For those of you haven't been keeping with Real Time this season, Maher started a new gimmick that he calls "Dispatches From the Bubble", which consists of showing a clip of some random right winger saying something clearly factually incorrect in every plane of reality except when inside the right wing "bubble". The bubble is impenetrable to everything except right wing talking points.
For those of you that can't watch videos at work, Maher showed a (very short) clip of Mitt Romney saying the following about Obama:
Romney: "...and added almost as much debt to this country as all the prior presidents combined."
Maher then went to quickly comment and get the panel's response (which included The Nation's national correspondent, Jeremy Scahill, and former New Jersey Senator, Bill Bradley).
Maher: This is important because this is a big inside the bubble thing. "Added almost..." - key word being "almost" because it's nothing near- all previous presidents combined. Let me give you the facts. Reagan tripled the debt. Tripled it. Bush doubled it. Obama half. It was $10.5 trillion when he took office, Bush took office when it was $5 trillion, so he doubled it. Now it's 15. But a lot of that is because of obligations from George W. Bush. And because we had a recession left to him by George W. Bush. So can you really blame Obama for doubling - not that that's the truth - the deficit.
Caruso-Cabrera: So your point about George W. Bush is exactly why conservatives don't like "moderates", because moderates helped George W. Bush spend all that money...
Maher: Let's talk about Obama. Did he double the debt as Mitt Romney said or is that a lie?
Caruso-Cabrera: (throws hands up in the air) It's gone up what, you just said 50%?
Maher: 50%. Which would be half, not double.
Caruso-Cabrera: And by the time he's out of office? If he gets another four years? He'll have doubled it.
Maher: Okay, so now we're projecting into the future?
Scahill: Facts are, you know...
Maher: Is Mitt Romney...
Caruso-Cabrera: He said ALMOST!
Maher: Is Mitt Romney a liar when he says he doubled the debt?
(several seconds of silence while camera is on Caruso-Cabrera)
Caruso-Cabrera: You're all looking at me!
Maher: Cause you're the only one crazy enough to say "yes"! Did he?
Bradley: Of course not.
Maher: Okay. So why won't "conservatives" call him out on is bullshit?
Of course, the only conservative on the panel didn't even attempt to bother answering such a question. One really needs to see the video to properly see this scene play out. Maher looks directly at her, waiting for her to call out Romney for -what even she just acknowledged seconds ago- clearly peddling bullshit, and she just sits there in complete silence with a stupid, smug smile on her face the whole time.
This little exchange is noteworthy for the following reason: When right wingers are confronted with unpleasant information, they try to distort, muddle, distract, talk louder, fabricate, or simply just change the subject. But rarely do we see any right wingers just sit there in complete and utter silence.
Caruso-Cabrera tried -pathetically I might add- to claim that Romney was correct about Obama ALREADY racking up almost as much debt as all the previous presidents combined, as long as we ignore that whole present tense thing. But after that, probably cause at that point she may have realized how stupid her argument was, she didn't say a word. But in doing so, she basically impied : "Well, sure you may be right that Romney said a factually incorrect, and completely indefensible thing, but that doesn't mean I'm going to acknowledge that!".
This is exactly what Maher been saying the last few episodes. The Republicans know that they can't run against the real Obama because he hasn't done much that would have been objectionable to Republicans just a few years ago. So they create this evil, ultra liberal communist, atheist, muslim Kenyan who is responsible for everything bad in America. And any attempt to stray away from that caricature is completely and utterly unacceptable.
UPDATE: Now with video!
I'm more concerned about what Michelle said about the Glass-Steagall Act. This was an act that regulated the financing industry, and yet she claims, and I quote, "There's not a single failure that occurred during the financial crisis that would have been prevented by Glass-Steagall". Keep in mind, this act that regulated the finance industry was written in 1932. I'm pretty sure if it would have been still in play during the last 80 years it would have made a huge difference to how things have unfolded today- and most likely would have prevented many other financial crises.
ReplyDeleteI've twittered (something I rarely do) to Bill Maher: please do a retrospective about all the times conservatives have said things on your show that you've later found out was bullshit.
She is definitely in the bubble, facts only caused a momentary pause in her speech, but she kept on going. I'm sorry, but the woman is a pig.
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ReplyDeleteHey now, being an atheist is a good thing. It means your mind is unfuddled by the patently false and ridiculous "supernatural" religious dogmas and the signifcant amounts of arbitrary morality (which boils down to humans trying to subjegate, manipulate, and exploit other humans by mind-f*c|<ing them)associated with religious indoctrination.
ReplyDeleteIt is odd living as an atheist in a time where so many still subscribe to "supernatural" religions that herald much arbitrary morality. It's sickening to think I'm part of a tiny minority. I almost feel like a time traveler from the future laughing at how silly humans are from the past.
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