Three Fridays ago I did what I had considered to be my professional responsibility. I watched and rolled tape on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher." I believe that someone in my capacity as conservative talk show host, pundit and talking head should keep an eye on folks who are generally obnoxious yet tame in their remarks when confined to over-the-air TV appearances, to document how they oftentimes cannot resist the urge to reveal their true selves while experiencing the freedoms presented by cable TV.
After all, how many people with my job description could be watching this pathetic hate-fest on HBO in the middle of the night, I wondered.
This past Friday I did the same thing for the third consecutive week. But by now I have come to view this as less of a responsibility and more of a choice as to how I wish to spend my leisure time.
You see, during the first week the thought occurred to me that I might have to make use of the facilities in a way that I haven't had to do since high school. But in the ensuing weeks that thought has not entered my mind. Nor have I had to take any medication for a reflexive rise in blood pressure.
For I have now come to view the hateful, obscene rantings and ravings of Maher and his leftist guests as words of desperation from those who are destroying themselves and their political goals through their own anger and hatred, and I'm actually finding it fascinating.
On Friday's show, Bill Maher compared Laura Bush to Hitler's dog and the president to Hitler. Of course, this occurred only after Maher showed his viewers phony pictures which he said indicate that President Bush is drinking again.
One picture showed Mr. Bush's face with the words "pussy" and "pussy lightweight" written over it with a marker. A second picture showed model Kate Moss, who was recently snapped while snorting cocaine, doing just that off of what appears to be the naked buttocks of George Bush.
Yet another "photo" designed to show that the president may be drinking again showed first lady Laura Bush with a black eye and a bandage above her eyebrow. (A week earlier on the same show, the lovely and talented Joy Behar of "The View" said that George Bush is like a guy who beats the sh** out of his wife and then shows up with a flower to say he's sorry.)
The final photo had the president's face superimposed onto the well-known mug shot of actor Nick Nolte.
After the photo display, the host was taken to task by guest Christopher Hitchens, who decided he was going to make an attempt to defend the president: "It must be to his credit he got Laura Bush to marry him. She's an absolutely extraordinary woman."
But Hitchens was interrupted by Maher who blurted out: "Oh, come on. That's like Hitler's dog loved him. That is the silliest reason. ..."
At that point Hitchens jumped in: "I think tomorrow you might be sorry you said that. Laura Bush is very gentle and talented." (Folks, don't count on the mainstream media telling anyone about this. Maher will have no reason to be sorry he said it.)
Maher then said, "That's not what I'm saying, of course she is, but the idea that we somehow humanize any person because somebody else loves them is ridiculous."
Hitchens then said of Laura: "She got him to give up the booze, and he owes her for that. I think it's nasty to be mean to Laura Bush."
Of course Maher denied that he was. Instead he claimed that he was directing his meanness in the direction of the president. But Hitchens wasn't amused: "You're being ungallant about Laura Bush, you've compared her to Hitler's dog. I'm not going to sit here and listen to that."
Then Hitchens added this closing shot on the issue: "Hitler was everything you want. Hitler was a teetotaler, a vegetarian and a non-smoker." Go get him, Chris!
What I have found is that Maher's show has become THE place to show just how far off the left end you have fallen. Three Fridays ago, George Carlin, who used to be a comic, was one of the guests. This was his gratuitous shot at our president:
"Governor Bush, and I call him that because it's really the last thing he was elected to ... when he reaches his Christian heaven I think he will have a lot to answer for." As for the president's mother, Carlin told Maher, "The silver douche bag I call her."
Needless to say, that was enough to elicit a hearty roar from the audience, a broad grin and chuckle from fellow guest Cynthia Tucker, columnist from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and a good laugh from the host himself.
In bringing up the subject of Barbara Bush and some controversial comments she made about the Katrina refugees who had made their way to Texas, Maher, referring to the president, announced, "The moron doesn't fall too far from the tree."
Where does it end? It doesn't, not on this show. So why not bring on author Kurt Vonnegut to put in his two loony cents? Sure, let's.
Maher starts off the Bush-bashing with "As a writer, when you see President Bush, is there something tragic there, is that a story that appeals to a writer because here's a guy like most tragic figures who's trying very hard to avoid the fate of his father and then he's undone by a war in Iraq and a hurricane?"
"It's a tragedy for me that he's the president of my country," Vonnegut said. "When I show my passport in Spain or Italy or Germany or France or even communist China, what it would say about me is that I'm not only from the richest country in the world but the dumbest country in the world.
"Our president is a tragic figure, perhaps, but he doesn't know diddlysquat about economics, history or science, even how to speak well."
And Kurt did his best to make Al Gore proud. "We are killing the planet as a life support system. We may have gone so far already that there's no recovery from it. The game may be over. ... I think the earth's immune system is trying to get rid of us. And it's high time they did. We are a disease on the face of this planet ... it's time we got out of here. We are a disease on the planet, and I think we ought to become syphilis with a conscience and stop reproducing."
Do I need to go any further here? I think not. Have I made the point that the left is crumbling right before our eyes? I think so. Oh, one bit of good news to leave you with. Maher told Vonnegut that he will do his part and not reproduce.
