S14.E10: Corey Booker, Ian Bremmer, Jennifer Granholm, Reihan Salam, Jerrod Carmichael

[GHScorpiosRule]

N.J. Sen. Corey Booker, Foreign Affairs expert Ian Bremmer, former Mich. Gov. Jennifer Granholm Commentator Reihan Salam, Comedian Jerrod Carmichael

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Oh God Jennifer once again trying to win a prize for best Clinton groupie!

Edited March 24, 2016 by Foghorn Leghorn

[right]

Ok Bill, there is a thing called Islamic terrorism.  However, why does he overlook that our own society was a huge mess as little as 50 to 60 years ago?  We had lynchings in this country in the 1950's and 60's and surprise surprise there were many good Christians that didn't disapprove of the behavior.  Hell, black children had to risk their lives to go to school.  Sorry Bill, our country doesn't have much to brag about when it comes to human rights and progressive ideals.  If we're lucky we might be one generation ahead of the Muslim world in terms of tolerance of others views.

Edited March 26, 2016 by right

[Victor the Crab]

No Bill, you asshole. The phrase "Islamic terrorism" is not what may cost the Democrats the White House this November (or political correctness that you keep bringing up). It's having left leaning people not go to the polls because the candidate of their choice isn't the nominee. Smarten the fuck up, whydontcha?

 

Having said that, great tribute to Garry Shandling

[iMonrey]

Bill is really starting to lose me with his obsession over calling terrorism an Islamic threat. What, exactly, does he think this would accomplish? Let's say Obama and all the other Democrats start saying "Islamic terrorism." What then? How is that going to help anything? It seems to me Bill is trying to get liberals to condemn Islam itself, and that's never going to happen and isn't even productive in any way. In fact it's counter-productive to declare all-out war on all Muslims. His anti-relgion fixation is clouding his perspective on this. 

 

Which is why I'm gobsmacked when he keeps saying he'd rather have Ted Cruz as President than Donald Trump. WTF?! Bill knows Cruz is a crazy religious zealot that would probably do everything in his power to turn this country into as much of a theocracy as the Islamic State. Trump isn't crazy, he's just a blustering fool who knows who his audience is. He's certainly not a religious zealot. But . . . OOOOOOO wait . . . Trump tried to sue Bill once. So that's what this is about. God Bill is an idiot.

 

Cory Booker . . . take a drink every time he mentions Newark.

 

Reihan Salam - one of the worst right wing panelists Bill has on the show on a regular basis, the guy who thinks if he talks fast enough and doesn't let anyone else get a word in edgewise, he wins. But even he was being more reasonable than Bill about this whole Islamic terrorism thing, so that should tell you how far off base Bill is about this. 

[alias1]

Bill was a total embarrassment for almost the first half hour.  Geez, stop your rant about islamic terrorism!  How could anyone ruin an interview with Corey Booker?  And then he still wouldn't let it go.  That is not even remotely the issue that might lose the election for the democrats.  I agree with Victor, it's lazy, complacent left leaning people not going to the polls that is the problem.  

 

I love Jennifer Granholm! 

Edited March 26, 2016 by SierraMist

[Foghorn Leghorn]

And Bill messed up at the end of new rules when he put the hat on and reversed the caption!  LMAO  

[ganesh]

Bill is really starting to lose me with his obsession over calling terrorism an Islamic threat. What, exactly, does he think this would accomplish? Let's say Obama and all the other Democrats start saying "Islamic terrorism." What then? How is that going to help anything?

 

Bill's backing up his argument correctly, and the counter argument to Bill is incorrect, but he's arguing the wrong thing. Obama, as Head of State, isn't going to say "islamic terrorism" because it plays right into IS recruiting for one: See? We told you the West hates you and our religion. Join us. 

 

That's why the police commish in NYC got on tv immediately to refute Cruz's suggestions to "patrol muslim neighborhoods." That's what Secretary Kerry calls them "daesh". It's basically arabic for "pos." You don't acknowledge their claims. This "war" is going to be won almost as much on rhetoric as it is on force of arms. That's why the army is has a task force (I think it's the army) of people getting on twitter to refute IS and head off potential recruits. 

 

Secondly, it's realpolitik. As Head of State, you have diplomatic obligations to allies in the Middle East because you're not going to solve the problem alone. So, yes, Saudia Arabia is a terrible country, but that's the way it is right now. Responsible politicians can't just say what they want. I don't think this is that hard of a concept to grasp. Booker isn't going to go on record saying "islamic terrorist," but at the same time, don't give a stump speech either and deflect. Just explain why.

 

However, the "99% of all muslims" argument is wrong, and so is the "moderate muslims". Moderate is far more conservative that people think, and Bill has a lot of facts to back that up. On the panel, I think the governor was trying to get around to the point, and I think Salam actually said, "sometimes the enemy of my enemy is my friend." There aren't enough moderate muslims to make a difference, and, as it was said on the show, Sunnis aren't going to wage war and go in and kill other Sunnis. 

 

On the other hand, there's been far more death in the USA do to christian terrorism. The best term is religious extremism imo. To say IS isn't motivated by their religion is wrong just like the idiot who shot up PP and was goaded on by Fiorina. 

 

We say this here basically every week, and I don't think anyone here is a political consultant. I don't understand why this is so hard for Bill. I agree with Bill firmly that religion is the huge problem. Bill hasn't said this in a while, but I think there's credence to the speculation that islam needs a civil war to fix this. 

 

With all these arguments, for me, and I swear we could probably write the script for it, and it would be nearly accurate dialogue the next time the topic comes up, is that people are just terrified of criticizing religion. It has no place in a civil society, in terms of the rule of law. I don't care if you're a "moderate" whatever. "I do _________ because it says so in _________." Well, you're wrong and that's not how we do things. Therefore, you are not fit to hold political office. You want to go your whatever house of worship on whatever day on your own time, go for it. Otherwise stfu.

 

Bill's point about Cruz is that he'd be more predictable, although bad, whereas Trump takes everything as a slight and could get us into 50 wars. Which, again, is the wrong argument. Trump and Cruz aren't really that much different. 

 

Why does Bill say "CAWSBEE" and not "CAHZBEE". I have never heard another person pronounce it that way and it drives me up the wall. 

Edited March 26, 2016 by ganesh

[NextIteration]

So, I took an hour out of my day to read up about and watch a video produced by the Clarion Project.  Now I understand why Bill is such a fan of Raheel Raza, and this reinforces what I often say about him, he's often more right leaning than left leaning - we just don't notice it.  After the Brussels attack, I got into a back and forth with someone online about Islamism and how Saudis are funding all sorts of organizations in the U.S. to propagate Salafism, financing both organizations and individual mosques.  I read about the NAIT and all sorts of other stuff and came across the ISNA and lo and behold there was Linda Sarsour as a featured speaker at a big event.  The Clarion Project website had been knocked offline - Google identified it as possibly being hacked, it was serving up 522 errors.  I felt a little off-kilter until this morning when I looked again and it was back up so I could look around.  Then I went and watched the video.  Raheel Raza really does come off as sweet and earnest about her goals, but the Clarion Project has ties to lots of right wing ideas and of course Foxs News..

 

I guess I have a problem with any site that goes after Ms Sarsour and my congressman Keith Ellison. 

 

So there you have it, we get another whole block of Maher railing about terms and flying his Islamaphobic freak flag.

 

I'm a fan of both Booker and Grandholm and would be whomever they are surrogates of, so that was good.  I appreciated the introduction to Jerrod Carmichael and will check out his show.

 

I know I'm going to hell for this, or maybe proving I'm "stupid" since Garry Shandling is being glorified as brilliant, but I never liked either of his shows - and his last few times on Real Time, I thought he came off as really out of it.  All that said, RIP.

[sistermagpie]

It seems weird that Bill thinks that if there was another terrorist attack people would vote Republican because Democrats won’t say Islamic terrorism. The kind of people who are voting out of that kind of attitude are going to go R night just because of that phrase but because they’re pushing things like keeping Muslims out and patrolling their neighborhood. It’s the whole Islamaphobic package. If you’re voting for that the Democrats are always going to be weaker because any respect of Islam as a religion or Muslims as people is too soft.

[Ruby25]

Bill is crazy on overtime with his whole "in this country the Republican can always win" spiel. Not if they nominate Donald Trump. Every single poll I've seen in the last three weeks has shown him getting crushed by Hillary. As we move closer and closer to the general, it's only going to get worse. We are not going to elect someone who's despised by 70% of all women, young people and minorities.

 

He always fearmongers like this, even for Romney and McCain, but this time I'm not buying it. Donald Trump will not be the next president of this country. And no, he can't win with only white men, or whatever it was he was saying. The guy in the middle was right, he'll do worse with whites overall than Romney did, because even if there ARE crazy racists out there who will come out for him, that's still not a majority of voters and it will be swamped by the amount of normal moderates completely repelled by him. It washes out.

 

The GOP knows this by the way. Which is why I think they're probably going to do everything in their power to not nominate him, even if it splits the party apart and even if they lose because of it. They go down, but they'll go down without having to say Trump was their nominee. That may be worth it to the elites.

[ganesh]

To be cliche: the only predictable thing about this campaign is its unpredictability. If the Sanders supporters who are whining stay home and don't vote for Clinton, or if so many people say "Clinton will win so easy, so I'm not going to bother to vote," there could be a problem.

 

Which ever party is in power, if something majorly bad happens, there is always a risk of losing. Or if the economy tanks like next month. 

 

I think it's short sighted to dismiss Cruz or Trump out of hand. Especially since in 2014, the democrats ran the worst national campaign ever, and let the gop control the (false) narrative and win the senate. 

Again, the democrats aren't seizing the narrative yet. It's not going to be good enough to win. They have to win resoundingly so they can say that they have a mandate. Otherwise it's going to be "We're going to make ______ a one term president." Again. One half of the legislative branch is on record flat out refusing to perform their constitutionally mandated duties. It's ridiculous and it's not going to change with a squeaker of an election.

 

The gop needs to be ripped to shreds and decimated for a generation. There needs to be a clear message that all this hate and fear and bullying has got to stop. 

[IndianPaintbrush]

I agree.  I'm fairly confident about the Dems chances in November, but it's dangerous to assume they have it in the bag. Trump is bringing out people who don't normally vote, so young people and minorities must turn up at the polls too.  I'm also with Bill that Trump is only one domestic terror attack away from the White House.  I don't see that as fearmongering, I see it as a very real possibility.

 

I've never seen Jerrod Carmichael's show, but he was funny.  Annoying that Bill had to show off all of his "F--- you audience" moments during the interview.

Edited March 26, 2016 by IndianPaintbrush

[ganesh]

It's really incumbent on whomever loses the nomination to endorse the winner and make sure all their supporters get out and vote. *And clearly explain why*. 

Edited March 26, 2016 by ganesh

[teebax]

I agree.  I'm fairly confident about the Dems chances in November, but it's dangerous to assume they have it in the bag. Trump is bringing out people who don't normally vote, so young people and minorities must turn up at the polls too.  I'm also with Bill that Trump is only one domestic terror attack away from the White House.  I don't see that as fearmongering, I see it as a very real possibility.

 

I've never seen Jerrod Carmichael's show, but he was funny.  Annoying that Bill had to show off all of his "F--- you audience" moments during the interview.

I agree. The friends I have who are supporting Bernie are really scaring me because they all seem to hate HRC so much. I worry about them crossing over and voting republican or just staying home to pout if he doesn't get the nomination. I think Bill is worried about that too. As much as I like Bernie, I realize that I need to vote for the nominee and the down ticket races.

Jarrod Carmichael has a couple of specials on Netflix. He's an okay comedian, but not one of my favorites. He relies too much on the n word for me. Although I'm black, I don't use it and really dislike it, regardless of who is saying it. Anyway, I do like his tv show, but more for Loretta Devine and David Alan Grier than for him.

[alias1]

I've never seen Jerrod Carmichael's show, but he was funny.  Annoying that Bill had to show off all of his "F--- you audience" moments during the interview.

That was incredibly childish of Bill, something he seems to be more and more of late.  And he thinks it's so cool to show how he gives his audience the stink eye and the F***you.  It isn't the first time he's proudly shown that off.  I've never seen Jerrod Carmichael before, but I loved when Bill said "isn't that sort of gangsta," and Jerrod, said "Um, no...no, it's not."

Edited March 26, 2016 by SierraMist

[Ruby25]

I thought it was kind of annoying on overtime how Carmichael was calling Trump "white people's Hurricane Katrina" and how it's just interesting that he's never seen white people scramble so much.

 

Umm...dude, you live here too. Who are all the people Trump is going out of his way to insult again? And then he said Obama was the exception and Trump's just like all the rest of them. Really? REALLY?

 

No. I don't think so. Someone's vision is pretty skewed if they see Trump like that, imo.

[Queena]

Bill is crazy on overtime with his whole "in this country the Republican can always win" spiel. Not if they nominate Donald Trump. Every single poll I've seen in the last three weeks has shown him getting crushed by Hillary. As we move closer and closer to the general, it's only going to get worse. We are not going to elect someone who's despised by 70% of all women, young people and minorities.

He always fearmongers like this, even for Romney and McCain, but this time I'm not buying it. Donald Trump will not be the next president of this country. And no, he can't win with only white men, or whatever it was he was saying. The guy in the middle was right, he'll do worse with whites overall than Romney did, because even if there ARE crazy racists out there who will come out for him, that's still not a majority of voters and it will be swamped by the amount of normal moderates completely repelled by him. It washes out.

The GOP knows this by the way. Which is why I think they're probably going to do everything in their power to not nominate him, even if it splits the party apart and even if they lose because of it. They go down, but they'll go down without having to say Trump was their nominee. That may be worth it to the elites.

I say this all of the time! People don't hear me tho!

Damn you Bill for making Salam likable. I usually detest him, but Bill stated so much paranoia, that someone had to be reasonable.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Queena

[represent]

 

I agree. The friends I have who are supporting Bernie are really scaring me because they all seem to hate HRC so much.

And they are totally offensive to me. I don't have a twitter acct. or any of that other stuff, but I do watch a Youtube video now and again and WOW, the nasty comments, violent. I saw one that called for her whole family to be killed, they use the word "cunt" constantly to refer to her, and they aren't just the Trump supporters. I don't know if these are real liberals/progressives, because I just never thought that we, no matter where we were on the spectrum were that vile. I swear these are mostly independents who usually lean to the right but....whatever. I don't say nasty things about their candidate's family nor how he looks so I sure as hell don't appreciate hearing it about Hillary. 

 

And worse they keep comparing her to Hitler with the "Hitlery" name the call her, which folks IMO should be careful whenever they compare anyone to Hitler. If they think Hillary committed genocide, as in sat down and plotted how she could kill an entire race of people, then I got nothing more, I'm done, we're done. I'll just go out and like they are going to do write her name in, because before this is all done they will have offended me that much. But then I can't because my voting is electronic so...

 

It's disgusting. 

 

 

Bill, I'm almost done with his ass too, how can he not understand that Islamic Terrorism offends the Muslim American community and their communities around the world.  WTF is he talking about if we don't use the term, we'll lose? He sounds like a fucking kid on the playground or some Frat. brother, if you don't use the secret code then you're out again, WTF is he talking about?  

Shit, he needs to lock up shop and just go campaign for Drumpf, saying some dumb shit like that, repeatedly, to what end?!

It offends them, end of fucking story, don't use it if you have any sense/respect for what offends your fellow citizens who are decent and law abiding. If you don't care then so be it..

We know who the fucking enemy is Maher, and it's not an entire religion and using that term makes them feel like we are demonizing the entire religion.

 We don't need to offend Muslims just to prove that we know damn well who the enemy is.

Idiot.  

Edited March 27, 2016 by represent

[33kaitykaity]

Overtime was engaging, fun, totally hilarious.  

[scrb]

Good on Booker for not kissing Maher's ring when Bill is trying to channel some right wing alarmist.

[iMonrey]

Ugh, Salam was back to being his usual obnoxious self on Overtime. First Bill asked about Cuba and he did his standard thing of talking a mile a minute and wouldn't let Jennifer or Ian get a word in edgewise. Then Bill asked about Voter ID laws and he deflected by saying all the laws were different. And when Jennifer pointed out they were all designed to limit voting he just sat there shaking his head like that wasn't true. What an idiot.

[represent]

And no Bill Maher, Ted Cruz is worse if I have to choose. I'd rather the crazy orange, obnoxious guy with thin skin,who just wants to be popular and the life the of the party, than the PURE EVIL that is Ted Cruz. Putin is thin skinned so Drumpf will be in good company, it's no wonder they like each other. Yeah, I'm taking President Orange in this race, if I must.

 

Just cause you keep pissing off Drumpf on a personal level isn't my problem, it's yours.

Edited March 27, 2016 by represent

[Dee]

It's surreal, to watch Bill Maher slowly morph into Dennis Miller.

[GHScorpiosRule]

It seemed as if only Bill and Salam did all the talking. I wanted to hear more from Bremmer and Granholm.

 

And Bill loses all credibility when he says once he learned Polanski was a rapist, he turned against him. Yeah, but you still watch his movies, so you haven't turned against him. That was the point Carmichael was trying to make.  And one would think, based on what Bill and Carmichael were saying about his show, that it's really, really, very, very good. But sadly, it's not. and Carmichael is the weakest link.  He's not able to becaome the character in his show, and all his lines sound like he's doing stand up.

 

But I was shocked at how...not-yelly Salam was during the show, but it seems he reverted back to form in Overtime.

[paigow]

It's surreal, to watch Bill Maher slowly morph into Dennis Miller.

Maybe Dennis and Bill will morph into Joan Rivers and Johnny Carson... 

[candall]

Nearly the whole show was Bill espousing the stupid--I'm glad this isn't my first exposure to Real Time because I'd mark the host as a jackass butting his head against a brick wall, one guest after another, and than I'd never give it another hour.

 

And really, a Cruz endorsement?  Was there a sniper just off-camera insisting he pick?  That Lindsey Graham joke must've been effeminacy-centric since the message was identical.

[DXD526]

I think Bill is losing his mind. Why would a supposedly avowed atheist endorse a crazy, dangerous, dominionist whackjob for anything, never mind president? Shades of Dennis Miller, indeed. 

[bluepiano]

I think Bill is losing his mind. Why would a supposedly avowed atheist endorse a crazy, dangerous, dominionist whackjob for anything, never mind president? Shades of Dennis Miller, indeed. 

Totally agree. With his number one message for year being the dangers of the religious state, he prefers Cruz, whose vision is to have American run by a fundamentalist Christian version of The Taliban? The guy who talks about "New York values" as a code word for the Jews? Who wants armed police "patrolling" Muslim neighborhoods, as if there even is such a thing in this country? Who sent bottled water to Flint and instructed that it be given only to anti-abortion groups?

 

Probably the best thing about Trump. compared to Cruz, Rubio, and Kasich, is that his professed love of the bible is so obviously fake. I'll happily take a pandering phony over a True Believer who has absolute certainty they know God's will. And yes, Trump has the mentality of a junior high school boy when it comes women, but he's the only Republican candidate who doesn't oppose abortion in the case of rape, or when there's a danger to the woman's health. Cruz and Kasich are total anti-abortion absolutists. And Kasich has already defunded Planned Parenthood in Ohio. That's a real "war on women."

 

I'm no Trump supporter, but I think the anti-Trump hysteria shared by both the Republican establishment and liberal Dems is completely over-the-top. In part because I don't there's a snowballs chance in hell of him ever getting elected. But if you put a gun to my head and I had to chose Trump or Cruz to be President, I'll take Trump any day. Cruz is the most despicable and scariest person to ever be seriously considered as a Presidential candidate in my 40 years of following politics.

 

Edited March 29, 2016 by bluepiano

[ganesh]

The whole bit was that Bill is scared of Trump because he sued him once. Realistically, much of what Trumps wants to do can't happen because of checks and balances, etc. I would worry about foreign policy somewhat, but I tend to think Trump is more going to delegate than roll up his sleeves and micromanage. 

[represent]

 

but I tend to think Trump is more going to delegate than roll up his sleeves and micromanage.

Yep and he's going to do it all from NY, LOL.

 

 

Cruz is the most despicable and scariest person to ever be seriously considered as a Presidential candidate in my 40 years of following politics.

 

Thank you, without a doubt he is. Trump you want to just punch him in the face, Cruz you want to run and hide in horror at the sight of his face. There's something so off about his humanity to me, LOL, I'm sorry. He really does remind me of a reptile. He's also brilliant and I don't doubt that, which makes him a lethal threat IMO.

 

Trump has the mentality of a junior high school boy when it comes women, but he's the only Republican candidate who doesn't oppose abortion in the case of rape, or when there's a danger to the woman's health.

 

 

There's no way in hell I'm voting for him, but I don't believe he cares about abortion one way or the other.  I definitely think his stance is "You, woman, go handle that, I don't wanna know." LOL

Edited March 29, 2016 by represent

[scrb]

I must have missed where Bill "endorsed" Cruz.

 

The New Rules bit was about which was worse, if he had to choose between the two, not that he would choose either one over the Democratic candidate.

[Victor the Crab]

If Bill thinks Ted Cruz is preferable to Donald Trump, then I would love to hear what he has to say about the comments of Oscar winner and new face of the BernieBots Susan Sarandon saying a Trump presidency would be preferable over a Hillary Clinton presidency. Of course, Bill's off this week so we'll never know.

 

But if you put a gun to my head and I had to chose Trump or Cruz to be President, I'll take Trump any day.

 

If it were me, I'd take the bullet.

[represent]

 

If it were me, I'd take the bullet.

Bwaah, I love it, this is true courage. 

 

You're right, take the bullet.

 

I already commented on Ms. Bull Durham over on the All In with Chris Haye's thread, I got nothing else on this one, but another roll of the eye.

[bluepiano]

The whole bit was that Bill is scared of Trump because he sued him once.

 

Yes, Bill did mention the law suit. But I don't think it's that he's scared of Trump. It's more like Bill taking his petty revenge on Trump. I like Bill, but that tendency to get into petty, personal squabbles is in his nature.

 

Scrb, you're right that Bill didn't "endorse" Cruz. It was about who he would choose between Trump and Cruz. But given the rolling out of the Cruz banner, putting on the hat etc, it did feel like an endorsement. I thought the whole bit was strained and not funny, just Bill sticking his tongue out at Trump.

 

"Not funny" is unfortunately what I find myself thinking more and more about Real Time. I'm someone who actually agrees with much of what Bill says on the subject of terrorism, but his tone has become increasingly preachy and snide.  And I think it's clouding his judgement. For example, after spending many years denouncing US military interventionism, he seems to be favoring Hillary, based on her being "tougher" on terrorism.

 

Bill's not Dennis Miller yet, but it is a disturbing trend.

Edited March 30, 2016 by bluepiano

[ganesh]

The whole piece was more about Bill than actually pointing out differences between the two candidates. It's too bad because the more scathing commentary is that Cruz is like everyone else in the gop; they all want to roll back civil rights ("religious freedom"), defund planned parenthood, irrational fear of the vagine, overtturn roe, etc. 

 

Just because they don't like Cruz doesn't mean they don't endorse everything he wants to do. Similarly, they're all a joke because they're going to vote for whomever the nominee is anyway. 

[bluepiano]

On another note, I had not heard of Ian Bremmer before. He seemed like a knowledgeable and rational voice regarding foreign policy. I wish I'd gotten to hear more from him. Soft-spoken panelists do not fare well on this show, because there's usually at least one loud-mouth panelist who monopolizes the time. And Bill is not a good "host" in the sense of making sure everyone gets their chance.

 

I think the format of the show needs revising. Two guest interviews, plus the panel, plus the mid-show comedy bit and New Rules is too much to try to cram into an hour. Do we really need two interviews? Especially when one of the interviews is a show biz personality. Jarrold Carmichael was okay, but I felt like I could've seen the exact same thing on Colbert, Conan, or any of the other late night talk shows.

 

I know that Bill likes to have his show biz buddies on, but those are almost always the least interesting interviews. (It's usually just a mutual admiration society). I'd rather more time be given to the political or social activist guests who we're not likely to see anywhere else.

Edited March 30, 2016 by bluepiano

[ganesh]

Some of Bill's show biz buddies are good guests though, so I wouldn't limit who he could invite. Generally, the mid show bit is typically flat and tends to bring an otherwise interesting discussion to a halt. 

[alias1]

I hate his format of bringing in that last guest.  They usually ignore the panel for at least 5 minutes (or more).  The only time I find it interesting is if it's not a show biz person.  I really hate when it's another comedian and Bill tries to out-joke that person.  I used to think Bill was pretty secure about himself, but I'm having doubts in that area.  He seems kind of petty sometimes.

[candall]

I always groan when he peremptorily shuts down the discussion to do his comedy piece.  I keep thinking the day will come when he says "I'm making an executive call to skip the mid-show skit because this debate is so good, we need to keep it going."  Alas and alack.

 

I agree with the post above regarding cramming the hour with a monologue, two interviews and two comedy segments.  For me, assembling passionate and/or cogent politically diverse panel members every week is somewhat of a waste when they only get eleven minutes of airtime.

 

However, my streaming situation prevents me from watching the aftershow.  What's that like?  Do the guests manage to sink their teeth back in or is it simply Bill getting more relaxed and letting it all hang out?

[bluepiano]

I always groan when he peremptorily shuts down the discussion to do his comedy piece.  I keep thinking the day will come when he says "I'm making an executive call to skip the mid-show skit because this debate is so good, we need to keep it going."  Alas and alack.

 

Especially because I can't remember the last time that mid-show comedy piece was actually funny. And often it does seem to come in just when the panel discussion is getting interesting.

[NextIteration]

However, my streaming situation prevents me from watching the aftershow.  What's that like?  Do the guests manage to sink their teeth back in or is it simply Bill getting more relaxed and letting it all hang out?

 

Actually, OT is often better than the panel time because they get led along to other topics via the questions asked.  ymmv

[ktwo]

And Bill is not a good "host" in the sense of making sure everyone gets their chance.

Holy crap, you can say that again. And, I've been watching for a long time (maybe ten years?) and I think it's getting worse over time.

I have railed against the flaws you all are talking about as well. I hate halting the panel discussion, often just when it is getting good, for the mid-show comedy bit. But more than that, I hate that Bill physically turns away from the entire rest of the panel to talk to the mid-show guest exclusively for up to ten minutes. It. Is. Rude. And messes up the pacing of the show. Overtime is basically a panel of everyone - why is that hidden instead of part of the actual show?

New Rules almost never disappoints, though.

[ganesh]

Bill has never said he was a good moderator though, and on the show, actually said he likes people arguing. I don't like it, but he is consistent.

[Victor the Crab]

And that's one of the reasons I skip through the panel discussions, because Bill likes him a train wreck. Especially if he has an obnoxious douche on like Ann Coulter or Steve Moore who love to interrupt others so they can spout their shit unquestioned and uninterrupted.

[hoosier80]

I don't understand why Bill is so intent that they have to use the words Islamic terrorists, and not the words or phrases preferred by the Arab American communities in the U.S.  We do the same thing, use words or phrases that other ethnic groups prefer, and do it with little or no fuss.  It's like you have a friend whose name is Samuel, but he hates that name and prefers to be called Bob.  Fine, whatever.  You don't piss off Bob, he appreciates the gesture and feels better towards you; if you ask for a favor or want to have that person on your 'team' then he will be more inclined to do so if you don't piss him off to start with.  Common sense to me.  And yes, words are important.

 

I have heard the opposite of the Bernie supporters from my mom and her elderly friends.  Mom is a fierce Hillary supporter, and is vowing not to vote if it's between Bernie and anyone else.  As a friend said to me, you just go in and hold your nose if your favorite doesn't win and pull the Dem lever, because the GOP contenders, well God help us.  She's especially afraid since her son is of draft age; she is seriously saying she would send him to Canada at the first sign of the draft starting up.

 

I also think that down deep Trump doesn't want to be President; he has no clue what it means to be on the job 24/7, which is what it really means now.  Even if the President is doing the tango in Argentina (gasp!), he's got aides keeping him briefed on any of the latest updates/news/events.  And if need be, he can get in Air Force One which has all of the tools available as there are in any room at the White House (no he doesn't have to be at the White House you GOP tools) to start making any decisions.  I keep waiting for Trump to drop out; I think this has gone farther than he even dreamed.  He could say he's doing it for 'family' reasons, and of course, still have bragging rights about how he could have won, etc.  I don't think he'd really want it if he really thought about what it entails.  He just wants to be the biggest and best at anything - his pride isn't letting him quit.  I think though that if he doesn't get the nom outright, he'll find an excuse to drop out.  I do fear a terrorist attack right before the election; then we could end up with Cruz (perhaps Trump).  It could very well be someone else if it goes to a contested convention.  No one likes Cruz.  I think it's still too far to tell how it will play out; we're not even to summer.  Thank heavens while I'm in Ohio, I'm not close to Cleveland.  As my friend said, it'll be one hot mess up there.

[sugarbaker design]

I don't understand why Bill is so intent that they have to use the words Islamic terrorists, and not the words or phrases preferred by the Arab American communities in the U.S. We do the same thing, use words or phrases that other ethnic groups prefer, and do it with little or no fuss. It's like you have a friend whose name is Samuel, but he hates that name and prefers to be called Bob. Fine, whatever. You don't piss off Bob, he appreciates the gesture and feels better towards you; if you ask for a favor or want to have that person on your 'team' then he will be more inclined to do so if you don't piss him off to start with. Common sense to me. And yes, words are important.

 

But Bill doesn't care what Bob wants, Bill doesn't respect Bob because Bob is a member of an organized religion.  I don't mind Bill using the term "Islamic terrorists" because that's exactly what they are, but to expect politicians like Corey Booker to use it, is way naïve.  And to think Dems are going to lose the 2016 presidential election because they don't use that particular term is just plain ludicrous.

[Maherjunkie]

I don't know much about Polanski's films, but I think you can separate an artist from the work.  Caravaggio stabbed a man in the heart over a tennis match but he still did good work.

[attica]

It's harder, I think, to separate artist from work while the person is still living. I'm uninterested in ever spending another movie-going dollar on a Woody Allen movie, even as I'll believe you when you tell me Blue Jasmine is a good flick. Caravaggio can't exactly benefit from my support of his work, however, which makes it easier for me when I bought all those Medusa fridge magnets a couple of years ago.

[ganesh]

It was quite easy for me not to see Ender's Game and not give my money to that homophobe jackass. Overall though, nearly everyone has done something they shouldn't, so it's more of a question of where you draw the line. I don't get Woody Allen, so I don't have a problem not seeing his movies. 

 

It's easy for me to not spend money on disposable crap entertainment. I'm more interested in investing in my house.