For the three of you that have read my diaries, it should come as no surprise that I'm a fan of Mr. Maher. We have quite a bit in common...we're mostly Irish, incredibly sarcastic, dig the reefer, love picking on the GOP, and would drop everything for a crack at Amy Holmes' crack. What? Too much?........Prudes.
Anyhoo, I was watching Real Time on YouTube tonight (because we can't afford the fancy cable), and after sitting through roughly 40 minutes of Lisa Schiffern, Tim Daly, and Ralph(Jesus Weepin' Christ, don't run)Nader, I got to New Rules.
Take a look/listen
The first few jokes are great, and poignant, well, except for the model falling on her ass thing, but the title of this diary, and the rule he spends the most time on, is by far the most important. This is why Maher just rocks. He takes the fear mongering of the right, and skewers it with their own words. We've all heard the soft bigotry and not-so-subtle racism from some of our less enlightened friends, neighbors, and co-workers, and Maher takes it, flips it, and nails it. I swear, if we started framing the argument in these terms, we just might win Kansas...
**Off topic side note:
I grew up in Indiana, and my folks still live there. They have voted Republican since the late '70's. Earlier this year, my mom not only decided to support Barack Obama, she went to work for the campaign. She teaches at a private, Christian university in Indiana across the street from the church I went to for 18 years. The town also happens to be a former GM town, although most of those jobs are long gone. It is a town divided between old-school religion and disgruntled, laid-off factory workers. It could easily be a microcosm for the state.
After the debate last night, I called my dad, who has not been a fan of Obama at all (he was under the impression that D.C. would turn into Red Square if he was elected), and he told me that in the last week, he'd lost all respect for John. He can call him John, apparently. He told me, "I'm a Republican because I'm for small government, not because I want demagogues and social conservatives running my life. Frankly, I'm concerned for John's physical and mental health, and Gov. Palin scares the hell out of me."
Updated: Here's Chris Rock's segment, just because.