S12.E35: Seth Rogen, Chris Matthews, John Cleese, Chrystia Freeland, Roland Martin

[maraleia]

 

"The Interview" star Seth Rogen, MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews, Monty Python Alum & "So Anyway..." author John Cleese, Canadian MP Chrystia Freeland and "News One Now" host Roland Martin.

 

[HelenBaby]

Pure marshmallow fluff of a show, yet I enjoyed it thoroughly.

[teebax]

Pure marshmallow fluff of a show, yet I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Agreed. After everything that went down this week, I think it was a good panel to have. And John Cleese was a good interview too.

[iMonrey]

I understand what the "uproar" is over this Gruber guy, but I'm not sure I follow it. His comment that the only way the ACA got passed was due to voter unintelligence doesn't make any sense. The American public didn't vote for the ACA, Congress did. Is he saying voters were stupid enough to vote for Democrats who would pass the bill? I don't get it.

[ganesh]

I don't know either. The only thing I can think of was that any blemish on the ACA is because it is the worst law in the history of human civilization and it must be wiped off the face of the earth. 

 

Some asshole professor called people stupid. Boo hoo. 

 

Not that everyone has to be an expert on everything, but you can catch 15-30 minutes of news each day and stay reasonably informed. You can use phone apps to scan the headlines. 

 

My immediate family just doesn't buy anything for anyone on xmas except for the little kids, and even then not much. People just need to stop buying shit.

Edited November 22, 2014 by ganesh

[walnutqueen]

I'd give the left nut I never grew to have John Cleese tell me to "Fuck Off".  He is a unique and delightful human.

 

Yes, people are stupid.  I'm pretty sure others came to that conclusion long before the likes of Gruber and Maher.  Stupid is a measuring stick I wouldn't use so freely if I were Bill; because really smart people could consider him to be intellectually challenged.  Just sayin'.  ;-)

[ganesh]

From the clip Bill showed of himself, it seemed like he was using just a general level of "news awareness" to measure stupidity. 

 

The one I find most confusing is when you list the things in the ACA people like it, but when you say that's what the ACA is or it's Obamacare, people hate it. That's stupid. 

[walnutqueen]

I think some people confuse "stupid" with "willfully ignorant".  Vastly different, IMHO.  I've got nothing against genuinely stupid people; salt of the earth, and sometimes filled with a rich goodness we could only imagine. The willfully ignorant make me stabby.  ;-)

Edited November 23, 2014 by walnutqueen

[ruby24]

I appreciate that Bill seems to be the only late night host willing to go after Cosby- I think all the other guys ignored it this week except for one joke Conan made. Which I think is pretty cowardly- just because you don't like the story, and have admired the man in the past shouldn't mean that you get to just pretend it's not newsworthy.

[attica]

Both Jon Stewart and SNL's Weekend Update took shots at Cosby as well. 

[Maherjunkie]

 

I don't know either. The only thing I can think of was that any blemish on the ACA is because it is the worst law in the history of human civilization and it must be wiped off the face of the earth.

Ganesh, I am just going to assume you are being sarcastic, no?  

I respect due process but it is not looking good for Bill Cosby.  Still, I don't see how Bill can not question a woman repeatedly seeing your rapist.

[ganesh]

Yes I was.

[Maherjunkie]

I figured, but have no embarrassment emotie.

[Hanahope]

In regards to Gruber, the only thing I can think of that would involve caring whether or not the American people are 'stupid' in passing the ACA, was the hope that the people who did actually read the thing, primarily newsreporters, would see words like "penalty" and believe it as such, and not realize it really was a "tax." In other words, they were trying to win the propoganda war.  If this was the case its just another gross miscalculation by the Dems/Obama administration in realizing that it didn't make a damn bit of difference what the law actually said, all Faux news had to say was "Obamacare is evil and the work of the devil, by the way "death panels" and the sheep who watch (and believe) Faux news would take it be gospel. 

 

Because otherwise, yeah, who cares whether Americans were stupid or not, they weren't passing the law, presumably smart(er) politicians (or at least their aides) were.

 

I thought Bill and the panel made a good point that perceptions of what is "rape" and when its acceptable to take advantage of a woman (if it ever was), has changed over time.

[ganesh]

And then scotus ruled it was a tax anyway, so that come to nothing. I think the ACA is pretty good, but Obama et al., really made a mess out of the branding and promoting of it. I don't think they really understood the level of flat out hate. So with this Gruber thing now, it just flared everything all up again. I've said before, Obama should have appointed someone whose sole job was to promote and brand the ACA. 

[bluepiano]

I'm not sure if "stupid" is the right word for it, but when polls show that the approval rating for this Congress is something like 10%, and then virtually ever incumbent gets re-elected, most of them overwhelmingly (including the guy in Staten Island under a 21 count indictment for corruption), it's hard to retain a shred of confidence in the American public.

 

Whether it's his views on the Muslim religion or Bill Cosby, Bill does seem to be staking out a position as the one certified TV liberal who does not quake in his boots at the thought of the PC police. Even if he's sometimes a bit too self-congratulatory about that, I give him credit. I remember some time back his saying that calling Michael Brown a "gentle giant" was bullshit after what we saw in the store video. He made the point that you can be against the shooting without trying to make Michael Brown into something he wasn't. And that when liberals do that, they only hurt the credibility of their cause. (Which I know is true from talking to my in-laws).

 

Regarding Cosby and the issue of rape, it would've been nice if the rest of the panel let Chrystia Freeland, the one woman present, get a word in. Actually, she pretty much didn't get to say anything the entire show. Bill Maher's panels tend to have a lot of alpha males (of all political stripes), so for a woman, being polite and considerate is not a winning tactic. The women who do better on this show are the likes of Mary Matalin who take pride in showing they can be as rude and obnoxious as any man.

Edited December 12, 2014 by bluepiano

[shok]

 

I remember some time back his saying that calling Michael Brown a "gentle giant" was bullshit after what we saw in the store video. He made the point that you can be against the shooting without trying to make Michael Brown into something he wasn't. And that when liberals do that, they only hurt the credibility of their cause.

 

The liberals (and many non-liberals) aren't just pulling the 'gentle giant' description out of their ass. They're simply repeating what the people who actually knew him called him - his teachers, his friends, his family. I think they know more than Bill Maher and assorted other know-it-alls.

 

Besides, the convenience store incident had nothing to do with the shooting. Wilson DID NOT KNOW about it at the time he confronted Brown and his friend. Wilson admitted to his supervisor and fellow cops he hadn't heard the radio call. Wilson's chief of police said very clearly in a press conference a couple of days later that Wilson didn't know and the sole reason he confronted Michael was the jaywalking. So I think Maher can be both against the shooting but still know the facts before he starts demeaning liberals.

[Maherjunkie]

To be fair Brown obviously had another side to him.  Gentle giants don't usually push around store clerks.  

[shok]

Cops don't usually shoot unarmed teenagers for jaywalking either.

[Maherjunkie]

I agree, but if Brown tried to take his gun who knows what happened.

[ganesh]

I still have a hard time believing a fatal shot was the only solution. 

[shok]

I agree, but if Brown tried to take his gun who knows what happened.

 

Right. As if a 6'4" or 6'5" 290 lb guy could get his head and shoulders and torso in through a window in order to reach across a 6'4" cop to get at a gun that was safety holstered on the cop's far side. Now if said cop had already drawn his gun because he was pissed off a black kid had jaywalked and then smart-mouthed him, I could believe the kid swatted at or even tried to grab the lethal weapon that was pointed at him for no reason. And if said cop was drawing his gun and was aiming it point blank at the kid, then said cop has some serious mental issues and should never have been on the force.

[Maherjunkie]

I'm not saying it was either, but I don't totally support either one of them.