Bill Maher Talks Sense About ISIS

by Catherine Giordano



Bill Maher talks sense with Chris Matthews

TGBM—Thank God for Bill Maher. (Maher will forgive me for invoking the deity; he knows that I only mean it metaphorically.) Sometimes he seems like he is the only political commentator who talks sense. Maher was a guest on Hardball with Chris Mathews on MSNBC just before the President’s Address on September 10, 2014, and he talked sense about ISIS.  

In polls, 94% of Americans are aware of the ISIS beheadings of two American journalists. (I don’t think 94% of Americans could tell you whether it was night or day.) So people are afraid, and when they are afraid, they like tough talk. 

Who is one of the toughest talkers? Who else but Chris Christie? He said “They wouldn’t have tried that with me.” “Why not,” Maher said, “because you are fat?” Everyone wants the president to talk like John Wayne or Arnold Schwarzenegger or Ronald Reagan^1. No one is talking about what specific action can be taken. Real life isn’t a movie where you can just blow everything up² and live happily ever after. 

Thank God (sorry once again, Maher) we have a sober president who doesn’t shoot off his mouth, but thinks things through and makes the best possible decision. Sure, I’d like to go in there and blow them off the map, but that is not a good idea unless it is just a movie. Maher says that we need to stop responding emotionally and “calm down.” Amen! (Sorry, again). 

Obama is a great president because he doesn’t act on polls³. He is not going to charge into Iraq and Syria just to raise his poll numbers.  As Maher says, “This country can’t “organize our foreign policy by what the crazies say.”  

How can you tell when Ted Cruz
says something crazy stupid?
His mouth is moving.

And no one is a bigger “crazy” than Ted Cruz in Maher’s opinion. Maher believes that even Ted Cruz doesn’t believe what Ted Cruz says. Maher suspects that Cruz gets his staff together and asks, “Is this stupid enough?” 

Maher didn’t do a lot of jokes during his interview with Chris Mathews, but he did talk a lot of sense. And Mathews, who has a very bad habit of interrupting his guests to go on a rant of his own, wisely let Maher talk sense to America.   

Real Time with Bill Maher is back on HBO on September 12, 2014. The show will be on at 9pm instead of the regular 10pm time slot because Maher will be doing a comedy special at 10pm. It’s a double header. Don’t miss it.

 Footnotes

¹Talking about Ronald Regan, Maher reminded us that Reagan, talked tough when the Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up, and then he did nothing except turn tail and run by withdrawing our troops. I have to give Reagan credit for not acting as if he believed his own BS. I don’t think today’s Republicans would have as much sense. There wouldn’t even be an ISIS if Bush and Cheney hadn’t thought going into Iraq to BSU (Blow Sh*t Up) was such a good idea.

²Talking about blowing stuff up, I just saw Guardians of the Galaxy--the most BSU movie ever. I’ve ever seen such a complete waste of time.

³Talking about polls, Maher said Republicans aren’t afraid of polls. If they see an approval rating of 43%, they say, “Yippie, we only have to raise it 8 points.” And then they do it, no matter how many lies they have to tell. Maher says, “It is in their DNA.”  For more on this, read Zombie Lies. 

Read about the September 12, 2014 Real Time with Bill Maher.

After you read Zombie Lies, go see the entire interview with Bill Maher on Hardball with Chris Mathews.