Bill Maher: 'Obama is a Terrible Negotiator - Does He Not Even Know a Jew?'

[MrObama]

Run time: 00:57 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOdF6KoFW4A   Posted on YouTube: April 09, 2011 By YouTube Member: OnlyWaxing Views on YouTube: 404   Posted on DU: April 09, 2011 By DU Member: MrObama Views on DU: 4827

 

[Cleita]

1. Or an Arab.

I guess it proves Obama isn't an Arab or Muslim as claimed, considering that bartering is an art form in the Arab and Israeli world.

[frazzled]

2. I'm sorry, but that is not funny ...

It feeds into a stereotype of Jews as cheap finaglers that caused much hatred and death in the past. Leave it to Bill Maher to be totally politically incorrect.

[AlbertCat]

12. It feeds into a stereotype of Jews

I'm sorry but it MAKES FUN of a stereotype.... it doesn't feed it. It owns it.

Now, coming from the lips of someone like, say, McConnell or Boehner.... then you know they mean it. The person telling the joke matters, y'know.

[frazzled]

26. I disagree completely ...

The only comedian who can make a joke like that is a Jew himself, which Maher is not (despite his learning rather late that his mother was of Jewish heritage). This is the same rule that dictates that "nigger" jokes are absolutely not funny when told by a white person. If Henny Youngman or Jerry Seinfeld told this joke, it might be (semi) funny. They didn't. And frankly, they probably wouldn't.

Get it? If you don't, you shouldn't be on a progressive board.

[AlbertCat]

28. Get it? If you don't, you shouldn't be on a progressive board.

Your hyper-authoritarianism certainly does not seem appropriate an a progressive board. You don't get the joke and you're telling me where I should be and what I should think and do?

Whatever...

[liberation]

32. Some people are able to find red herrings even in the middle of the driest desert

[HankyDubs]

22. We have a sense of humor about this whole thing

Please don't be offended for us...its kinda offensive.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Politically Incorrect a late-night, political talk show hosted by Bill Maher

that ran from 1993 to 2002.

Plus, from his own lips:
"My mother is Jewish. But I never even knew I was half-Jewish until I was a teen-ager. I was just so frightened about the Catholics and everything that was going on there in the church -- and I was never, you know, molested or anything. And I'm a little insulted. I guess they never found me attractive. And that's really their loss. "

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0205/24/lkl.00.html

[frazzled]

27. Like John Kerry is Jewish.

Not.

[sulphurdunn]

40. Absolutely.

John Kerry and Bill Maher are not authentic Jews like Joe Lieberman and John Stewart. They don't even look like real Jews. Even if you couldn't tell Jews from Gentiles by looking at them, you'd at least know Stewart was a Jew by his last name. :)

[grahamhgreen]

30. He should have a show by that title!

[tclambert]

34. He could have said "Hollywood agent."

and it would still be funny. Okay, a disproportionate number of Hollywood agents are Jewish.

How about if he said, "Obama negotiates almost as well as an American Indian?" (I'm part Cherokee, so I claim a dispensation on suggesting that joke. However, I will point out that Cherokees made one of the best land negotiations in American history when they sold Kentucky to Daniel Boone. You see, they didn't live there. The land belonged to the Shawnee. (Like many Daniel Boone stories, that one may not be entirely true.))

[theaocp]

3. Perhaps this was what he was referring to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n3LL338aGA

"This bloke won't haggle!"

[ScottLand]

4. Straight to the point. Priceless!

[txlibdem]

18. Especially the end: Oh well, there's one born every minute.

And we elected him President!
:thumbsup:

[Enthusiast]

5. No one is THAT bad a negotiator.

There comes a point when we have to acknowledge the truth about Obama. Otherwise we continue to be taken advantage of.

[dotymed]

6. +100

[DeSwiss]

13. Exactly.

I've said this same thing before:

If he's not crazy and he's not stupid, then all that remains is that what he's doing is intentional.


"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." ~Sherlock Holmes, "The Sign of Four"

[txlibdem]

19. So true. (n/t)

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[asthmaticeog]

9. This Jew laughed.

But hey, thanks for stickin' up for us. Welcome to DU. :patriot:

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[freedom fighter jh]

14. Same here.

[cpwm17]

20. Your subject line is correct

He is one of the worst racists on US TV. His racism is directed at Arabs. Apparently in the US it is OK for phony liberals like Bill Maher to make such comments against Arabs, and phony liberals like to promote his videos.

I can't comment on this video because I can't watch this smug bigot.

[AlbertCat]

29. because I can't watch this smug bigot.

That's very open minded and progressive of you. We are all soooooo impressed.

[cpwm17]

36. But it is liberal of me

I've watched Bill Maher many times in the past, and I'm done with his extreme bigotry. But I guess "progressives" have no problem with it.

He makes comments against Arabs (I know, David Duke doesn't talk bad about Arabs) that would make David Duke blush. But I guess "progressives" are fine with that.

[jillan]

8. I'm Jewish and I thought that was funny. If I couldn't laugh at stereotypes of Jews, I would never

be able to watch Jon Stewart. He is always making Jewish stereotype jokes.

[JohnnyRingo]

16. Self delete ... Wrong reply to wrong post

oops

[Bucky]

37. Being Jewish is simply funnier than being Scottish

Scots get the same rap for being cheapskates. So do people from Monterrey. But if Bill Mahar had said "Doesn't Obama know any Scots?" he wouldn't have got more than a polite twitter from the audience. Only Scots think Scottish people being cheap is funny.... but even they won't laugh at that joke because those assholes are all a bunch of cold, humorless stiffs. And of course, if Mahar had said, "Doesn't Obama know any Regiomontanos?" the audience would have just gotten dumb quizzical looks on their faces, not because all Californians are stoned-out-of-their-gourds morons, but because they're all bigoted against Mexicans.

Ha-ha-ha, I'm so glad we've got this thread where we can celebrate the joy of throwing around crude stereotypes. As a cross burning Southerner, I find it to be a great relief.

[IcyPeas]

42. Scots are known for being "thrifty" not cheap.

[horsehead]

10. Bill Maher IS Jewish

God forbid he should be able to laugh at himself. SMH.

[Lorien]

21. Yep, one of his parents is Jewish and the other is Catholic

but somehow he doesn't seem to be saddled with too much guilt! :P

[Bucky]

38. That makes him a cheap drunk.

So really he has nothing to feel guilty about.

[MadBadger]

43. Being Jewish isnt apart of who he is at all. Dont make me laugh

Hes probably the most vocal atheist in this country

[Rhiannon12866]

44. He was brought up in the Catholic Church, his father's religion.

Obviously, he's lapsed. ;)

[TheeHazelnut]

15. a right wing clip designed to attack Maher

notice the "Newsbusters" logo at the end? That's their mutant slob version of Media Matters.

[JohnnyRingo]

17. Italians, Irish, blacks, blondes, Mexicans and Poles

French, Canadians, Germans and Chinese.
Catholics, Mormans, Muslims, and Jews.

Every one of them has a set of jokes and a stereotype to exploit. No honest person can say they've been offended at every joke they've heard from the above list. That would limit one's humor to chicken jokes and Nickelodium.

As a dumb white sock wearing Pollock, I'd like to know where Jews get this "joke umbrella" they seem to possess.

Did Maher's joke underscore that he hates Jews? Did the joke involve a sensitive issue like an oven? Can you forgive him for having harmless fun at the expense of some early 20th century New York tailor who happened to drive a hard bargain?

[JohnnyK]

24. What's he saying about Jews?!? LINK to this episode!

Link to the full program, Real Time April 8, 2011:
http://www.fileserve.com/file/dTpUZNS/real.time.with.bill.maher.2011.04.08.hdtv.xvid-fqm.avi

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

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[tclambert]

33. A jew, a muslim, a catholic, and an atheist walk into a bar . . .

and the bartender says, "What is this, some kind of a joke?"

[JohnnyK]

35. Billy Boy keeps it Real.

[kathysart_decoration]

39. Jews, Polaks and Jokes

I grew up in Milwaukee, WI and in the 50's and 60's, especially, Polish jokes were the rage. I am Polish, as are a good number of people in Milwaukee, and I heard many of the best Polish jokes I repeated said by non-Poles. Didn't bother me at all, and I now understand, as do most people, that all ethnic jokes are based on some bit of truth. I recognized the grain of truth in almost every Polish joke I heard.
What Bill said was not said with maliciousness. I lived in New York City for 4 years and in certain areas of the city you could hear Jewish men standing on street corners haggling about the price of whatever they were selling. Quite frankly, if Obama could hire one of those professional hagglers to do his negotiating, we might not be in the pickle we are now clearly in. He stinks at it, they don't. I think what Bill said was insightful and funny.

[frazzled]

41. You didn't like the Jews he did have ...

Because they didn't negotiate and gave away the store to the Republicans: Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod.

So the joke fails on several counts:

(1) Despite your bizarre memory of seeing "Jews" haggling on street corners with their wares (when did you live there, 1913?), the stereotype is wrong and offensive.

(2) Obama has certainly met Jews: his closest advisors were Jews. Hell, his house in Hyde Park is across the street from a large (reform) Jewish synagogue. His earliest mentor, Abner Mikva was a Jew.

(3) The Jews in the Obama administration were considered by Maher not to have negotiated well at all.