Welcome one and all to another edition of Saturday Morning Maher. We made the rec list last week, and as a result, about 500 extra people got a chance to catch the episode. As always, this diary is dedicated to those like me who are HBO impaired.
To reiterate the rules of the road, in case this gets buried by the 700 diaries that seek to remind us that Ashley Todd is a moron who needs some serious psychiatric help, or that she's getting exactly what she deserves, or ten thousand different takes on poll numbers or newspaper endorsements, pick a clip, watch it, comment, and come back to view the rest of the show at your leisure. In the mean time, I will be practicing my run-on sentences in the hopes of making it into the Guinness book.
For the second week in a row, the panel is decidedly in the tank for Barack Obama. Tim Robbins, Bush Administration separatist Matt Dowd, and Carol Liefer make up the discussion group. A pre-panel interview with Allen Raymond, noted assferret and author of How To Rig An Election falls a bit flat, but I'll include it just the same.
Opening Monologue: Psst...didja know that the McPalin campaign, and anyone involved in it sucks?
"Turns out the highest paid member of the McCain campaign, not the manager, not the pollsters...Palin's makeup artist. I'm not kidding...she flies to every city where she appears. And McCain? He just uses the local gal that works at the funeral home. It's not as bad as it sounds, the makeup girl is actually Palin's top foreign policy adviser."
Maher takes some well deserved shots at Ashely Todd, proving that when properly viewed, anything is funny.
"McCain called her to offer his support, Palin called her to offer her support, and Karl Rove called to say 'You dumbass, you got the B backwards.' Of course the police knew she was lying all along, because she told this outlandish story about getting money out of a bank."
Satellite interview with crook and jackhole Allen Raymond.
This was actually pretty damn lame, but I seem to hear it from you all if I don't post these, so there you have it...
Panel Discussion Part 1: Oh, Gran'pa...
Tim Robbins plays the cautious skeptic, and for damn good reason. The first three minutes are mostly him talking about protecting your vote, the necessity to document anyone who was removed from the voter rolls, and some (legitimate) concern about the election being stolen. I don't necessarily agree with this, but better safe than Bushed. Matt Dowd sums up the election in his opinion:
"Barack Obama's success, and ability to rise in this election is attributable to George W. Bush. That George W. Bush's failures seeded the country to Barack Obama's rise. And I think ultimately, John McCain picked Sarah Palin because he was trying to create some new, you know, trying to put an iPod on the scene, then people found out it didn't work...so Palin was a reaction to the problem, but the problem was Bush."
Panel Discussion Part 2: Flushing Joe The Plumber
After kicking Joe the Plumber around like the deflated football he is, the topic turns to everyone's favorite subject: abortion! Matt Dowd proves how out of touch he is as a new member to the "Republican, who, me? Nahhh!" Team by suggesting that it's been a non-issue for 35 years, and gets his ass handed to him by Liefer.
"Gloria Steinem said that if men could have abortions, they'd be treated as a sacrament."
**It has come to my attention that Ms. Liefer made a boo-boo both in terms of the correct quote, and who first coined the phrase. In an effort to make everyone, everywhere happy, the correct statement is from Florynce Kennedy, and the quote is
"If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament"
Then on to this week's Exit Strategy: Italy.
"Italy! Home to 60 million people, all of whom live with their mother. And of course, the eternal city, Rome...where a religion based on a homeless man is run by a guy in a castle.
The clips are coming slowly this week, so I'll move to New Rules, but I'll post the third discussion segment as soon as it is up.
Introducing Arthur Laffer: Total Douche Nozzle:
As always, New Rules:
So that concludes this week's Saturday Morning Maher. At least for a couple of hours while I wait on the last clip.
**Bonus Pandering!! I write for another site that pays me a fraction of a penny per "unique view", or new IP address clicking on the site. I am up against such wonderful blogs as "Conservative Politics Today", "Conservative Ally", "Political Rants From The Right", and several other Obama-bashing blogs. The host site, Today.com, gives bonuses for the top 3 blogs every month. Kossacks, help me throw the right-wingnut bloggers an anvil. Once a day, or every other day, pop on over to the site. Hell, you don't even have to read it, but every different IP address will up the states of a notoriously "lib-ur-al" blog. Help me show these nuts out there that not only can we crush them in this election, but we can crush them on the blogosphere too. Should I place in the top 3, I will be happy to donate the $50 bonus to a charity, as I won't receive the payment until after the election. It's listed in my blogroll as Relevant Rhino's Other Blog, or you can click here.
If you dig the Maher, rec this up so everyone else can get some, too.
Cheers, and Happy Saturday!