bash Obama for being a "pussy"? If he knows and understands the underpinnings of race in this campaign, then he needs to stop complaining and asking these kinds of questions. I think it is totally irresponsible. He should take some time to educate his audience about why race is so central in this election and stop "blaming the victim" when he bashes Obama. Obama cannot change his skin color!!!

[ruggerson]

25. Because Maher is an entertainer

and, frankly, I'm not convinced he even wants Obama to win, because his show is all about bashing Republicans and he would lose a lot of material. He did the same thing to Kerry that he does to Obama - emasculates them both. He's a bit Maureen Dowd-like in that regard. He hold liberal/libertarian views, hates Republicans, yet chronically bashes Democrats whenever they have a chance to retake the country.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

28. I think it's irresponsible, and quite frankly, his show is getting worse to me.

He tries too hard to appease the other side and comes off as disingenuous. I see what you're saying, but he needs to understand the prevailing narrative here. Race is the #1 issue in this campaign, and the M$M has been relentless in pushing this meme. When I hear Bill pushing the same "why is this race close" meme, it just sickens me. Bill is smarter than that. He KNOWS precisely why this race is close.

[abumbyanyothername]

38. Democrats are pussies is a longstanding Maher complaint. nt

[abumbyanyothername]

37. But the independents are actually breaking Obama. nt.

[ruggerson]

39. I don't necessarily agree with Maher

just reporting what he said.

[CakeGrrl]

14. Tonight he actually DID mention race

via that "blinking McCain using Morse code" bit, signalling voters that they were about to elect a black man.

No one really talked about how McCain gets a boost from the MSM, though Maher did say in his opening bit that they usually miss everything and Andrew Sullivan said some of the media, but not all, are doing their jobs.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

19. But I'm specifically referring to Bill's tired complaint about how Obama and the Dems

aren't fighting back. He is not connecting the dots. Obama has been out there day in and day out slamming McSame hard on the economy, on foreign affairs, etc. And yet, the M$M refuses to show him. All they show of him is 30 second sound bites of lofty rhetoric. They don't show parts of his speeches where he is actually speaking on specific policy proposals. And so Bill has been complaining about the polls being so close, but he refuses to open his eyes that it is the MEDIA that won't show Obama hitting back hard.

Why is this so hard for people to understand?????!?!?!?!?

[ruggerson]

22. ...

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

26. I changed that because I thought it was unfair...and because I've been drinking too much!

;)

Honestly, though. I'm sick of people complaining about "why is the race so close" when they KNOW why it's close! We go through this everyday. It is easy to understand. I think a lot of people, including myself, are sick and tired of this question!!

[ruggerson]

27. Well I completely agree with you

Obama should be ten points ahead. It's the 55 and up crowd (sorry to generalize) who still look at skin color before anything else. I thought Sullivan's rant was pretty good - it's about Americans redefining their country in their own head - and there is a part of the population that is scared to death about it.

[Hestia]

33. Obama's up 9 points tonight! Jeez, KO had the numbers tonite - get that meme out!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

29. What do you mean by this and why are you being so hostile?

What have I said that is wrong?

[ruggerson]

31. I deleted it

because I realized you deleted the word "jerk." Nothing hostile at all. :)

[napi21]

5. I think the show was recorded before they released the new data.

Rachel had the new info on her show tonight, and McNuts is down amoung WW.

[4lbs]

10. The show was live.

It airs Friday night, 8:00pm Pacific time.

Even though I'm on the west coast, I get HBO East, and it airs Live, Real Time, at 8:00pm Pacific (or 11:00pm Eastern).

[Cha]

6. Somebody get Maher on the

right page. OTH, it will just make women more determined to get out and vote for Obama if they hear that kind of crap.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. He's basing it on one poll that is widely disputed

Bill Maher likes to make arguments. This piece of data allowed him to make an argument that he wanted to make. I wouldn't consider it an accurate reflection of the electorate, especially since numerous more recent polls dispute the data pretty definitively.

[cynatnite]

11. Here you go...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20080919/cm_thenation/45362158_1

[Tarheel_Dem]

23. Thanks for posting that. I wish I'd had that when I emailed the show....(nt)

[mrreowwr_kittty]

12. Gore and Kerry lost the white women's vote.

This is an attempt on the part of the MSM to create a "concern" so they can keep the horserace going. African American and Hispanic women are overwhelmingly for Obama and will carry him over the top with women.

[abumbyanyothername]

40. I hate to say this because I wish issues mattered more,

but women are going to break for a young and good looking Obama over an old and creepy McCain in a big way.

And Palin, with her slut-flirt mannerisms, is just going to drive more women away.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

41. I think you're right.

Re: Palin, women are much better judges of other women than men are. Sarah Palin is an affront to women who have worked hard and succeeded on their own merit. Palin is the type of woman who is happy to be a token and fucks over other women because she can't stand the competition. Personally, she reminds me of one of those "mean girls" who tormented me in 8th grade.

[ShadowLiberal]

13. Even if that's true Obama's support among all women certainly gives him the women vote right now

I mean Blacks and Hispanics heavily support democrats, Hispanics give the democrats a 3 to 1 advantage right now, and like 85 to 90 percent of blacks regularly vote for democrats. The only other major race group with the numbers to effect things, Asians, is split like 50/50 overall (counting men).

[Tarheel_Dem]

15. I emailed him, and thought he might correct himself on Overtime, but

alas, I was ignored. I agree with others that Bill wanted to make this ridiculous argument, and it's just not backed up by the facts. Rachel did a very good job on this topic on last night's show. If Bill is going to go live with inaccuracies, he owes it to his audience to correct himself.

And I find myself agreeing with Andrew Sullivan more & more, I think Bill should let up on religion. Afterall, there are people of faith on all sides of the political spectrum. Religion seems to be an obsession with him.

[BrklynLiberal]

20. I liked Sullivan a lot more than I did Maher on tonight's show...and agreed with him more as well.

[Tarheel_Dem]

35. I liked the points Sullivan was making, but I was also annoyed that he

seemed to think that only he had the answers. Naomi Klein is an extremely intelligent and articulate advocate, I wish she had been allowed more speaking time.

[BrklynLiberal]

45. Yes..she was not given the chance she deserved. What she did manage to say was very good.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

32. EXACTLY!! That's exactly the point I'm trying to make.

Why is Bill so hostile when he knows why this race is close? He's pretending to be argumentative and I don't believe it. He's very smart and knows what's going on.

[Imagevision]

17. Mccain has been losing women votes daily - Palin has been losing women votes

another 6-7 days and it'll clearly be mouthed by even... Larry King

[seabeyond]

18. at LEAST two days, maybe three that info has been debunked. he gets it wrong, GOOD,

too many times.

[Enthusiast]

21. He just isn't up to date on the latest polls. nt

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

34. It reminds me of the average American voters who watch T.V. talking heads and are

swayed by everything they say. Come on, Bill. You are a journalist. You know how they do and you know damn well how the M$M is in the tank for John McCain and the Rethugs. You know better! To hear you repeat the same talking points just makes me nauseous

[JamesA1102]

30. Maher is just like any other pundit.

He starts with his premise and ignores any facts that contradict it.

[krkaufman]

36. Bill doesn't always have time to do his research ....

... what with all that time spent staring in the mirror. He's too celebrity-oriented to be on top of recent news; but he eventually comes around to getting it close to right.

[MattP]

42. So what if he did get on thing wrong?

It was a great show I don't see why when someone says one thing people don't like they have to be called names. No one says everything that everybody on this board agrees with and I don't think that they have to, acting like they have to agree with everything we do is what the Rethuglicons do.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

43. Last CBS poll had Obama +2 among WW

[Imagevision]

44. I speak tto women who say that at first they were for Palin then go; "but after a while

she sounds like a schill, a phoney.

[otohara]

46. I Thought Maher Was Wrong

on this point - had to run to DU to find out the truth -