Bill Maher v. Michael Scheurer and Garofolo(sp?)'s take on it

dlv54 · #1 09-25-2007, 05:03 PM

on the last Bill Maher episode, Michael Scheurer (he is the guy who wrote imperial hubris and now has a new book he is promoting) says something like: "i don't think we should spend american dollars and lives in defense of Israel."

Maher reacts very aggressively to that statement, which I found interesting cause most people with his political views in general tend to be critical of US/Israel relations (at least in my experience) (and cause he is an athiest so some religious connection to israel would not explain the reaction). To his credit i think he mentioned the reason to be that Israel is the only democracy in the region (but, again, given his cynical views of the US/our "democracy" - lolz, this seems rationale seems kind of thin/transparent)

Janine Garofolo (sp?) took Maher to task on his reaction - basically saying it is reactions like that that stifle any debate, that we should at least be able to discuss US/Israel relations, blah blah blah...

anyway, i thought her reaction to the mini-battle was great, and i thought she was right on with pretty much everything she said during the episode. she seems very intelligent/knowledgeable - way moreso than i expected.

definitely check the episode out if you havent seen it

PIECE

kniper · #2 09-25-2007, 05:53 PM

maher is half jewish fwiw - though I agree even then I wouldnt expected that kind of reaction from him. it may be a cultural identity thing even though he is a staunch atheist.

JuntMonkey · #3 09-25-2007, 07:38 PM

I was surprised at Maher's reaction to the Israel thing. Maher is such an enigma (in a bad way). A few years ago he was claiming to be a libertarian, then in the next breath he's literally down on his knees with Michael Moore begging Ralph Nader not to run in '04 so as not to steal votes from Kerry. That was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.

He's also been a complete and utter one-trick pony for the entire run of the HBO show (Bush Bush Bush), although he did have one good joke (non-Bush related) that I laughed at in the last week or two.

Oh also I was disappointed in Scheurer's defense of his Israel stance - he came off as "[censored] 'em", when he could have easily said that he simply does not believe in foreign aid or military support at all, but mention that Maher (and offspring) is of course free to go fight in the Israeli army and donate his millions to the country.

dlv54 · #4 09-25-2007, 09:03 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I was surprised at Maher's reaction to the Israel thing. Maher is such an enigma (in a bad way). A few years ago he was claiming to be a libertarian, then in the next breath he's literally down on his knees with Michael Moore begging Ralph Nader not to run in '04 so as not to steal votes from Kerry. That was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen

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meh - while i obv agree that kerry is far from a libertarian, its not like bush shares any of those values either, at least not in practice, and if he thought bush was as dangerous as he has proven to be re: foreign policies, i could see the move even for somebody who defines themselves as a / thinks like a quasi-libertarian.

[ QUOTE ]
Oh also I was disappointed in Scheurer's defense of his Israel stance - he came off as "[censored] 'em", when he could have easily said that he simply does not believe in foreign aid or military support at all, but mention that Maher (and offspring) is of course free to go fight in the Israeli army and donate his millions to the country.

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agree

jstnrgrs · #5 09-25-2007, 11:35 PM

I used to think Bill Maher was great when he was on broadcast TV. I agreed with most of what he said. Then in 2000 he decided to vote for Nader. Comming from someone who had seemed like pretty much a liberitarian, this was very suprising and didn't make much sense. Now, on his new show, he has a segment called "New Rules" on every show. Obviously, he is not much of a liberitian anymore, and I disagree whith most of what he says now.

pvn · #6 09-25-2007, 11:42 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I used to think Bill Maher was great when he was on broadcast TV. I agreed with most of what he said. Then in 2000 he decided to vote for Nader. Comming from someone who had seemed like pretty much a liberitarian, this was very suprising and didn't make much sense. Now, on his new show, he has a segment called "New Rules" on every show. Obviously, he is not much of a liberitian anymore, and I disagree whith most of what he says now.

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Hint: he never was a libertarian, he just wants drugs legalized. Everything else, he's for massive government intervention.

Low Key · #7 09-25-2007, 11:59 PM

He's for getting the government to do the one thing the government should do: keep it's people alive. Which is why he acts the way he does regarding global warming. It's possible that it could kill Americans, so the American government should act on it. (I'm assuming this is his rationale, and I think it's pretty close, given what I've heard him say on the topic) Regarding support of Nader, again, if the US govt is taking in imports from China that are killing US citizens, that should be a no-no. Government intervention to keep people alive, then, regarding all else, piss off! is his political viewpoint, I believe.

He, it should be mentioned, does have a soft spot for people that've been repeatedly screwed over. Like Israelis. Or blacks. He's a slight bit compassionate, you can't fault him for that. (Though when he took Scheurer talking about elections in other countries to mean elections in THIS country, just to get an applause line, that did tick me off quite a bit, especially from someone who's against those "gotcha" moments for people speaking off the cuff.)

JuntMonkey · #8 09-26-2007, 12:47 AM

I used to like Maher on Politically Incorrect as well. He had a great show where he blasted the entire mainstream "lie" that AIDS was/is such a huge threat (it isn't). Now the best we can hope for is him possibly blasting a Democrat some day.

mosdef · #9 09-26-2007, 06:55 AM

[ QUOTE ]
He, it should be mentioned, does have a soft spot for people that've been repeatedly screwed over. Like Israelis.

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Uh, people who pull for the oppressed underdog for no reason other than they are the oppressed underdog tend to sympathize with Palestine.

mjkidd · #10 09-26-2007, 10:50 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
He, it should be mentioned, does have a soft spot for people that've been repeatedly screwed over. Like Israelis.

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh, people who pull for the oppressed underdog for no reason other than they are the oppressed underdog tend to sympathize with Palestine.

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lol not Americans.