S17.E29: Salman Rushdie, Gina McCarthy, Linette Lopez, Noah Rothman, and Barney Frank

[GoldenGirl90]

Top-of-show: Salman Rushdie

Mid-show interview: Gina McCarthy

The panel: Linette Lopez, Noah Rothman & Barney Frank

Air date: 09/27/19

Edited September 26, 2019 by Alexis2291

[DoctorAtomic]

Whoa. Some big guns.

[opus]

Anything to talk about this week?

[wknt3]

38 minutes ago, opus said:

Anything to talk about this week?

I'm sure Bill will figure out something. My guess - "cancel culture" and how Bill was disinvited from Berkeley that time.

[GHScorpiosRule]

What in the blue dilly fuck???! First, that asshole Rothman looks like he could be Lindsay Graham’s spawn. Second, what the fuck was Bill thinking to have that asshole climate change denier, blaming Greta and whatever other nonsense he cloaked in big and ambiguous words, on an otherwise good panel?

Rushdie should have been on the panel-or since he was plugging a book, he should have been the mid-show guest.

That said, I love you, Rushdie, but shut up. Equating the number of Indians who voted for Trump as if ALL Indians did is a false equivalency argument.

I like Barney Frank well enough, but man was he annoying tonight, interrupting and talking over Linette-who was awesome.

But Gina was the BEST.

And New Rules had me 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😂

Rothman was worse on Overtime if that was possible.

Edited September 28, 2019 by GHScorpiosRule

[angelamh66]

I usually like Barney Frank, but he needed to take a big ol breath tonight. He would not shut up. Rothman is a tool. New Rules was absolutely spot on and hilarious. That Roseanna Arquette tweet was next level ridiculous. 

[sugarbaker design]

Noah Rothman has an extremely punchable face.

[sistermagpie]

43 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

What in the blue dilly fuck???! First, that asshole Rothman looks like he could be Lindsay Graham’s spawn. Second, what the fuck was Bill thinking to have that asshole climate change denier, blaming Greta and whatever other nonsense he cloaked in big and ambiguous words, on an otherwise good panel?

One of the keys to Greta's effectiveness is she wouldn't put a guy devoted to blocking any action on climate change at the center of any discussion about climate change. But as usual on this show he won. The whole conversation was about whether this one jackass believed climate change was real (as if that wasn't obvious from his opening premise that the real problem was Greta's parents allowing her to think capitalism wasn't the solution to all her problems). Then we moved onto the more important issue of this and every week, political correctness on Twitter.

[GHScorpiosRule]

5 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

One of the keys to Greta's effectiveness is she wouldn't put a guy devoted to blocking any action on climate change at the center of any discussion about climate change. But as usual on this show he won. The whole conversation was about whether this one jackass believed climate change was real (as if that wasn't obvious from his opening premise that the real problem was Greta's parents allowing her to think capitalism wasn't the solution to all her problems). Then we moved onto the more important issue of this and every week, political correctness on Twitter.

EXACTLY. And Barney didn’t help with his continuous “Name one thing you disagree with of Trump’s rollbacks” cutting Linette off to do so. It was infuriating.🤬🤬🤬

And while Bill went on and on about Twitter, I 😂😂🤣😂 at all the F-bombs he was throwing before getting serious.

And I 😂😂 at his David Frost impersonation. For once, he let the guest do most of the talking.

[izabella]

That seemed like a lackluster show from Maher for Impeachment week.  Maybe he would have preferred that the Democrats hadn't opened an impeachment inquiry so he could keep bitching about them not opening an impeachment inquiry. 

[27bored]

41 minutes ago, izabella said:

That seemed like a lackluster show from Maher for Impeachment week.  Maybe he would have preferred that the Democrats hadn't opened an impeachment inquiry so he could keep bitching about them not opening an impeachment inquiry. 

I agree. Like the saying goes: be careful what you wish for.

I wanted Barney Frank to shut up. He was talking a mile a minute and though he’s smart and knows what he’s talking about...kinda...he’s got a rap to him that’s easy to see through. 

I agreed with Bill about the Ukraine thing. It’s hard to tell people this is the worst thing ever when we’ve had thirty other scandals that were called the same thing. This seems petty and vindictive in part because it’s been one scandal after another which is something I don’t think people fully appreciate about Clinton being impeached. Republicans impeached Clinton for lying under oath, which he did, but the reason why history has been kind to Clinton despite that is Republicans overplayed their hand. They spent so much time pushing the premise that Clinton was corrupt through his tenure that by the time they actually got him on something, it landed with a thud. 

I think Bill’s point, if he was able to get a word in edgewise, is that this scandal has the added risk of making Democrats look like hypocrites in addition to just looking like bitter, hectoring, self-righteous nags. You’re risking the good-will of one of your front-runners just to take out Trump. I totally agreed with him when he said he wishes politicians would tell their kids to get a job. I don’t think, theoretically speaking, that Joe leveraging a lucrative job for his son is all that bad because let’s face it: that type of thing is a dime a dozen. 

[cali1981]

The show was almost unwatchable last night. I respect Barney Frank but he was completely out of control and destroyed the flow of the show.  For some reason MSNBC has Noah Rothman on fairly often.  He's smooth and slick but ultimately says little of value. Gena McCarthy was very good and Salman Rushdie was, as always, excellent. Bill would have been better off having the two of them on by themselves. 

[sistermagpie]

8 hours ago, 27bored said:

I agree. Like the saying goes: be careful what you wish for.

I wanted Barney Frank to shut up. He was talking a mile a minute and though he’s smart and knows what he’s talking about...kinda...he’s got a rap to him that’s easy to see through. 

I agreed with Bill about the Ukraine thing. It’s hard to tell people this is the worst thing ever when we’ve had thirty other scandals that were called the same thing. This seems petty and vindictive in part because it’s been one scandal after another which is something I don’t think people fully appreciate about Clinton being impeached. Republicans impeached Clinton for lying under oath, which he did, but the reason why history has been kind to Clinton despite that is Republicans overplayed their hand. They spent so much time pushing the premise that Clinton was corrupt through his tenure that by the time they actually got him on something, it landed with a thud. 

I think Bill’s point, if he was able to get a word in edgewise, is that this scandal has the added risk of making Democrats look like hypocrites in addition to just looking like bitter, hectoring, self-righteous nags. You’re risking the good-will of one of your front-runners just to take out Trump. I totally agreed with him when he said he wishes politicians would tell their kids to get a job. I don’t think, theoretically speaking, that Joe leveraging a lucrative job for his son is all that bad because let’s face it: that type of thing is a dime a dozen. 

This, to me, is Bill's attitude all over, that he rails at the Dems for being cowards and then yet again suggests they should reconsider trying to prosecute actual serious crimes to protect yet another screw-up politician's son so they can stick with Joe Biden, the lesser of two evils (without the evil) and appeal to that same swing voter in the diner. Seems like that's exactly the sort of thing that drives Dem voters crazy. Bill would probably love to spend an election defending Biden against the "Twitter mob."

He brushed off Linette's suggestion that they do this because it's the right thing to do, but it seems bizarre to me to think moral clarity is worthless, even when it's effective. He'd always rather be asking the Republican why the Dems suck. The second Dems are on anything like the offensive he takes the other side, which is useful, but only up to a point. Trump, unlike Clinton, manufactures all his own scandals and it seems odd to assume that nobody can see that even outside Trump's base.

Also, not surprised he used Greta Thunberg to complain about American kids not caring enough to be climate activists and so dismissing the American kids who are climate activists.

[GoldenGirl90]

1 hour ago, cali1981 said:

The show was almost unwatchable last night. I respect Barney Frank but he was completely out of control and destroyed the flow of the show.  For some reason MSNBC has Noah Rothman on fairly often.  He's smooth and slick but ultimately says little of value. Gena McCarthy was very good and Salman Rushdie was, as always, excellent. Bill would have been better off having the two of them on by themselves. 

Pretty much sums up how I felt while watching it. For all the news this week, it was fairly lackluster imo. I’m surprised Maher didn’t interrupt the guests as much as he usually does though. I also like Barney Frank, but he was definitely out of control last night. Rothman was just... ugh. 🤮
 

New Rules was hilarious though. As a half black woman his message has my stamp of approval 🤣🤣🤣

[LuvScottishAccents]

Jesus. Watching this morning, and Noah Rothman makes me all stabby. He is so smug, so arrogant, so self-righteous - cannot stand him. This whole show was just a total cluster except for Gina and Rushdie. They were bearable. Bill is getting on my last damn nerve.

[angelamh66]

1 hour ago, sistermagpie said:

This, to me, is Bill's attitude all over, that he rails at the Dems for being cowards and then yet again suggests they should reconsider trying to prosecute actual serious crimes to protect yet another screw-up politician's son so they can stick with Joe Biden, the lesser of two evils (without the evil) and appeal to that same swing voter in the diner. Seems like that's exactly the sort of thing that drives Dem voters crazy. Bill would probably love to spend an election defending Biden against the "Twitter mob."

He brushed off Linette's suggestion that they do this because it's the right thing to do, but it seems bizarre to me to think moral clarity is worthless, even when it's effective. He'd always rather be asking the Republican why the Dems suck. The second Dems are on anything like the offensive he takes the other side, which is useful, but only up to a point. Trump, unlike Clinton, manufactures all his own scandals and it seems odd to assume that nobody can see that even outside Trump's base.

Also, not surprised he used Greta Thunberg to complain about American kids not caring enough to be climate activists and so dismissing the American kids who are climate activists.

The shot at American kids was comedically effective, but the premise was faulty. He just conveniently forgets the Parkland students who really took the gun control debate by the horns.

[DoctorAtomic]

Frank was in the house forever, so I don't mind him talking too much. He knows more than anyone on the panel how the politics works. 

No one is saying - I don't think this even goes to the senate. 

I will love Gina forever because she answered my question on a PBS news Facebook live. 

No Bill - you don't get to talk about climate. Germany's emissions *increased* when they closed their nuclear plants. AND they import power from France. Guess the source. 

Edited September 28, 2019 by DoctorAtomic

[DoctorAtomic]

So that guy really doesn't give a shit either way about climate change because a bitch got books to sell. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I usually roll my eyes at Bill going on about Twitter, but he was right on this one. 

[Guest]

This is not the place to declare you are pro-impeachment or anti-impeachment, or to re-litigate impeachments past. Posts have been removed and warnings will be issued for future violations of the Politics Rule.

[b2H]

Question that may or may not be off-topic:

Did they list the guests for next week's show at the end of this week's show?  Reason being, listening to Howard Stern this week,  Howard indicated that he was to be the opening guest on next week's show during his LA tour.

I've just looked at my episode for next week and scheduled is a re-broadcast of the 25th anniversary show.

Which is it?  Is Bill taking a week off or is Directv full of stuff on its schedule?

[meowmommy]

1 hour ago, b2H said:

Which is it?  Is Bill taking a week off or is Directv full of stuff on its schedule?

Bill said he's off next week and back on the 11th.

[opus]

1 hour ago, b2H said:

Question that may or may not be off-topic:

Did they list the guests for next week's show at the end of this week's show?  Reason being, listening to Howard Stern this week,  Howard indicated that he was to be the opening guest on next week's show during his LA tour.

I've just looked at my episode for next week and scheduled is a re-broadcast of the 25th anniversary show.

Which is it?  Is Bill taking a week off or is Directv full of stuff on its schedule?

2 minutes ago, meowmommy said:

Bill said he's off next week and back on the 11th.

And Howard Stern scrolled by as one of the guests then.

[Victor the Crab]

On ‎9‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 11:25 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

And New Rules had me 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😂

I thought it was the usual bullshit from Bill about his whining of liberals. Isn't there a cloud he needs to yell at?

On ‎9‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 12:23 AM, sistermagpie said:

One of the keys to Greta's effectiveness is she wouldn't put a guy devoted to blocking any action on climate change at the center of any discussion about climate change.

But the problem here is that you DO need to confront these climate change deniers - the ones who have the power to affect change - and confront them hard about the harm they're doing to the planet. All the scowling and shaming from Greta Thunberg isn't going to do a damn if the James Inhofes of government and big business don't give a fuck.

A mostly crappy show, which has become the norm by now. And it will get crappier with fellow asshole Howard Stern on next show. Thank God for the week off.

[sugarbaker design]

What was Frank saying about Rep Tlaib in a primary race?  I've replayed it several times and can't make it out.

[izabella]

2 hours ago, Victor the Crab said:

But the problem here is that you DO need to confront these climate change deniers - the ones who have the power to affect change - and confront them hard about the harm they're doing to the planet. All the scowling and shaming from Greta Thunberg isn't going to do a damn if the James Inhofes of government and big business don't give a fuck.

I wish someone would have asked Rothman what is so bad about working toward cleaner energy, cleaner water, cleaner oceans and cleaner air?  Like, even if everyone is totally wrong about climate change (which isn't true), what is the harm in safeguarding our ability to live on the planet and improving quality of life for everyone?

Edited September 29, 2019 by izabella

[lovinbob]

On 9/28/2019 at 11:22 AM, GoldenGirl90 said:

New Rules was hilarious though. As a half black woman his message has my stamp of approval 🤣🤣🤣

I appreciate your saying that, and have been very curious about how New Rules would be received.

I must say, as a white woman, it made me uncomfortable. While I'm not someone who apologizes simply for existing, on Twitter or anywhere else, but I am trying more and more to be conscious of talking less and listening more, and being aware of my privilege. So yeah, some of the white liberal handwringing is ridiculous, but maybe white liberals would apologize less if people like Bill, Noah, and a host of others would show some humility and awareness more often. 

On 9/28/2019 at 12:09 PM, angelamh66 said:

The shot at American kids was comedically effective, but the premise was faulty. He just conveniently forgets the Parkland students who really took the gun control debate by the horns.

That made me so mad. Bill is the first one to be critical of the Parkland kids, and they have done incredible work.

[sd dude]

Dear former-Congressman Frank,

When you come on Real Time, please don't be so shy and demure as you were last Friday.  Feel free to speak up.

Sincerely,

Everyone who appeared on the show with you and couldn't get a fucking word in edgewise.

---------------------------

I wish Bill could find a larger pool of guests as opposed to his semi-regulars who after so many years, I am rather sick of.  I don't need to see Salman Rushdie and Barney Frank on this show anymore.  I think after dozens of appearances I know what they are going to say next.  I presume SE Cupp is on deck in the next few weeks. . .

And as much as I do enjoy listening to Stern in Sternland (his own radio fiefdom), I am not looking forward to his appearance in a couple of weeks.  He is so self-absorbed, I doubt he can say anything intelligent about anything political going on, nor is he able to open his mouth without turning the attention back to himself, which is not the job of the panelists on this show.  That's what they have Bill Maher for.  I've noted that that is the back up strategy for any guest who really has no knowledge or intelligent opinions about any of the political events going on, for example, I've never heard Sarah Silverman say anything the least bit interesting about any of the topics brought up when she is a guest, but at least Sarah is funny as hell when she does open her mouth, so I give her a pass.

That new congresswoman who handed Bill's ass to him on the panel a couple of months back and then was an excellent opening interview guest a few weeks ago. . .make her permanent.  I think she is from Santa Clarita, CA, no, which is just a few miles (and two hours during rush hour) up the freeway from me.

[Poohbear617]

10 minutes ago, sd dude said:

Dear former-Congressman Frank,

When you come on Real Time, please don't be so shy and demure as you were last Friday.  Feel free to speak up.

Sincerely,

Everyone who appeared on the show with you and couldn't get a fucking word in edgewise.

---------------------------

I wish Bill could find a larger pool of guests as opposed to his semi-regulars who after so many years, I am rather sick of.  I don't need to see Salman Rushdie and Barney Frank on this show anymore.  I think after dozens of appearances I know what they are going to say next.  I presume SE Cupp is on deck in the next few weeks. . .

And as much as I do enjoy listening to Stern in Sternland (his own radio fiefdom), I am not looking forward to his appearance in a couple of weeks.  He is so self-absorbed, I doubt he can say anything intelligent about anything political going on, nor is he able to open his mouth without turning the attention back to himself, which is not the job of the panelists on this show.  That's what they have Bill Maher for.  I've noted that that is the back up strategy for any guest who really has no knowledge or intelligent opinions about any of the political events going on, for example, I've never heard Sarah Silverman say anything the least bit interesting about any of the topics brought up when she is a guest, but at least Sarah is funny as hell when she does open her mouth, so I give her a pass.

That new congresswoman who handed Bill's ass to him on the panel a couple of months back and then was an excellent opening interview guest a few weeks ago. . .make her permanent.  I think she is from Santa Clarita, CA, no, which is just a few miles (and two hours during rush hour) up the freeway from me.

I believe you are talking about Rep. Katie Porter.  She is great, I have liked her appearances with Bill and several other places. You should check out YouTube and see the way she went after some big wings in the financial district during a hearing. 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Poohbear617

[grawlix]

23 minutes ago, sd dude said:

That new congresswoman who handed Bill's ass to him on the panel a couple of months back and then was an excellent opening interview guest a few weeks ago. . .make her permanent.  I think she is from Santa Clarita, CA, no, which is just a few miles (and two hours during rush hour) up the freeway from me.

13 minutes ago, Poohbear617 said:

I believe you are talking about Rep. Katie Porter.  She is great, I have liked her appearances with Bill and several other places. You should check out YouTube and see the way she went after some big wings in the financial district during a hearing. 

That is Katie Porter.  She represents an Orange County district which includes Irvine, CA.

[cali1981]

Katie Porter was a student of Elizabeth Warren's at Harvard Law School and graduated Magna Cum Laude, not too shabby an accomplishment.  Before being elected to congress last year she was a law professor herself.  If you've seen her question witnesses at committee hearings, you know how tough she can be at grilling someone.  As she showed on Bill's show that night, she can also be funny as hell.  Bill needs to check his own impulses when it comes to booking guests.  As others have said, he keeps having the same go to guests on who end up disrupting the flow and limit the ability of others to get a few words in. At the very least, some of his guests need to be gently schooled in proper etiquette on a panel show.

[HelenBaby]

On 9/30/2019 at 1:51 PM, sd dude said:

Dear former-Congressman Frank,

When you come on Real Time, please don't be so shy and demure as you were last Friday.  Feel free to speak up.

Sincerely,

Everyone who appeared on the show with you and couldn't get a fucking word in edgewise.

---------------------------

I wish Bill could find a larger pool of guests as opposed to his semi-regulars who after so many years, I am rather sick of.  I don't need to see Salman Rushdie and Barney Frank on this show anymore.  I think after dozens of appearances I know what they are going to say next.  I presume SE Cupp is on deck in the next few weeks. . .

And as much as I do enjoy listening to Stern in Sternland (his own radio fiefdom), I am not looking forward to his appearance in a couple of weeks.  He is so self-absorbed, I doubt he can say anything intelligent about anything political going on, nor is he able to open his mouth without turning the attention back to himself, which is not the job of the panelists on this show.  That's what they have Bill Maher for.  I've noted that that is the back up strategy for any guest who really has no knowledge or intelligent opinions about any of the political events going on, for example, I've never heard Sarah Silverman say anything the least bit interesting about any of the topics brought up when she is a guest, but at least Sarah is funny as hell when she does open her mouth, so I give her a pass.

That new congresswoman who handed Bill's ass to him on the panel a couple of months back and then was an excellent opening interview guest a few weeks ago. . .make her permanent.  I think she is from Santa Clarita, CA, no, which is just a few miles (and two hours during rush hour) up the freeway from me.

I wouldn’t say I was the biggest Stern fan, but I have to say that he’s more astute than you would think. He did Conan’s podcast a few months ago and I was pleasantly surprised. He knows his stuff about a lot of things and very perceptive. Give him a chance.