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From the sublime -- no, from the ridiculous to the more ridiculous

By Michael J. Smith on Sunday July 23, 2006 09:02 PM

I've always instinctively loathed Bill Maher. I couldn't even tell you why, except that his smirk puts him into a category for which my private-language term is "reactionary cynicism." (I'm a bit of cynic myself, of course, but that's a whole nother thing.)

Anyway. You wait long enough and sooner or later a guy will show you why you had a Doctor Fell response to him. Bill has finally come through:

... watching George Bush talk about Israel the last week has reminded me of a feeling that I hadn't felt in so long I forgot what it felt like: the feeling of pride when your president says what you want your president to say, especially in a matter that chokes you up a bit.... on Israel, I love it that a U.S. president doesn't pretend Arab-Israeli conflict is an even-steven proposition.... There was no entity of Arabs called "Palestine" before Israel made the desert bloom. If those 600,000 original Palestinian refugees had been handled with maturity by their Arab brethren, who had nothing but space to put them, they could have moved on....

.... the feeling I've had watching Israel defend herself and a US president defend Israel [is]... I LOVE being on the side of my president, and mouthing "You go, boy" when he gets it right.

One side of me wants to think he's trying to be ironical here, and another, stronger side -- the one that's always found Maher a smug, repellent, self-congratulatory little creep -- wants to think he's being -- well, "serious" is never the right word for any Israel apologist, but what I mean is, he really means it.

Comments (12)

Tim D:

The term "reactionary cynicism" is spot on. The following adulation and "that-a-boy"'s in the first page of comments is pretty indicative of the sorry state of liberal politics today. I mean what's really infuriating is that he is regurgitating the most spurious Zionist bile imaginable - of the Joan Peters variety at that. Interestingly enough, however, if you just substitute a few words, Moyers' specious claims can be more or less salvaged. Observe:

"There was no entity of Jews called "Israel" before Palestinians were forcibly expelled en masse."

"If those 600,000 original Jewish refugees had been handled with maturity by their European and American brethren, who had nothing but space to put them, they could have moved on [and be much safer and happier today]."

Maher is an entertainer of '80s vintage observational stand-up origins. As such, at least from a Hollywood perspective, Maher doesn't really have any outwardly authentic views on issues. Maher has a series of poses he strikes in order to entertain his target audience. All stand-up comics do.

Any seriously heartfelt views he might have he almost certainly keeps to himself and amongst his close friends. This is the only way comics stay sane.

So don't take anything Maher says seriously. He's not telling his audience anything they don't already believe. He's just parroting back their own views to them in an entertaining way.

Remember Aristotle. Comedy is anger with it's make-up on.

js paine:

never caught
the inner source
of this fellows gig

no fact base could account for this
volte face

his talking "truths"

about 9/11 and palestine nationhood obviously draw from two different regions of his data base
and one hits and one misses


then again
no entertainer
in hollywood ever got hurt by giving israel an unanticipated
blow job
nor uncle sam either

so its a good twofer

j s paine:

a gem:

by senior maher blabit

" Israel (a country that is held to a standard for "restraint" that no other country ever is asked to meet, but that's another story)"

clearly he's working off
a personal internal
data base that by whatever
weird means
constructed
seems like it was
wired in
from tel aviv

js paine:

btw

do you folks like the waltz around on whether to call the snagged
IDF dough boys
captured or kidnapped ???

I like to think of them as 'on hiatus.'

bluu:

Das Mäher has been a pseudo-fascist asshole for a long time I think. Whenever I've heard of him he's voicing his support for the president's wars (only tactical critiscism from Der Mäher, like the troops aren't useing enough violence and shit). He also put out a book "When you ride alone you ride with bin Ladin" which he said was based on the "wonderful government propaganda" of WWII that "told us what to think".

Matthew:

do any of you people have a sense of humor? are the irony meters turned off in your heads? the man has made a living out of being a sarcastic comedian who has clearly voiced his libertarian/liberal views for the past twenty-five years. he gave the idea of the war in iraq a chance last year - which i thought was the low-point of his career - but he came out swinging against all things bush recently. maybe do a little research on the man's body of work before you throw these sideways criticisms.

actually, to take this a little further, these postings are exactly what's wrong with the waning liberal movement. you are so much more interested in attacking sympathetic, left-leaning figures than risking a real fight with the leaders of the right. it's a lot more comfortable out there on daddyy's computer talking about people that aren't lefty enough.

Keith:

He dated Anne Coulter...

That's all you need to know.

wah:

Bill Maher seems to believe that the life of a dog in the pound is worth more than that of a human born in Lebanon.

Really, see his PETA rants for proof.

And he's never been a "liberal", always been a liberaltarian. And now his neocon roots are showing.

js paine:

mathew
thanx

its amazing
even a breath of
misbegotten
stale contrary air
can do wonders
for a blog like this
but come earlier in the choral sing out
if you want
to get the pidgeon droppings you
are entitled to

only one point
u write:
"... these postings are exactly what's wrong ...
you are so much more interested in attacking sympathetic, left-leaning figures than risking a real fight with the leaders of the right. "


the repugs are not the main enemy of progress
today in amerika my friend

liberals are

and oh ...

this is not
a liberal site
this is a site
that slings shit
its shit exclusively
at liberals
particularly cruise missle liberals
and friends liberals
like
hyper zionic israel

so next time ...
if there is a next time for u .....

wear your
goggles

against israeli government actions and policies is being anti-semitic?

funny ha ha.

Bill is the man.

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