[cross posted at Ben Bang]
A group of "9/11 truthers", apparently upset over disparaging remarks Maher made about their cause on a previous episode of Real Time, infiltrated Maher's audience last night and, in a co-ordinated disruption, brought his live television show to a halt for several minutes.
First, while I don't buy into a lot of the disinformation, I do think something stinks about the official story of 9/11. Do I think the Bush Administration could've co-ordinated such an attack? No. Do I think they might have let it happen, knowing everything we do about their incompetence and shameless lies and their ceaseless lust for power? Yes, I think that's definitely possible.
Secondly, I think that Bill was 100% right in his reaction to the hecklers (who I think were more representative of the crackpot conspiracy theorists that give legitimate 9/11 skeptics a bad name), which included some pretty brutal jokes at their expense and culminated in his threatening to "kick their asses out". Minutes later, he personally made good on that threat when, after repeated heckling, he lept up and rushed into the audience to assist his apparently inept security staff in tossing the disruptors.
Having been to a few Real Time tapings, I can't say I'm suprised these guys were able to beat security. Their strategy was disciplined--multiple hecklers staggered their disruptions so that each time an offender was ejected and the panel tried to return to the discussion, another would interrupt them. It seemed to cycle through about 4 or 5 people before calm was restored.
Maher joked about firing his audience staff and the security at CBS, where the show is taped (in the same studio as the price is right, interestingly). But I think that, in reality, Maher will get a lot of mileage outta this live television moment. He came out looking like a badass.
Are there any first amendment issues here? I doubt it. It's a fucking television show, not a press conference or a congressional hearing or even a godamned comedy club. The audience is there to listen to the panelists' discussion, which is taking place for the benefit of a nationwide audience, not to attempt to insert themselves into the discussion by screaming unintelligable nonsense.
I wonder if we'll see any lawsuits as some innocent bystanders seemed to get caught between the security and the disruptors. And on his way out you can clearly see and hear the first guy to get ejected throw something at someone.
Bottom line: these cats give those pointing out the legitimate inconsistencies about 9/11 a bad name, and in effect destroy any real 9/11 truth movement by providing a straw man for those who seek to quell any true inquiries to attack. Maher did the right thing by ejecting them.