S14.E12: Arianna Huffington, Amy Goodman, Mary Katharine Ham , Rick Tyler, Susan Sarandon

[GHScorpiosRule]

Arianna Huffington, Journalist Amy Goodman, Journalist Mary Katharine Ham, Political analyst Rick Tyler, Actress Susan Sarandon

 

Rick Tyler? BLECH!

[Victor the Crab]

What are the odds that Bill will go after Sarah Palin for her batshit insane accusation that Bill Nye is not a real scientist tonight? Way above better than even?

[GHScorpiosRule]

Rick Tyler can just fuck off and die.  Honestly, I couldn't understand what he was saying during the whole show. I mean, all that stuff about free market, when talking about taxes. Even Bill asked what does that have to do with what they were talking about.

 

And sorry Bill, but Thurgood Marshall retired in 1991. He died in 1993. I remember because one of the things a reporter asked him, when he retired was why and he said "because I'm TIRED!"

 

Amy Goodman didn't get to talk enough.

 

Again, Rick Tyler can just fuck off for what he said about Anita Hill. With Bush H. in office, there was NO WAY the next Supreme Court Justice was going to be left leaning/liberal.

 

So, Sarandon denied what the media wrote about what she said regarding Hillary. But I wanted to know, okay, then, just what did she say? I mean, she can vote for whomever she wants, and she's for Bernie Sanders. That's fine. But I wasn't a fan of her being all coy about who she would vote for if he's not the nominee. Or just say "none of your business."

 

And that Katherine person? Just annoying. I had a difficult time trying to understand just what she was saying. In that, it all sounded like talking points.

[maraleia]

My question is should I even watch this episode or for that matter this show anymore? It's a question I'm asking myself more and more these days with a variety of TV shows.

GHScorpiosRule and others what are your thoughts?

[HelenBaby]

My question is should I even watch this episode or for that matter this show anymore? It's a question I'm asking myself more and more these days with a variety of TV shows.

GHScorpiosRule and others what are your thoughts?

I'm with you, maraleia. When I saw the guest line up I knew it would be Democrats/Hillary are evil and I've had enough of that on Facebook, Twitter and every message board I post on, even those that have nothing to do with politics. Seems I missed nothing.

[GHScorpiosRule]

My question is should I even watch this episode or for that matter this show anymore? It's a question I'm asking myself more and more these days with a variety of TV shows.

GHScorpiosRule and others what are your thoughts?

 

I ask myself this every week, and every week I keep hoping it will be a good show.  Bill made a few good points today, and he wasn't ranting about Islam, so I would say, yes? I'm not sure why Bill spent like five minutes plugging Confirmation, "explaining" to his audience who Anita Hill was, Clarence Thomas was...when they could have continued tonight's topics. I would have been saved listening to Tyler saying that Anita was a lying fame whore, who despite being a Conservative, was part of the left's attempt to get a liberal Justice to replace Marshall.

 

I'm not sure what your tolerance for bullshit is. But I do love Amy Goodman, so I stuck around for her.

Edited April 16, 2016 by GHScorpiosRule

[wknt3]

I ask myself this every week, and every week I keep hoping it will be a good show. Bill made a few good points today, and he wasn't ranting about Islam, so I would say, yes? I'm not sure why Bill spent like five minutes plugging Confirmation, "explaining" to his audience who Anita Hill was, Clarence Thomas was...when they could have continued tonight's topics. I would have been saved listening to Tyler saying that Anita was a lying fame whore, who despite being a Conservative, was part of the left's attempt to get a liberal Justice to replace Marshall.

I'm not sure what your tolerance for bullshit is. But I do love Amy Goodman, so I stuck around for her.

I'm with you. I keep asking myself why I stick around, but I do because he does get some great guests and because I still have hope. And because Bill still does sometimes give us a great moment like his Trump takedown or his tribute to Gary Shandling.

[shok]

My question is should I even watch this episode or for that matter this show anymore? It's a question I'm asking myself more and more these days with a variety of TV shows.

GHScorpiosRule and others what are your thoughts?

 

I just wasted 55 minutes of my life and can give you a definitive answer. NO!

 

Two weeks. Two shows. Two absolute stinkers.

[NextIteration]

Two weeks. Two shows. Two absolute stinkers.

 

What a terrible waste of Amy Goodman that was.  She should have been the first guest.  Go away Arianna, I'm tired of you and your pseudo-scientific tropes.

[iMonrey]

This one was painful on so many levels. I love Arianna Huffington to death but she's been on this sleep kick for years now, and while it may well be an important topic, enough already.

 

Ham and Tyler were just insufferable. Ham trotted out that old "the IRS is going after tax exempt companies" bullshit which Bill failed to call her on. Hello, lady, but that's what the IRS is supposed to do. And the usual "government can't do anything right" crap. So let's get rid of the government all together! 

 

I agreed with Bill about tax returns. I've always thought it was dumb that the government spends all year long taking money out of our paychecks and then once a year it becomes our responsibility to fill out these complicated forms to see if they took enough or too much. Let them do that. I don't have any say in how much they take, why do I have to figure this shit out? I work in one state and live in another so I have to hire an accountant to do my taxes. It's ridiculous. 

 

Tyler saying Dodd-Frank made big banks bigger because "too much regulation." Gah. Big banks got bigger because congress did everything they could to weaken or eliminate Dodd-Frank. I was glad the audience booed him when he said Anita Hill was a liar. Unless someone can point to the big paycheck she got I can't imagine why she'd put herself through that.

 

The only useful thing Amy Goodman got out was the fact that drone strikes are just making things even worse in the middle east and then Bill had to go and say war is the only answer when it comes to Isis. {headsmack}

[ganesh]

I wasn't impressed with SS. But I rarely care how celebs vote anyway. She's not obligated to vote the Clinton, and we're not even there yet, so just say that and leave it.

New rules was the only good thing about the show. As much as I do agree with Bill on isis, he is by far at his best bringing down religion holistically.

[arachne]

We should never forget that there ​are ​religions out there (like my own) which do not fit the repressive, patriarchal mold that Bill consistently targets. But I guess they're too small and insignificant for him to care about.

[attica]

A few years ago, Rep Steve Cohen was on Up (When Chris still hosted it), whereon he plugged the IRS for offering free help with your taxes. A few months later, I was executrixing* my mom's estate (what there was of it), and I had no idea what my filing responsibilities were. Hiring a pro would have run in the thousands, money neither I nor her estate had, but I honestly did not know what I was doing, not even to the point of knowing what questions I needed to ask to get the answers I needed. I remembered Rep Steve, and I called the IRS. The lady who talked to me stayed patient with me for the half hour of questions she needed me to answer to find out if I needed to file, and when we got to the end, she was all "Nope, you're good." In my book, the IRS is Not. A. Villain. It kind of makes me crazy when people paint them as rabid baby-eaters. And it's flat out indecent when people scream "Taxes Should Be Simple!" when they represent all the moneyed interests that benefit from its complexity. Nothing new, of course. 

 

Mary Katherine's points about public polling in the aftermath of the Thomas confirmations were accurate, but nothing new again, misleading. The change wrought by those hearings took many many months to appear in public sentiment, and they were single-handedly responsible for the women sent to the senate in the following election.

 

*okay, not a word.

[alias1]

I was glad Bill hyped the show Confirmation.  I'm looking forward to it, but i hope they do justice to the facts.  I was home at the time and watched all the hearings and was appalled at how they treated Anita Hill.  She was a very credible witness.  When Bill asked Amy Goodman if Anita would be treated differently today and she said yes, I was kind of astonished.  Did she not watch the deplorable treatment of Cecile Richards just recently, or even Hillary for the Benghazi hearings.  I came away from the Clarence Thomas hearings with a rather low opinion of Joe Biden who did not stand up for Anita Hill at all.  And it still kills me that Clarence Thomas do nothing know nothing is on the Supreme Court.

 

I agree there wasn't enough Amy Goodman.  But the woman in the middle wouldn't shut up.  I couldn't care less about the Bono thing.  Bill is ticked off about the most inconsequential things lately (in my opinion).  Susan Sarandon added nothing to the discussion.  And I don't care what she really said, she left the impression that she wouldn't vote for Hillary, period. 

 

Ok, I'm glad she started the Huffington Post, but Arianna Huffington is now a snoozefest.

[ganesh]

Let's say for the sake of argument, or pretend, that much of what Anita Hill said was stretching the truth somewhat. I don't believe that because as everyone pointed out she clearly didn't gain anything from it. I could see someone saying, "Maybe she exaggerated because she was pissed off at Thomas for somesuch reason and wanted to screw him over." Ok. How do you get to "the left put her up to it to derail the nomination?" I mean, I'd believe the moon landing was faked before that.

 

Susan Sarandon added nothing to the discussion.  And I don't care what she really said, she left the impression that she wouldn't vote for Hillary, period.

 

I think Bill was trying to say that. SS just kept rambling. One argument Bill brings up is that "perfect is the enemy of good." No, Clinton isn't perfect. She never claimed to be. She was making it way more about herself than she should. Why not just say, "let's see who the nominee is first before we decide about the election?"

 

And what were they saying about Obama screwing up the 2014 midterms? He did nothing of the sort. No one wanted him to campaign and they ran away from him like he was on fire. It wasn't his fault. They let everyone think the gop was right and didn't run on their records.

[Ruby25]

SS's "I never heard anything" after Obama got elected was maddening. I remember the 2010 midterms. She really thinks people didn't show up because he didn't "follow through"? I'm assuming that means because we didn't pass single payer healthcare or something? Does she not remember how hard it was to even get the ACA passed as it was? And that was with negotiating with the Democrats only, because the Republicans were acting like the sky was falling.

 

I always thought the reason he lost the House in 2010 had more to do with the fact that the economy was still in the toilet at that stage. The truth is he actually did quite a bit in those first two years- Nancy Pelosi's House was the most productive one in decades. But I guess it just wasn't good enough for people on the left.

 

I think if you understand history and how government works, it may be easier for you to see how much was actually accomplished in those first two years, especially. Legislation is never perfect, but when you pass something big, you then build on it later, that's the way it's always worked.

[Victor the Crab]

I'm glad Bill pressed Susan Sarandon on her "Bernie Or Bust" stance that she revealed a while ago on Chris Hayes' show. That crowd, with their purity or nothing stance on the Democratic nomination are the ones that could put someone like Drumph or Cruz in the White House.

 

And someone like Sarandon is the worst of them. Because she doesn't have to suffer financially if the economy tanks under a Republican president. If she or a member of her family falls ill to a serious illness, they can have it treated on the spot. If her daughter becomes pregnant and decides she doesn't want to keep the baby, they can go anywhere and have an abortion done. But millions and millions of Americans wouldn't have that luxury, and they would be going through that all over again, as they did a decade ago, should people like Sarandon decide to sit this out because Hillary was the Democrat's nominee.

 

But then again, Sarandon campaigned for Ralph Nader back in 2000, and I'd imagine she was hoping fro the same thing once Bush got into office. Someone needs to ask people like Sarandon when something like that has EVER worked?!!

[candall]

Damn it, Janet.

 

Sarandon had to know her Trump > Clinton controversy would be on the table and apparently her plan was deflect, then slam Clinton and Obama.

 

So if a candidate doesn't check all your boxes, just stay the fuck home?  Go for the write-in?

 

To me, it sounded possible the actress "known for her social and political activism" really might cast a protest vote for Trump.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I was glad Bill hyped the show Confirmation.  I'm looking forward to it, but i hope they do justice to the facts.  I was home at the time and watched all the hearings and was appalled at how they treated Anita Hill.  She was a very credible witness.  When Bill asked Amy Goodman if Anita would be treated differently today and she said yes, I was kind of astonished.  Did she not watch the deplorable treatment of Cecile Richards just recently, or even Hillary for the Benghazi hearings.  I came away from the Clarence Thomas hearings with a rather low opinion of Joe Biden who did not stand up for Anita Hill at all.  And it still kills me that Clarence Thomas do nothing know nothing is on the Supreme Court.

 

I agree there wasn't enough Amy Goodman.  But the woman in the middle wouldn't shut up.  I couldn't care less about the Bono thing.  Bill is ticked off about the most inconsequential things lately (in my opinion).  Susan Sarandon added nothing to the discussion.  And I don't care what she really said, she left the impression that she wouldn't vote for Hillary, period. 

 

Ok, I'm glad she started the Huffington Post, but Arianna Huffington is now a snoozefest.

 

Agree. Regarding the part I bolded-I don't give any fucks about Sarandon or what she said, but if you're going to say "I didn't say that! What I said was taken out of context," then say nothing more, as a peon, I'd want to know what was taken out of context and what she actually said. Otherwise, say nothing about it. Again, all thay coyness, that she's better and so above it all. Irked me.

 

I'm not as eloquent as all of you all are, and you've articlulated better, what bugged me about Ham; oh boo-hoo, all those entities that didn't pay taxes, that now should, and how the IRS is a big giant meanie. I mean, I have my issues with them too, and I hate them, but the reps I've spoken with on the phone have always been nice and helpful, but the organization, I hate, so so much.

[ganesh]

SS's "I never heard anything" after Obama got elected was maddening. I remember the 2010 midterms. She really thinks people didn't show up because he didn't "follow through"? I'm assuming that means because we didn't pass single payer healthcare or something? Does she not remember how hard it was to even get the ACA passed as it was? And that was with negotiating with the Democrats only, because the Republicans were acting like the sky was falling.

 

That's what I was referring to. She seemed grossly misinformed to me. But again, I don't look to celebs as to how I should vote.

 

I think if you understand history and how government works, it may be easier for you to see how much was actually accomplished in those first two years, especially. Legislation is never perfect, but when you pass something big, you then build on it later, that's the way it's always worked.

 

I wasn't living in the USA when Obama was first elected. It seems like all the people like SS dissing him expected him to work miracles. I don't know what they thought he was going to do when you had the speaker of the house say they were going to make him "a one term president." That was unprecedented. 

 

So, iirc, a whole bunch of organizations applied for tax-free status, and their whole premise was, "we're supporting the tea party who think we shouldn't have to pay taxes because government is bad," and then are complaining when the IRS took an extra look into them? Isn't that their job?

[IndianPaintbrush]

Susan Sarandon is just as bad as the Teabaggers on the right who refuse to compromise on ANYTHING.  I don't get why she isn't living in France or something.  

 

Anita Hill is one of my personal heroes.  I'm glad we take sexual harassment in the workplace more seriously now, but that doesn't change the fact that we put a pervert on the Supreme Court.

[ganesh]

Bill's joke about how much Thomas talked back then and now on soctus was actually good. I also like when he goes "so brave" when people boo bad things.

Bill's joke about how much Thomas talked back then and now on soctus was actually good. I also like when he goes "so brave" when people boo bad things.

[Kenz]

I am an atheist, and I agree that churches should be taxed to some degree, but I get very tired of Bill's rants about all religions and his degrading insults about people who have religious beliefs. People have a right to their beliefs. Bill's superior, know it all attitude makes me want to stop watching the show. It seems that he can't get off of his pet topics of anti-religion, calling terrorists Islamic terrorists, and his love for pot. It's redundant and boring.

[33kaitykaity]

I am an atheist, and I agree that churches should be taxed to some degree, but I get very tired of Bill's rants about all religions and his degrading insults about people who have religious beliefs. People have a right to their beliefs. Bill's superior, know it all attitude makes me want to stop watching the show. It seems that he can't get off of his pet topics of anti-religion, calling terrorists Islamic terrorists, and his love for pot. It's redundant and boring.

Add that he has to mention pubic hair every single goddamn show,

[wknt3]

What a terrible waste of Amy Goodman that was.  She should have been the first guest.  Go away Arianna, I'm tired of you and your pseudo-scientific tropes.

 

Arianna Huffington brings out the worst in Bill. He is completely unwilling to challenge his buddies and is a huge sucker for pseudo-science and quackery.

 

I think Bill was trying to say that. SS just kept rambling. One argument Bill brings up is that "perfect is the enemy of good." No, Clinton isn't perfect. She never claimed to be. She was making it way more about herself than she should. Why not just say, "let's see who the nominee is first before we decide about the election?".

 

I find Bill's take on the Democratic primary to be interesting and insightful. And different from other political comedians. This is one area where he is the truth teller cutting through the BS he would like to see himself as. I really wish we could have gotten more along these lines on Overtime instead of the Arianna infomercial.

[candall]

Susan Sarandon is just as bad as the Teabaggers on the right who refuse to compromise on ANYTHING.  

Perfect corollary.  Why couldn't the host have made this point?

 

 

ETA:  Anita Hill's a hero for me, too, 'brush.  I can't even bear to watch that beatdown again via this movie, with all its trumpeting about being "noncommittal."

Edited April 17, 2016 by candall

[ganesh]

I am an atheist, and I agree that churches should be taxed to some degree, but I get very tired of Bill's rants about all religions and his degrading insults about people who have religious beliefs. People have a right to their beliefs. Bill's superior, know it all attitude makes me want to stop watching the show. It seems that he can't get off of his pet topics of anti-religion, calling terrorists Islamic terrorists, and his love for pot. It's redundant and boring.

 

People do have a right to their beliefs, but as Bill pointed out, when you're literally passing legislation telling people where they can go to the bathroom and you're codifying discrimination into municipal codes for commercial businesses, then no. Your right to belief doesn't extend to discriminating against other legal American citizens. So, no you (general) actually don't have a right to your belief because you're (general) saying your belief supercedes the rule of law in this country. It certainly does not. If you (general) just *cannot* bake a cake for gay people, then get into another business, because you're operating license for your business requires you to not discriminate under federal law. So, if you're saying "I have a deeply held religious belief that I cannot bake this cake for these gay people," then, no, you don't have a right to that. 

 

In this case, Bill wasn't ranting against 'islamic terrorists' at all. I think this was his strongest argument of the season, and while I agree with him on religion, I concede he's not done himself much of a service to that end this season. I don't recall Bill degrading people with religious beliefs in this New Rules. He was talking about organized religion, and what a crock it is as a driver of social policy. He was saying that there's $600 billion is assets that are not taxable. 

 

Religion is clearly declining in modern American society and for whatever reason religious people are fighting tooth and nail against it. They need people to be "This" and "That" and it's not like that and never was. The thing is, the nonreligious people don't care if you want to go to church, whenever you want. Just do all your religious stuff in church. Otherwise, every legal American citizen is afforded equal rights and protections. It's not that difficult. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

I'm still trying to figure out how Mary Katherine Hamm gets on this show, as this isn't her first time.  IRS is bad, Blah, blah, blah, China will get your data, followed by Republican talking points.  Who's next -- Kayleigh Mcenany -- that CNN has on ALL THE TIME pushing Trump's agenda ?  She's just terrible.

 

Overtime was a lot of fun.

 

Per New Rules, I would love to see a church declare that they don't want tax exempt status, and actually want to pay their fair share of federal, state and local taxes like any other business. But it ain't going to happen.  Seriously, collectively religions have $600 billion (with a 'b') in assets. Wow !!

[represent]

So, Sarandon denied what the media wrote about what she said regarding Hillary. But I wanted to know, okay, then, just what did she say? I mean, she can vote for whomever she wants, and she's for Bernie Sanders. That's fine. But I wasn't a fan of her being all coy about who she would vote for if he's not the nominee. Or just say "none of your business."

 

Her tone on Chris Hayes' show seemed like it was positive when speaking of Trump's revolution. But on this show, she seems to have come to her senses in saying that Trump's revolution is about scapegoating groups of people, while Bernie's is more positive and about bringing people together. 

 

She was not this clear when she was on Chris Hayes' show which is why Chris Hayes responded in disbelief, and thought that she was insinuating that she would vote for Trump. On Hayes' show, she neglected to cast a negative light on Trump's "revolution" that is so richly deserves IMO. 

 

Basically, I think she was saying that the "people" on both sides want a revolution, change, therefore, "they" are voting for the game changers in this election. 

 

I say, whatever Sue, cause I thought I was part of the people and neither one of the so called "game changers" appeal to me at all.

Edited April 17, 2016 by represent

[ganesh]

Per New Rules, I would love to see a church declare that they don't want tax exempt status, and actually want to pay their fair share of federal, state and local taxes like any other business. But it ain't going to happen.  Seriously, collectively religions have $600 billion (with a 'b') in assets. Wow !!

 

When the directive is coming from the higher ups, "you need to give sermons against the gays" in America. That is certainly political. You know what? Give the churches a discount, ok. But you need to pay.

[scrb]

Didn't they used to have 4 guests on the Politically Incorrect panel?

If he has to have a mid show guest, just bring them out earlier and make the panel section longer.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

I haven't been watching the show from the start so maybe he had 4 panelists back in the day, been 3 for the last few years best I can recall.  I think 3 is fine because often one of those 3 is not heard from much!

[ganesh]

I'd really like to see a news piece on how political sermons are.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Didn't they used to have 4 guests on the Politically Incorrect panel?

If he has to have a mid show guest, just bring them out earlier and make the panel section longer.

 

The Politically Incorrect panel usually had 4 guests with Bill sitting in the middle -- sometimes there were only 3 because someone canceled at the last minute or in memoriam (for one guest that was killed on one of the planes on 9/11), and sometimes he (intentionally) had only one guest for the enter show.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politically_Incorrect

[iMonrey]

 

I really wish we could have gotten more along these lines on Overtime instead of the Arianna infomercial.

 

Overtime was a waste too. More sleep questions for Arianna, and a question about Thelma and Louise for Susan Sarandon. Snore.

 

What I think is interesting about Mary Katharine Ham is how she keeps saying "What I think is interesting" when she raises another talking point. She seems to think it's a coy way of pointing out some perceived liberal hypocrisy. But when she does this four or five times in the space of ten minutes it becomes an affectation.

[ganesh]

And Bill going on about Satan and what tie he'd wear. Bizarre.

[Maherjunkie]

I missed this G.  Please explain.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I missed this G.  Please explain.

 

It's on Overtime. Bill just said that Rick is "so good looking" and that he's Satan. Because Satan was supposed to be attractive. It made no fucking sense. And if Rick is good looking, then I'm a size 0, which I am not.

[attica]

He might be good looking by DC standards....

[b2H]

I'd really like to see a news piece on how political sermons are.

As a lifetime church goer, I rarely hear any sermons that have a political bent on them.  I'm talking about the ones that generally consign people to h&ll if they vote a certain way or don't contribute to political causes in line with church doctrine.

 

Then again, I've generally been more mainstream, primarily Methodist.  We can get our panties in a bunch, but the church leadership I've been involved with have kept out of the fray. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

He might be good looking by DC standards....

 

 

No, he's not. UGH. I work in DC; am surrounded by a LOT of attractive lobbyists, lawyers, government employees, etc., and he so IS NOT.  Well, from my beholding anyway.

[Queena]

I caught some of the 700 Club on TV today before I could turn it. I know Pat Robertson has a church, I'm not sure if his show is supposed to be a religious program, but he was talking about Obama and his socialistic agenda. How he doesn't have a mandate of any sort. How he wants the illegal immigrants of the brown sort to come into this country, and get welfare, driver licenses and go to free schools because they will vote for democrats. I kid you not. It was almost as if I were watching a Republican spout Republican talking points....oh wait. The same thing goes on in Black churches, and it goes on with both sides. This is why I think that if you're going to use the pulpit as a political platform, you need to pay taxes. If your church is pulling in $500,000 in profits, and none of it goes towards charity, but only towards the preacher, and the building fund, you need to pay taxes. One reason that churches are tax exempt is because they were about helping the poor, and now days, they're about helping the pastor and building mega churches. It's sickening. It's time we tax the mega churches. I agree with Bill Maher, not on his views on religion, my are quite the opposite. I do support his right to hold such views. 

[Maherjunkie]

When you said DC I thought of the comics.  He ain't no Tom Ellis.

[bluepiano]

That show was painful to watch. In the past we've always had to put up with one right wing moron mouthing Republican talking points like a robot. Now it's two? Is HBO pushing Bill to have more "balance," the way we now have right wing "commentators" all over MSNBC.

 

I had not seen Hamm before. She's another SE Cupp, who's probably gotten as far as she has in the right wing pundit business because she's young and generically attractive. Like Cupp, she is insufferably smug and condescending to those who don't agree with her. She did kind of, sort of, pay tribute to Anita Hill, but otherwise she was a total waste of space. How many times did she bring up China getting all your personal data?

 

And Rick Tyler, my God, talk about a waste of space. It's bad enough he's now an MSNBC "political commentator." I just don't get it, because even among right wing Republicans, he seems particularly dim. The guy was even fired by Ted Cruz for being too slimey!! He's basically a failed Karl Rove wannabe. Yet Bill seems to have some kind of personal fondness for him. Weird.

 

Could Bill have been any more kiss-ass with Arianna Huffington? (She does not look like Marilyn Monroe). She's generally intelligent when she talks about politics, but that "interview" about sleep problems was the kind of filler fluff you'd see on Good Morning America or Live with Kelly.

 

I think it's absurd that Congress can't do anything but they have time listen to Bono. I wish Bill had pursued that point. But the real reason he brought up the subject was so that he could lecture us again about the need to wipe ISIS off the face off the earth by any means necessary. I'm starting to wonder if Bill isn't secretly supporting Ted "make the desert sounds glow" Cruz.

Edited April 21, 2016 by bluepiano

[ganesh]

They have had two right wingers on the show several times, though with similar results. Bill can only get who he can get for the show sometimes. I don't think Bill's point about Bono was strictly to rail against ISIS again though. That wasn't actually that bad of a discussion because the panel all brought up decent points-ish regarding the use of entertainment as a social tool.

 

I don't think it's that bad that Bill had on his friend (AF) to promote her book. They're friends. People have their friends on their shows all the time. She obviously doesn't look like Monroe, but he likes her and was just being nice. One could also argue that it was a waste of time to have Silverman on the show because all she did was make him giggle. But they've been friends for years and he likes having her on from time to time. Same thing with Kathy Griffin. 

 

Except Coulter. There's no excuse for having her on the show. 

Edited April 21, 2016 by ganesh

[candall]

As much as I abhor Coulter, I always strap in and force myself to watch when she's a guest, because:

 

My GOP cousin is usually rational and intelligent and good-humored, but once I said I'd be willing to pay higher taxes to get people fed and homed and treated for illness, and furthermore I'd be willing for HIM to pay higher taxes, too.  He exploded.  "Hungry children" is nothing but Democrat propaganda!  No such thing in America!  Agendas!  Etc.

 

You so often have to catch the GOP meanness/ craziness/self-serving interest when and where it squirts out, but Coulter just surfs in on a huge tidal wave of it.  It's an all-you-can-eat buffet with her and I assign all her outrageous blather to being the core nugget in the hearts of all of them.

[ganesh]

Oh, I'll watch just to participate in the discussion here and make the crabcake joke. But she's an odious person. I still can't let go that she called another panelist's mother in law a drain on society not as a joke. 

 

I don't believe much of what she says she actually believes, but I agree there's plenty of people that actually believe.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Coulter is a SHE-BEAST.  That's the kindest thing I can say about her.

[Victor the Crab]

NOBODY should ever allow Ann Coulter in front of a television camera because, once she does, she hijacks the discussion for her own personal obnoxious agenda, fuck civility and decorum. It's a big win for her and she don't care. One can't help but wonder if she gives Bill some kind of sex favor to him everytime she appears on RT.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

LOL  Coulter is a vicious arrogant prejudiced BITCH!