Bill Maher...new season starts tonight, and video of his take on Arizona shooting

I love Bill. Funny, quick witted, speaks his mind and intelligent albeit that he tends to "talk to" his audience.
 
Yes. He definitely speaks to his audience. But it's comedy, don't forget that. If he had valuable ideas, perspectives, et cetera he'd be in political office...he isn't.

It's very easy to pick apart government and make it amusing, especially when your audience is the sanctimonious left side of the political spectrum. When you feel superior to others, it feels good to laugh at them.

Furthermore, when your routine is based on the news you will never suffer from lack of material. I give him credit for figuring this out.

I don't like his face.
 
There is a longer version of that video on youtube somewhere..8 minutes I believe. I'll post it if I have time to find it.
 
Dr. Dwayne said:
Yes. He definitely speaks to his audience. But it's comedy, don't forget that. If he had valuable ideas, perspectives, et cetera he'd be in political office...he isn't.

It's very easy to pick apart government and make it amusing, especially when your audience is the sanctimonious left side of the political spectrum. When you feel superior to others, it feels good to laugh at them.

Furthermore, when your routine is based on the news you will never suffer from lack of material. I give him credit for figuring this out.

I don't like his face.
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1. No he wouldn't be. Political office is for other types of people... I'm not saying his ideas are valuable, what I'm saying is that it doesn't matter whether they are or not. I'm sure we have valuable ideas and perspectives and neither of us are in political office. Does that make our ideas etc. less significant?

2. Better than shoot them/talk about shooting them/inciting violence towards those. Being a member of the sanctimonious left side of the political spectrum (well US political spectrum) I can say that I don't feel superior to anyone. That being said, I do have a general dislike for those who incite, or promote violence.

3. :lol: :lol:
 
Dr. Dwayne said:
This really belongs in the Entertainment Forum, though.
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Is Bill Maher really just a comedian? Bill makes a political stance so I am not sure he deserves to be disrespected and be to be in the Entertainment section. In parallel, Glen Beck is a comedian trying to be a serious political commentator.

Maybe we need a new section to keep up with the times of comedians morphing into political pundits. Com-pol section? ;)
 
sglowrider said:
Is Bill Maher really just a comedian? Bill makes a political stance so I am not sure he deserves to be disrespected and be to be in the Entertainment section. In parallel, Glen Beck is a comedian trying to be a serious political commentator.

Maybe we need a new section to keep up with the times of comedians morphing into political pundits. Com-pol section? ;)
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I remember Bono said something in the early 1990s about comedians being the future of social activism in entertainment, like it was passing from music to them.

It was probably the last intriguing thing he said before fully developing into an annoying twat. Nevertheless I think it was very apt.

I think what I mean is that if Bill Maher was a poster he'd solely be into collecting green laughing smilies, and that would include him aiming his posts at a particular demographic to maximize his success. I'm not faulting his template, it's well thought out and executed even better.
 
Maher's just a contrarian. I think he's funny at times, but sometimes it just seems like he's pandering to his "leftist" audience without giving much thought to what he says. But at the end of the day, he's a comedian so I don't expect to be enlightened by his show. It's good for a few laughs.

FWIW, I think the opportunists who are shifting the blame towards Palin and co are way off the mark. There's no evidence that Loughner's views are influenced by the loudmouths on the right - he's just a loon.
 
I am not a Conservative by any means, but some of his attacks on the right are taken too far. He reminds me of Olbermann sometimes.

They're both correct sometimes, both say things that are often very apt and intriguing, but they are also very often hysterical, and he often becomes a leftist version of the rights he often denounces. I've watched his show for a few years now, and it seems, to me at least, that his commentaries are becoming far more vitriolic.

That said, I often watch his show, and it is quite funny...New Rules are usually some of the best 3-4 minutes on tv
 
New Rule: Americans Must Realize What Makes NFL Football So Great: Socialism

New Rule: With the Super Bowl only a week away, Americans must realize what makes NFL football so great: socialism. That's right, for all the F-15 flyovers and flag waving, football is our most successful sport because the NFL takes money from the rich teams and gives it to the poor teams... just like President Obama wants to do with his secret army of ACORN volunteers. Green Bay, Wisconsin has a population of 100,000. Yet this sleepy little town on the banks of the feck-if-I-know River has just as much of a chance of making it to the Super Bowl as the New York Jets - who next year need to just shut the hell up and play.

Now, me personally, I haven't watched a Super Bowl since 2004, when Janet Jackson's nipple popped out during half time, and that split-second glimpse of an unrestrained black titty burned my eyes and offended me as a Christian. But I get it - who doesn't love the spectacle of juiced-up millionaires giving each other brain damage on a giant flat-screen TV with a picture so realistic it feels like Ben Roethlisberger is in your living room, grabbing your sister?

It's no surprise that some 100 million Americans will watch the Super Bowl next week - that's 40 million more than go to church on Christmas - suck on that, Jesus! It's also 85 million more than watched the last game of the World Series, and in that is an economic lesson for America. Because football is built on an economic model of fairness and opportunity, and baseball is built on a model where the rich almost always win and the poor usually have no chance. The World Series is like Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. You have to be a rich bitch just to play. The Super Bowl is like Tila Tequila. Anyone can get in.

Or to put it another way, football is more like the Democratic philosophy. Democrats don't want to eliminate capitalism or competition, but they'd like it if some kids didn't have to go to a crummy school in a rotten neighborhood while others get to go to a great school and their Dad gets them into Harvard. Because when that happens "achieving the American dream" is easy for some, and just a fantasy for others.

That's why the NFL runs itself in a way that would fit nicely on Glenn Beck's chalkboard - they literally share the wealth, through salary caps and revenue sharing - TV is their biggest source of revenue, and they put all of it in a big commie pot and split it 32 ways. Because they don't want anyone to fall too far behind. That's why the team that wins the Super Bowl picks last in the next draft. Or what the Republicans would call "punishing success."

Baseball, on the other hand, is exactly like the Republicans, and I don't just mean it's incredibly boring. I mean their economic theory is every man for himself. The small market Pittsburgh Steelers go to the Super Bowl more than anybody - but the Pittsburgh Pirates? Levi Johnston has sperm that will not grow up and live long enough to see the Pirates in a World Series. Their payroll is about $40 million, and the Yankees is $206 million. They have about as much chance at getting in the playoffs as a poor black teenager from Newark has of becoming the CEO of Halliburton. That's why people stop going to Pirate games in May, because if you're not in the game, you become indifferent to the fate of the game, and maybe even get bitter - that's what's happening to the middle class in America. It's also how Marie Antoinette lost her head.

So, you kind of have to laugh - the same angry white males who hate Obama because he's "redistributing wealth" just love football, a sport that succeeds economically because it does exactly that. To them, the NFL is as American as hot dogs, Chevrolet, apple pie, and a second, giant helping of apple pie. But then again, they think they're macho because their sport is football, when honestly - is there anything gayer than wearing another man's shirt?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-football-sociali_b_815673.html
 
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