Bill Maher: 19 August

Kellyanne Conway (the polling company) is a twit. The show’s still in progress, but I couldn’t wait to post that. She claimed that before the U.S. invaded Iraq women were forced to wear burkas (sp.?) and children didn’t have books. Bill Maher called her on it: ‘What ass did you pull that out of?’ he said. He pointed out that Iraq was more secular before the invasion than it is now. Of course, Asa Hutchenson (former Director of Homeland Security) told him that he was supporting Saddam. :rolleyes:

Thank the gods for people like Bill Maher who is willing to call bullshit when he hears it.

Chris Rock is doing his schtick. Funny, but not really adding anything to the conversation. Conway asked him if he has another bit tonight, or if he’s just going to joke about gas.

The gas tangent is getting tired fast.

“Why do the conservatives seem to have so many gay children?”

HAHAHAHA!!!

‘Americans don’t know how to take a vacation.’

As if Americans have time to go on holiday! We customarily get two weeks vacation per year. (Some people get more – after five or ten years with a company they may get an additional week – and some people get none.) Vacation time is for the whole year, so if someone needs a ‘personal day’ it’ counts against the two weeks. Maybe people would ‘know how to take a vacation’ if we actually had vacation time.

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And some companies now require you to use up all of your “personal time” in one calendar year. In the old days, at least, you could suffer in one year, roll a few extra weeks to the next, and then have a super-sized break all in one go.

And if you don’t use up your time by the end of the year, you either lose it like a schmuck, or jepoardize whatever year-end tasks you need to get accomplished…

</hijack>

Conservatives, conservatives, blech. No wonder Chris Rock didn’t have anything to say. Enough with the equal time, Bill; you don’t have to be fair, remember?

I forgot it was on until I saw this thread, so I missed all but the last 10 minutes or so.

I found myself agreeing with Ms. Conway on a couple of things. Heck, I wouldn’t have pegged her as a conservative, based on what I heard. I agreed with what she said about Cindy Sheehan and about working vacations.

I don’t do working vacations, but I’m not an executive. All the decision-makers at the last place I worked made sure everyone knew where to find them while they were “on vacation”, and they got lots of calls. Us plebes didn’t have that problem. :slight_smile:

Was Phyllis Schafly wearing a wig? Heck, she wasn’t that obnoxious either, except for the wig.

When a conservative complains about the Supreme Court taking over the legislative process (prayer in school, Ten Commandments, Boy Scouts, etc.), why don’t the interviewers point out decisions that have gone the other way? (Dred Scott might be too old, but that’d be a start.) There must have been some more recent decisions that have supported a conservative view.

I was too busy making comments in this thread to hear much of what Conway said later. I’ll have to watch it again when it’s rebroadcast. Id did sound as if Maher was agreeing with her at one point, and there was something I heard that she said that sounded reasonable; but I don’t remember what it was.

Her initial comments were at odds with what I’ve heard about women in Iraq before the invasion. The news reports and opinions I heard were that Iraq was basically secular and had one of the best educational systems in the region. It sounded as if she was conflating the Saddam regime with the Taliban (which was a theocracy that required women to cover their bodies, limited education, banned entertainment, etc.). And I’m immediately turned off when anyone mentions ‘rape rooms’. Not that I think ‘rape rooms’ are good. They’re obviously not. But everyone I’ve talked to IRL who has used the phrase seemed woefully uninformed about many things. It’s as if they picked up on the phrase, but didn’t take the time to go any deeper into Saddam’s Stalinist dictatorship.

I also missed what Schlafly was saying because I was typing and reading. But yeah, it did look like a very bad wig.

A couple of jokes that made me laugh (paraphrased):

‘Lance Armstrong is going bike riding with the President. President Bush said, “How often do you get to ride bikes with someone who has walked on The Moon?”’

'Cindy Sheehan had to leave Bush’s ranch when her mother suffered a stroke. Bush said, ‘See? Prayer works! “A stroke”? A stroke of luck!

Yeah, it’s evil to laugh at that last one; but I couldn’t help it.

>> TWEEET << :: Moderator blows whistle to attract attention ::

Look, gang, I realize that there’s often a fine line between politics and entertainment, especially with shows like Bill Maher and the Daily Show etc. However… in THIS forum, we try to keep our comments focused on the entertainment side. Political comments are out of place here.

To be very specific: Johnny L.A.'s most recent post (“What good jokes!”) is just fine for this forum. On the other hand, the OP (also by Johnny L.A. is commenting on what life was like in Iraq before the war or whether some politico has lied. That does NOT belong here, but in Great Debates.

So, I’m going to allow this to stay where it is with the understanding that comments will be focused on jokes and entertainment, not on politics. We all together here?
So…

So… the “New Rules” segment wasn’t quite up to snuff. “Nobody knows who Ewan McGregor is.” What? I thought he was a famous movie star. The bit about “Intelligent Design” was funny, though. ("…and then President Bush renewed his pledge to drive the terrorists straight over the edge of the Earth!")

I think Chris Rock is funny in his stand up, and he has even done a few funny films.

However, Chris doesn’t seem to do well when unscripted. He was so out of his element that it was embarrassing. He had nothing to offer. It was the same when he did the Oscars. The guy might be funny when he has his script, but he fails miserably in “off the cuff” commentary.

This wasn’t one of Bill’s better shows.

Yeah, I was surprised at Chris Rock’s lack of imagination in his comments. Sheesh, he’s a comedian, at least he could have tossed in a few political jabs.
Maybe he was out of his element. Then again let’s hope John McLaughlin doesn’t start doing standup comedy.

The ID bit was good.

“You don’t have to teach both sides of a debate if one of those sides is a load of crap.”

“It’s like teaching that a thermos keeps hot things hot and cold things cold because it’s a god.”

Kelly-Ann Fitzpatrick looked terrible ::cough…eating disorder…cough.

I thought she was even more hideous than I remembered. She’s a fuckin’ nut case. Though I loved her embarrassment when Bill Maher asked her about her gay son. She’s an ass. And a colossal one at that.

I agree. Bill seemed to notice that the Rules weren’t getting many laughs. I wonder if he used all the good ones in his book, hadn’t had time to think up new ones.

I think any ten Dopers could have come up with better Rules.

Which he promoted on the ‘Dr. Shill’ New Rule. :stuck_out_tongue: That one made me laugh. :slight_smile:

An oddly boring show. The panel seemed to have very little to offer. Kellyanne Conway seemed the worst type of right-wing shill, Asa Hutchinson was just plain dull, and Chris Rock simply waited for another opportunity to complain about gas prices.

The only thing I found interesting was how often Conway’s remarks got applause from (at least some of) the audience. I guess Maher’s attempts to get a more bipartisan crowd have begun to take effect.

thwartme

That’s a bummer – I always thought she was the best-looking of the right-wing blonde pundettes (definitely better than Laura Ingraham, and way better than Ann Coulter). What’s happened to her – lost weight, or gained it?

Her face looked okay. Bad hair though – [David Spade voice]It’s called conditioner – look into it.

Her arms were bony, so I guess she’s lost weight. This was the first time I’ve seen her.

I got a kick out of her non-responses to Chris Rock. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anyone be quite that ignored before.