If Bill Maher didn’t feel so insecure about his mean-spirited attacks on Republican women, he wouldn’t have made the attempt to distinguish himself from Rush Limbaugh as he did this past week:
The allegations of sexism against Rush Limbaugh have had the somewhat unexpected result of bring allegations of sexism against Bill Maher to the fore. Many have pointed out that, if Limbaugh has to answer for calling someone a “slut,” surely Maher has to answer for the time he used a c-word of Latin etymology to describeSarah Palin. Maher heard about it and, last night, was frustrated to hear that Limbaugh himself had brought it up and “tried to drag me into this bullshit he caused.” He laughed in his monologue and made a clear distinction between his show and Limbaugh’s: “I don’t have sponsors.”
Bill, my friends, is feeling the heat. The new media have given conservatives a punch we lacked just a few years ago. Our fight against liberal double standards is having an impact. Maher felt compelled to defend himself.
No, Bill doesn’t have sponsors, but some liberals on Facebook are pushing for Clear Channel to drop Rush. Maybe they should also be pushing HBO to drop the mean-spirited leftist.
Bill Maher is playing defense. Andrew Breitbart lives!
I know it’s a double standard, but I’m not that fond of this comparison.
The reason?
Rush Limbaugh is the TOP DOG of ANYONE in the opinion spouting industry, period. Maher is a boulder when compared to the mountain that is Rush’s sphere of influence. I mean, how many actually watch Maher’s show? I don’t even know for sure what channel he’s on. It’s HBO, isn’t it? They can say and pretty much do what-ever they want on cable. Plus, Maher has the back-door excuse that he is a comedian, although you actually have to be, you know, funny every once in a while to wear that badge.
Don’t forget, left leaning hosts HAVE gotten into trouble for saying stupid shit. Imus go kicked off the air. Olbermann got the boot for a few days, as did Shultz. The one affirmative action hire at CNN was taken off the air completely. And Piers Morgan also got some heat for something he said or did (God, he’s dreadful – why does he still have a show anyway). Just as there have been some conservatives who have come out and criticized Rush for his comments, there were liberal talking heads who were critical of their own each time some one of a liberal persuasion inserted foot into mouth.
But if Limbaugh says something stupid, of course the liberal press is going to be really super critical, just as the Conservative news and opinion circuit will be uber critical of anything a liberal host says.
Bear in mind the point of this post. It’s not the size of Maher’s audience, but that he felt it incumbent upon himself to respond.
He could have just ignored the comparison, but didn’t.
Maher is a narcissist. There’s no way he wouldn’t respond. He’s not compelled to do anything he doesn’t want to do. That’s why he’s on HBO. Remember how he used to be on network TV? Please don’t tell me you’ve forgotten his TV show where he agreed with controversial remarks made by another panelist, advertisers backed out, the White House press secretary denounced him, HE APOLOGIZED and his show was then canceled.
“I don’t have sponsors” was a punchline he couldn’t resist delivering.
Context.
Attacking a public official is not the same as attacking a private citizen. When you run for office or hold public office you’d best be ready for scrutiny and attacks. What Rush did – unprovoked was unconscionable and he should be suffering for and is suffering for it. To attempt to move the focus from his own total lack of control to what Bill Maher said 4 years ago about a public official – His apology was at best pitiful and shows his irreverent manner for dealing with his own comments.
“I don’t have sponsors.” Translation: It’s OK tosay degrading things about women so long as no one holds you accountable.
And if people like Cinesnatch and Levi were being honest, they’d admit the reason Bill Maher gets a pass isn’t because he’s on HBO, and isn’t because he’s an alleged comedian. It’s because he targets women like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and Elizabeth Hasselbeck; women who are hated by the left.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Maher should apologize.
“It’s different because Bill Maher isn’t a powerful guy like Limbaugh.” I’m sure that’s what he told Obama as he handed over $1,000,000. – Jim Treacher
Well judging from the response of the women in my family, neither of these men are popular with them and the “c” word is deemed to be far, FAR more offensive than “slut” is.
There is HAS NEVER BEEN ONE, NOT ONE…gay male conservative with a radio or talk show….
NOW IS THE TIME!!!!
@Geena,
So what’s to keep someone from starting one?
I don’t know, nothing..Tammy Bruce is afraid to take phone calls
Sorry, Paul, you’re saying it’s fine to call a prominent female with whom you disagree a “c**t”? Seems I’ve been gentle then on Mrs. Boxer.
To call his apology political is to show that your problem with Mr. Limbaugh is his politics, not his rhetoric. He said he was sorry — on more than one occasion, called his own actions “wrong.”
The real test of his sincerity is not how his critics judge his words, but whether he again uses that slur to describe a woman who publicly expresses her opinion.
At least this week.
Last week it was different, and next week it will be different again.
Cue Rick67’s excellent opus:
All you are doing, Paul, is demonstrating that liberals like yourself have no intention of applying reciprocal rules of civility. It is all about power, and you will do anything to crush, destroy, and silence anyone who you perceive as standing in your way.
This is what I think conservatives, independents, and moderates are starting to finally realize. There is no place for difference of opinion in the Obama Party or the left. There is no place for civil behavior or adherence to principles. When the left screams for “civility”, they are in fact launching an all-out attack to silence disagreements by hewing to rules that they have no intention of ever applying to themselves if it would in any way impede or constrain their behavior.
This is why religious belief is anathema to liberals — because at its core, religious belief is about inconveniencing and restraining yourself for the good of others based on a consistent, principled definition of “good”.
Liberals are theocrats. That is all there is to it. They worship the State, they anoint themselves as the dispensers of goodness, and they insist that their views, their morality, and their demands alone should be what governs society.
And, as we see from Fluke, they make the Inquisition look like rank amateurs.
Please, please, please let it be me! That’s been my dream for years…and I’m not afraid to take phone calls.
I don’t support censorship… on the left or right with that said the hypocrisy of the left is MIND BLOWING !!!! Anyone who watches this man and believes what he says has an I.Q. of a pea. He is vulgar and disgusting …. Not too mention not even funny. The left can degrade women all day long but one person from the right inserts their foot in their mouth and the media and the left EXPLODE!!! Let’s get back to the facts and real issues! This is not about a college girl(woman) not being able to afford $9.00 a month for birth control .. it’s about the free entitlement mind set ….OH THAT’S right those that can’t afford $9.00 a month for birth control can get it FREE at PLAN PARENTHOOD … SO WHY is the LEFT so upset that Catholics who don’t offer it because of their believe are outraged !! Conservatives need to stick to the ISSUES and not get distracted by the left … ….. Let’s focus on JOBS, the ECONOMY, the cronyism and corruption on the hill.. Don’t let the left take us off topic !!
So your point against the Limbaugh-Maher comparison is that you think we should have different rules for successful people?
Trying to make sense of your point and… there is none. You open with a remark against double standards, but the line of thinking implied by the rest of your paragraph ends in – if it does not indeed advocate – a double standard.
As for Andrew Breitbart: Well, at least he didn’t have Westboro Baptist picket his funeral… literally. But the many commentators, whether far or near at hand, who felt the need to repeat slurs on Breitbart’s integrity in discussions remembering him, did a “nice” job standing in as the moral equivalent of Westboro Baptist.
Whoa, am reading a Geraghty piece on how lefties treated Breitbart post-mortem, that NDT just linked in another thread: http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/292439/what-yesterday-taught-us
Looks like I am not the only one to see the Fred Phelps comparison, just waiting to be made in that story.
Ahem. Bill Maher is Howard Stern without the fetishes. He intends to insult and he uses his mouth licentiously. That is his schtick. He batters his father’s Roman Catholicism and his mother’s Judaism. He plans and plants his George Carlin curse bombs with attention to timing and effect. He is a master of evil as entertainment.
Maher might think he has something to say, but his chosen presentation makes him a classless comedian who has figured out how to go beyond potty mouth and attack the jugular. It is his followers who have the problem. He forces them to accept the worst edge of civility and revel in having their base instincts coddled.
For what, exactly, is Maher supposed to apologize? His existence?
There is no way to compare Maher to Limbaugh. If Maher called someone a “slut” or a “prostitute” he would just be warming up his drooling audience which is waiting for the zingers to begin.
Limbaugh stepped slightly in Maher territory and the liberal world is all in a rage and calling for Limbaugh to be drawn and quartered. They want is head on the stake, his beating heart plucked from his living body, his bowels spilled out and his estates burned to the ground.
Think about the two audiences. Then think about the two leaders of the packs. Those who hate Limbaugh and want him to suffer shame and disgrace are themselves both shameless and without grace.
Two different worlds. On the one hand, the Judeo-Christian ethic where the offender offers an apology and asks forgiveness. On the other hand, moral relativists or the amoral who want revenge and carnage.
Wow, it seems everyone on here has forgotten about Politically Incorrect.
Heliotrope – Now *that* is a case against the Limbaugh-Maher comparison. If I may paraphrase: “There is a double standard, and so what? It’s one that makes clear, who the good guys are.”
That would be a nice start.
I have not forgotten it. I never saw it.
I did look it up on Wiki and is appears to be the same old Maher doing an Al Franken form of smart ass dialogue control.
There is little difference between Letterman, Maher, Franken, Moore, Springer, Povich, Behar, and so many more pimps of moral relativity. They stage a show as a way to treat the guests as freaks. There is no special talent in preparing the broadsides in advance and then marching the guest onto the bullseye.
If you like Maher or, worse, admire him, it is your own cross to bear. He does not contribute to the national debate, he attacks and tears down. That is why the Romans turned the lions loose on the Christians for the entertainment of the sodden masses.
I guessed you missed the part where sponsors held his feet to the fire and he ended up getting canceled.
Hmm, IIRC, what happened with ‘Politically Incorrect’ was Maher got promoted from basic cable, to broadcast network, and finally to Premium Cable; and also gets to appear on supposedly respectable Sunday News Programs. And made enough money that he can dash off a million dollar check to the Obama campaign.
Yes, he certainly has suffered for his misogyny and Christian-bashing.
Gee, if it weren’t for double standards, some folks would have no standards at all!
Heh 🙂 good one Karl!
Guess Maher is now calling for Liberals to accept Rush’s apology and move on. Plus he isn’t really liking the boycott. . .