S18.E24: Gov. John Kasich, Oliver Stone, Rev. Dr. William Barber II and Thomas Frank

[GoldenGirl90]

S18.E24: Gov. John Kasich, Oliver Stone, Rev. Dr. William Barber II and Thomas Frank

[GoldenGirl90]

Once again, he asks John Kasich about what happens if Trump doesn’t leave peacefully. At this point it’s an obsession. 

[deirdra]

Was Bill wearing ginger eyebrow pencil and Grampa Munster lipstick?

[Robert Lynch]

What the hell was Oliver talking about? 

[bobbyjoe]

At least Bill didn’t buy and was obviously frustrated by Oliver Stone’s constant defenses of Putin.  Stone’s so in Putin’s pocket he couldn’t even take the lifeline Bill tried to throw him and at least criticize the poisoning of Putin’s opponent this week.  And, yeah, if Stone’s movie ideas are anything like what he mentioned I can see why his career has gone downhill.  A white director making a movie about MLK with a lot of focus on his sex life sounds like 1) something no producer in their right mind would greenlight and 2) simply a terrible idea.
 

My favorite moment though was when Bill— who lately even more seems like he just wants to dunk on the Democrats all the time for whatever reason— suddenly caught himself going along with complaining that maybe the Democrats shouldn’t have invited so many Republicans, a point which, you know, is exactly the opposite of what Bill’s argued again and again and again and again the last few years. I like that here was Bill being such a gigantic hypocrite that even he realized it.

[Robert Lynch]

Brian De Palma did Scarface! Not Oliver Stone! Bill should check his filmography. That was such a big wrong-o! 

Give me another director over Stone! That's how I felt about him last.

[arachne]

No fat-shaming this week -- maybe because Rev. Barber was on the panel?

Bill seemed in better spirits than in previous weeks; I think it's because (as he says) this was the last show from his home. I'm interested to see what next week's show will look like. 

[Gothish520]

13 hours ago, deirdra said:

Was Bill wearing ginger eyebrow pencil and Grampa Munster lipstick?

He definitely looked like he was wearing makeup base, and his hair looked a bit slicker and darker - think Trump's comments may have gotten to him a bit? 

Not that I blame him, I mean, if someone criticized my on-camera looks I'd probably step it up a notch or two.

[Gothish520]

10 hours ago, bobbyjoe said:

My favorite moment though was when Bill— who lately even more seems like he just wants to dunk on the Democrats all the time for whatever reason— suddenly caught himself going along with complaining that maybe the Democrats shouldn’t have invited so many Republicans, a point which, you know, is exactly the opposite of what Bill’s argued again and again and again and again the last few years. I like that here was Bill being such a gigantic hypocrite that even he realized it.

Ha, caught that. But to his credit, he did admit that he has no idea which route the Democrats should take - focus on centrism in order to win back wayward Dems and win over disillusioned Trump supporters? Or lean into the liberal, progressive side and give folks like AOC more exposure? It looks like a lose-lose situation for them.

[Gothish520]

5 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

Brian De Palma did Scarface! Not Oliver Stone! Bill should check his filmography. That was such a big wrong-o! 

Give me another director over Stone! That's how I felt about him last.

Stone wrote the screenplay.

But yeah, the point of his appearance was lost on me.

Edited August 22, 2020 by Gothish520

[iMonrey]

Quote

Once again, he asks John Kasich about what happens if Trump doesn’t leave peacefully. At this point it’s an obsession. 

I think Bill has earned the right to raise that alarm, after his much scoffed-at predictions in 2016.

[sistermagpie]

38 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I think Bill has earned the right to raise that alarm, after his much scoffed-at predictions in 2016.

It seems to have become a much more mainstream discussion now, at least. More people are openly talking about it as a problem that's coming. It's frankly harder for me to imagine him not making some effort to stay.

[angelamh66]

40 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I think Bill has earned the right to raise that alarm, after his much scoffed-at predictions in 2016.

I agree. Also he was raising this long ago and given the current rhetoric coming out of the White House there is real reason to be concerned. Also, nobody has been able to give a satisfactory response. We need to win in a landslide is not a satisfactory response. I think Bill is spot on with this one and trying to force people to think about it isn’t a bad thing. 

[b2H]

4 hours ago, arachne said:

I think it's because (as he says) this was the last show from his home.

He's going back to studio?  Audience?  This could be interesting.  I though California was still on lock-down.....

[Tara]

I loved Oliver Stone. He cut through the bullshit, dismissed silly theories, and spoke his mind with maturity. How refreshing!

[Robert Lynch]

I could tell why Bill loves Stone! The proof is in the articles.

 

Oliver Stone accused of groping a Playboy Model in 1991

Oliver on Harvey Weinstein

 

[BrownBear2012]

3 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

I could tell why Bill loves Stone! The proof is in the articles.

 

Oliver Stone accused of groping a Playboy Model in 1991

Oliver on Harvey Weinstein

 

LOL!!!!

[sistermagpie]

16 hours ago, Tara said:

I loved Oliver Stone. He cut through the bullshit, dismissed silly theories, and spoke his mind with maturity. How refreshing!

Seems weird that he talks about how his movies wouldn't be made because they're not "politically correct" and then references movies that are critical of US foreign policy since "politically correct" is usually used as a shorthand for things liberals like--I can't think of any time I've seen it used to refer to things associated with the right, like presenting the US military as consistently heroic. The stuff he's talking about were the things you can't make because the CIA, military etc. have so much power over making sure movies are pro-military. He was describing something very real, yet still seemed to throw in "politically correct" to make it seem like it's the same as wanting trans characters written well and played by trans actors.

As for the Russia stuff, yes he pretty much did think that dismissing it all as "silly theories" was enough to ignore the piles of evidence that Russia actually interfered in the election, but he didn't and couldn't actually discredit any of it. His argument that Russia just isn't thinking about us at all sounds like a shaming of the US for being self-obsessed, but it's actually just arrogant. This argument was used during the Cold War as well, suggesting that because the USSR couldn't get toilet paper to people they couldn't ever do anything worth noticing, and that obviously wasn't true either. Russia doesn't have to be thinking about the US all the time in order to have foreign policy with aims to weakening it. He even then goes on to say "Look at all the elections we've interfered with" which is true, but what, does he not notice that we interfered in those elections while also being concerned with other things?

Seems like he thinks his relationship with Russia and Putin makes him feel important, just like Trump, and he's mistaken that for his being smarter and cooler than people calling a spade a spade. Maybe he thinks the KGB is fundamentally different from the CIA in terms of being willing to lie and manipulate people. Seems like he still considers himself to be a great fighter against "the man" and just hasn't noticed that the fight left him behind long ago.

[Thomas Crown]

On 8/22/2020 at 12:25 PM, Gothish520 said:

Ha, caught that. But to his credit, he did admit that he has no idea which route the Democrats should take - focus on centrism in order to win back wayward Dems and win over disillusioned Trump supporters? Or lean into the liberal, progressive side and give folks like AOC more exposure? It looks like a lose-lose situation for them.

Yes that moment of self-reflection from Bill Maher was nice. He kind of conceded that going after the disillusioned Trump voters seemed like a lost cause with + 40 %  of the population voting Republican no matter what.     

I wish Bill had followed up more on Thomas Frank's comment that the U.S. is a failed state and the centralist part of the Democratic party having won over the progressives.  I agree with Frank's comment that the party did not want Bernie to get the nomination.  

19 hours ago, Tara said:

I loved Oliver Stone. He cut through the bullshit, dismissed silly theories, and spoke his mind with maturity. How refreshing!

I did laugh when Oliver Stone pretty much called Maher a gullible idiot and for him to get himself properly informed. 

[BrownBear2012]

On 8/23/2020 at 12:52 PM, sistermagpie said:

Seems weird that he talks about how his movies wouldn't be made because they're not "politically correct" and then references movies that are critical of US foreign policy since "politically correct" is usually used as a shorthand for things liberals like--I can't think of any time I've seen it used to refer to things associated with the right, like presenting the US military as consistently heroic. The stuff he's talking about were the things you can't make because the CIA, military etc. have so much power over making sure movies are pro-military. He was describing something very real, yet still seemed to throw in "politically correct" to make it seem like it's the same as wanting trans characters written well and played by trans actors.

As for the Russia stuff, yes he pretty much did think that dismissing it all as "silly theories" was enough to ignore the piles of evidence that Russia actually interfered in the election, but he didn't and couldn't actually discredit any of it. His argument that Russia just isn't thinking about us at all sounds like a shaming of the US for being self-obsessed, but it's actually just arrogant. This argument was used during the Cold War as well, suggesting that because the USSR couldn't get toilet paper to people they couldn't ever do anything worth noticing, and that obviously wasn't true either. Russia doesn't have to be thinking about the US all the time in order to have foreign policy with aims to weakening it. He even then goes on to say "Look at all the elections we've interfered with" which is true, but what, does he not notice that we interfered in those elections while also being concerned with other things?

Seems like he thinks his relationship with Russia and Putin makes him feel important, just like Trump, and he's mistaken that for his being smarter and cooler than people calling a spade a spade. Maybe he thinks the KGB is fundamentally different from the CIA in terms of being willing to lie and manipulate people. Seems like he still considers himself to be a great fighter against "the man" and just hasn't noticed that the fight left him behind long ago.

Oliver Stone is a nutjob...I think he's generally been laughed out of Hollywood at this point.