Bill Maher is back from break, and on last night's show, Keith Olbermann was one of his panelists. All in all, a good show. Maher's final New Rule focused on the typical Republican voter being unswayed by things like "facts" and "reality". And he had Keith try to help him break through to a typical Republican, without success.
Gore called his project 24 Hours of Reality, and that's the problem. Half the country doesn't believe in reality. But I guess it's unfair to accuse Republicans like this, without a typical Republican voter to refute my points. So tonight, we have here in the studio, please welcome him with a nice round of applause, a typical Republican voter!
(man in bubble appears)
BILL MAHER: His name is Bob Spraiman, he's a systems analyst from nearby Irvine, and he lives in a bubble. Keith, you should come over here, I know you have experience talking to typical Republican voters.
KEITH OLBERMANN: Oh yeah.
BILL MAHER: Let's just give this guy a chance. Surely if we stick to irrefutable facts, we will be able to get through to him. For example, maybe he just never heard... maybe he just never heard that taxes are actually at their lowest level in 50 years! Really, Bob. Their lowest level. In 50 years. Under Obama, lower. I say lower.
KEITH OLBERMANN: Not only that, but it's a fact that most of the current deficit is due to Bush policies and spending, not Obama's.
BILL MAHER: Bob, Keith is talking now.
KEITH OLBERMANN: I say, I say Bush! Bush! As opposed to Obama. Because Bush started wars and cut taxes at the same time, something no one's ever tried, Bob.
And finally, New Rule: You can't have a dialogue with people who don't speak your language.
On the Internet this week, Al Gore presented the Climate Reality Project, a 24-hour marathon of global warming facts and figures designed to change the minds of climate skeptics. Hah. Oh, Al. It's going to take more than a PowerPoint presentation to convince Rick Perry that climate change is real. Rick Perry needs evidence, like a whale swallowing Jonah. Or Moses parting the Red Sea. You know, facts.
Which is why I urge the media to start referring to climate skeptics as what they really are: climate assholes.
You know, Winston Churchill once said in wartime, the truth is protected by a bodyguard of lies. In America today, Republican voters are protected by a bodyguard of "duh". A think shell of super-hardened bullshit. A membrane so tough, the only thing that gets in is Fox News, and the only thing that comes out are misspelled words and babies.
Has this ever happened to you? You go home for Thanksgiving, and your uncle from Ohio is there, who you thought was normal. But soon the discussion turns to politics, and he says, "That Barack Nobama wants to use the UN to seize our guns and give them to his Negro army of ACORN volunteers." And you think, What?!? Where is he even getting this stuff?
Trying to get today's Republican to accept basic facts is like trying to get your dog to take a pill. You have to feed them the truth wrapped in a piece of baloney, hold their snout shut, and stroke their throats. And even then, just when you think they've swallowed it, they spit it out on the linoleum.
Gore called his project 24 Hours of Reality, and that's the problem. Half the country doesn't believe in reality. But I guess it's unfair to accuse Republicans like this, without a typical Republican voter to refute my points. So tonight, we have here in the studio, please welcome him with a nice round of applause, a typical Republican voter!
(man in bubble appears)
BILL MAHER: His name is Bob Spraiman, he's a systems analyst from nearby Irvine, and he lives in a bubble. Keith, you should come over here, I know you have experience talking to typical Republican voters.
KEITH OLBERMANN: Oh yeah.
BILL MAHER: Let's just give this guy a chance. Surely if we stick to irrefutable facts, we will be able to get through to him. For example, maybe he just never heard... maybe he just never heard that taxes are actually at their lowest level in 50 years! Really, Bob. Their lowest level. In 50 years. Under Obama, lower. I say lower.
KEITH OLBERMANN: Not only that, but it's a fact that most of the current deficit is due to Bush policies and spending, not Obama's.
BILL MAHER: Bob, Keith is talking now.
KEITH OLBERMANN: I say, I say Bush! Bush! As opposed to Obama. Because Bush started wars and cut taxes at the same time, something no one's ever tried, Bob.
BILL MAHER: Bob, I'm just going to blurt it out. Reagan raised taxes! Reagan raised taxes 11 times!
KEITH OLBERMANN: And tripled the debt!
BILL MAHER: Social Security is solvent until....
(inside bubble, only elevator music can be heard as Keith and Bill scream at him from outside)
... remaining a [unintelligible] easily when we can tweak the tax code!
KEITH OLBERMANN: Obamacare is in no way government takeover of health care; in fact, it forces people to become customers of private insurance companies, you information-free bleach-drinking half-wit!
BILL MAHER: The debt ceiling, Bob, is about money WE ALREADY SPENT! ALREADY SPENT! That's the debt ceiling, buddy!
KEITH OLBERMANN: Wrestling... is... FAKE!!
BILL MAHER: All right, that's our show!