Bill Maher on Larry King Live 2/12/2009 Part 3 of 3

[Righton2000]

Was Clinton fiscally conservative when he taxed and spent?

[Guitarron28]

His humor is always unexpected in my opinion..sometimes when you watch a comedian, you can almost anticipate the outcome of a story, joke etc...maybe it's the fact that its political humor, and since I am not familiar with this sphere of thinking, I might be thrown off a bit..whatever it is, it is a unique voice, that I am happy to hear

[robsteries]

make the world better and go for president

[richiemo2000]

Why dosen't Bill Maher run for office? Seriously though, if I wasn't Canadian and lived in the U.S. I would vote for him for sure.

[dcderek24]

@richiemo2000 i like maher but hes definetly not someone qualified to be president

[richiemo2000]

@dcderek24 When he was asked about that, he said it would never work because he would campain "Fuck Your Jobs and Drugs Are Good", lol, I love his honesty.

[speakoutbrad]

FDR increased the tax rate on the richest americans to 95%. It deepened the depression. WW2 ended the depression and England empire. Read your history. I've never got a job from a poor man.

[YKantBobReed]

@speakoutbrad That's true, but anytime you take something to an extreme it will fail (95% tax is an extreme). Here's something we can all agree on: WWII ended the depression.

That was WWII "Tax and Spend". The government basically built airplanes, etc. and threw them into the ocean. If you don't think it was WWII's necessity for colossal *government spending* that got us out of the depression you're probably too busy ignoring facts that disagree with your fantasy to finish reading this post.

[originalMC]

@YKantBobReed ww2 ended the depression but the depression was an implosion to begin with to implement social security.

[speakoutbrad]

Clinton had the Republicans to make him get in line on spending. They shut down the government. Obama is scarey look at his damn friends.

[GuardianAngel5150]

If you wanna know why Obama and company cant get things done? It's because people like Maher represent that ilk of the political spectrum saying Edwards Infidelity is OK and not EVIL

This nonchalant some things are ok imorrally and others arent is why the Left is up shit creek right now and dont know why

[sean2015]

Both parties are up sh-t creek right now.

Maher makes some valid points in this segment which I think both cons and libs can agree on. At 5:28-5:45 he hits the nail on the head when he talks about the recession being a by-product of people living beyond their means, and the country using credit to produce an aura of prosperity.

[godofthisshit]

So you think his infidelity is EVIL how so?

[retownsend]

WTF! They don't need a teleprompter? Obama did a terrible job when his teleprompter went out!

Have you seen the number of servants dedicated to MO (more than any other first lady in history).

[guitardude1243]

YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION? This means only one thing....COMMUNIST!!!!!

[guitardude1243]

Obama can use a teleprompter, Bush couldn't. I'm not against Bush, but he was not a good orator.

[dovespin1]

@guitardude1243 that's funny, as dumb as i think Bush is, I'm sure he can read. in fact, he should've used a teleprompter lol. then we wouldn't hear things like "we're going after the doers of evil, the evildoers..." lol

[sean2015]

I wonder if Bush was using a teleprompter when he said to the former president of Brazil: "I didn't know you had black people in your country?"

[dovespin1]

LOL, he should have, then he could blame something instead of his ignorance.

[Akaneia896]

Bill Maher is funny, smart and knowldgeable.

[boatstaylor]

This guy is such a prick!

[cuevasdecamuy]

the reasons for teleprompters is so you people dont say "I believe people and fish can co-exist" - Bush

[dovespin1]

@cuevasdecamuy LMAO

[HardyHarz]

lol, why is everyone hung up on the prompter comment? There were a lot of points made. He was trying to convey that they seem like real, ordinary people. Which they do. It's like you can't see the forest for the trees. Listen to the POINTS he's making.

[checkcall123]

You are so correct! And erockrock238 if you really think Bill Maher is dumb I feel sorry for you...

[dovespin1]

@HardyHarz absolutely, obama doesn't need a teleprompter, he uses one as an aid. if you've seen obama in press conferences, his answers are incredibly cogent and well thoughtout, and he didnt have teleprompters for them. i think since palin was caught reading her hand to remind her of issues which should be 2nd nature, i think the teleprompter talk will subside lol

[erockerock238]

lol if you think that obama, or any president that was president while teleprompters existed didn't use them...you are duuuuuuuuuummmmmmbbbbbbbbbbb like Bill Maher

[HaT223]

obama uses teleprompter but still is 1000x better speaker than bush.

[vanityvideo]

Obama doesn't need a teleprompter loll what is maher smoking

[Krivc89]

he's smoking pot... seriously...

[BusinessIDBAI]

How dare someone giving a speech read from something so they don't forget what they're wanting to get across. What bastards.

[gr8southerntrendk1ll]

obama doesnt use prompters? yeah right

[youvexme]

and he can read too. I find that refreshing.

[mgg80]

hahahahahaha

[Yeandeezy]

gotta love bill maher

[fomastephanovitch]

Joe Biden speaks his mind?

He's a little short of the pre-reqs isn't he?

He had Rahm Emanuel on his show, I hope he had some garlic and a silver crucifix!

[15LeBob]

Maher's on point....yet again.

[thx291]

Barack Obama doesn't need a teleprompter???

[werther11]

Love you, Bill. If your girlfriend(s) ever gets tired of hearing you talk, I'm waiting!!!!

[crazyray22]

"She makes Bush looks like a professor" very funny

[undersolo]

I have not watched him in a while and I glad to see that this is still up. We need him to clean our political palates once in a while.

Mr Maher, don't ever change!

[twtheisen]

Bill Maher is certainly entertaining, but is very one dimensional.

I am curious to hear from Bill as to where he gets the majority of his information. Perhaps, he should take in some info. from a variety of sources and not just from countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC.

He does not research all of the topics he discusses and it shows, but at least he admits it to a degree.

I guess fiction is more fun for some people.

[doctaword]

He thinks extremely realistically

Occam's Razor applies to his thinking greatly

I love him

[cmattporter]

I always wondered where he got his information... In saying that at-least he has the balls to say its his personal thoughts.

But Bill is so great because he is a realist and puts into play a lot of political satire. And i would also say he is not anything near an extremest about his views!

[proopslove]

He reads. :) You should try it sometime.

[Chatterov]

Bill, if you are hoping to have Palin on board, for comedy's sake, then you are no different from Rush Limbaugh who has said that he wants to see Obama fail. When you say that you hope to have Palin, you implicitly mean that you want to see America fail.

[cheesesailor77]

he said he wants her to be force, to have her back in the media, not to have her elected to anything. He wants to be able to make more fun of her, not have her as president. Very different than Rush Limbaugh

[reefpirate]

And don't forget, Palin isn't anything but the Governor of Alaska. The campaign is over and she lost.

[321liftoff]

The difference between implicitly hoping Obama fails vs. hoping Palin fails is that Palin doesn't have the FATE OF THE NATION in her hands. If she did, you wouldn't hear any dems except a few wackos (wait, what does that make Limbaugh?!) say that they hope Palin and McCain fail. That's an ill wish upon ourselves and everyone else. There comes a point where we have to set aside whatever political allegiances we may have, and work together to fix this mess because it affects us all.

[Konform2zoidberg]

"They don't want freedom as much as we want if for them"

what a load of crap. Right after Saddam fell they had local elections. They elected people who didn't want republican style capitalism, US occupation, national self-determination by another country, and their national wealth stolen what they refuse to accept is Neoconservative kleptocracy

[reefpirate]

I think what Bill is saying, if they want it so bad, let them do it themselves. Why do we have to bankroll everything? We've been in Afghanistan for almost a decade now and little has changed.

[ZiggyZen]

Hellooooo, Bill Maher is right, Middle-Class wages are stagnant for a generation. The economy expanded at their expense. This has its roots with Reaganomics.

[Mozart1220]

What's al the problem with "redistribution of income"? You buy a candy bar it's "redistribution of income" just another Republican catchphrase designed to scare people.

[reefpirate]

There's a big difference between buying a candy bar voluntarily at your local corner store and the government taxing someone and writing cheques to someone else. One looks like trade, the other one looks like theft. You follow?

[savetheclaypigeon]

Of course he uses a teleprompter!

He may be charismatic but he can't remember a 50 page speech verbatim.

Maher is making the point that the Obama's seem comfortable with one another, as opposed to the stilted Bushes and stagey Clintons.

[gtg309v]

Did he just say they don't need a teleprompter? LOL, Obama uses a teleprompter for every speech he gives on TV.

[JohnR22926]

Bill is right that Bush and the congressional Reps were profligate spenders and betrayed whatever fiscally conservative principles they may have had.

But, Bill is wrong that the Dems are anything close to fiscally responsible. Yeah, we DO need some stimulus spending during this recession, but christ! I get the feeling Obama's going to go hog wild with more spending until someone MAKES him stop.

Obama's goal is redistribution of income. The economy? Waaaaay down his list of priorities.

[seancrist]

The two go hand in hand. If you put money in the consumers' hands...the financial institutions will get it eventually. Kind of a reverse 'trickle down' economic move. Whatever anyone on this thread thinks; the past 8 years of 'conservatives in power has resulted in a collossal clusterfuck. Maybe the 'liberal nut jobs' might have a new direction that might actually work. Especially since Republicans seem to have ZERO interest in bipartisanship. I guess name calling and Fox News are the answer

[JohnR22926]

sean: Yes, Obama's economic policy is Keynsian which can be described as "trickle up"...redistribute income to the bottom, people spend it, spurring economic growth. But...when we tried it under FDR the results were less than impressive.

You're correct the Reps did a bad job under Bush, and it's clearly the Dem's turn. Just like all regime changes they'll fix a few things and screw a few things up. One thing I doubt they'll fix is the economy (unemployment, inflation, GDP growth). We'll see.

[321liftoff]

Well, as Maher pointed out, the Economists (ie- people who have studied this shit for years and make a living off of it) say that Obama's stimulus package was too small... So, who do I believe? You, or the economists?

[JohnR22926]

321: Careful now. You remind me of Global Warming enthusiasts who say "scientists believe in it". The correct statement is that SOME scientists believe in GW and SOME economists (like the always visible Paul Krugman) believe the stimulus was too small.

IMO there are credible voices on both sides of the issue. My gripe is that I think the Dems are hedging their bets. If the economy recovers, they'll claim credit. If it doesn't recover, they'll just say the stimulus was too small.

[reefpirate]

I would suggest you believe reality and whatever lessons can be learned from history. National academic consesuses have been wrong in the past, especially in the social sciences. I don't trust the prevailing mainstream attitude that all we need to do is spend enough government money and then everyone will ignore our debts. It's a foolish and irresponsible prescription for a very sick patient. It's like saying we need morphene to cure cancer. We need something more like chemotherapy ie recession.

[321liftoff]

Riiiight. Because clearly spending no money at all will save us. So you understand the general idea of the plan? Ever study macroeconomics? I suggest you try to understand the social sciences before you dismiss them; economists might not always be right, but they know a whole lot more about this issue than you.

So, if you were our current president, what would you do? Please give statistics, historical references, and strategies from noted economists, like our current plan. I'm all ears.

[Freecell5671]

Limbaugh is wrong about a lot of issues but he is right about the economic ones. The only problem is, he didn't call Bush out on them for 8 years. I can't believe Bill Maher's views on the ecomony and support of the Democrats instead of bieng an independent.

[mukarung]

"Sarah Palin made Bush look like a professor.." LOL!

[bordmanjr]

Bill is a fucking loon. Can you believe this guy even has a job. Who the fuck would watch him except for extreme liberal radical nut jobs. Whoa get a grip Bill

[HolyHolyMatador]

I suppose it would be out of the question to actually think.

[robotpanda77]

That's where I go for all my economic advice, COMEDIANS.

[dmowski]

I like Bill and agree with most of what he says, but wishing for Palin to return for the sake of comedy? That's ridiculous.  Get your priorities straight, mang.

[LothairApoclyane]

He has no hope for the republican party.

[flyingV1043]

I wouldn't take things like that too seriously from him. All he's saying is that it probably would help him professionally, just like he basically whored out Bush for the last 8 years and used it as his main platform for everything (he mentions Bush atleast 3 times in every video I've seen).

[daydreambelieverrr]

He's only kidding. I doubt when he said that it was meant to me taken seriously.

[figure8xoxoxo]

Oh come on, I at least want to see her in the primary debates against Romney and Huckabee. It would be like three's company, reverse the gender rolls and add religious lunacy.

[whitecollarcriminal]

5:29

Why the fuck is King asking Bill Maher about why the economy is in downturn?

While I like the opinions Maher has - questions such as this should be saved for TRUE ECONOMISTS or people working in Government oversight.

[daydreambelieverrr]

Bill is not just a comedian/celebrity, he's well-educated, went to Cornell and is a political commentator.

[TimeWarp66]

And an economic illiterate at the same time : )

[siatexas]

Where is the rest of the interview and what was with all of the cuts?

[Avithor]

cuts are commercials.

[DaHonestAbe]

I remember when Mark Levin went off on Michelle Obama like the little bitch that he is. Jealousy is an ugly thing.

[muszles]

thanks for posting. i missed the show

[ChadMedellin]

Not to be a stickler, but I think that you meant coddling of the public, for I am not sure how one coddles an opinion.

That said, I agree with the 2nd sentence of your reply completely.

Def looking forward to Real Time's return.

[barbyyoung]

Bill is right about Pain, his analysis on the prosecution of Bush and right that Joe Biden is too honest and the American people can't handle that-refer back to the evolution statistic....

[ChadMedellin]

It is not that Joe Biden is too honest, but rather that he does not seem to have a filter on his commentary.

[barbyyoung]

My first line should have said "Palin" not Pain-Freudian slip? And you are right about the filter..he is usually right about what he is saying, but saying it is not always conducive to the effort. But part of that has to do with the coddling of public opinion because the population has a short attention span and can be so easily frightened or coerced. Maybe Jack Nicholson was right-They can't handle the truth! ;-)

[jms5913]

He is right about Joe-what he said wasn't bad but I guess the Am. People can't handle the honest truth so he does have to censor himself a little. Other than that he is a good guy.

[SockbatReplica]

Yeah but having no filter on your commentary is honesty because you're being honest with people about what you really think and feel.. However as everyone else has pointed out people can't handle that kind of honesty.

[Tusc9969]

Not only that but the republicans may use his negative comments as "fear mongering"....lol hypocrites

[DaHonestAbe]

Bill said it best before, "Biden is a guy who's heart hasnt caught up with his mouth."