S16.E17: Bernie Sanders, Paul Begala, Natasha Bertrand, Bret Stephens & Charlamagne Tha God

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, Paul Begala, Natasha Bertrand, Bret Stephens & Charlamagne Tha God

 

[scrb]

Sounds like a lot of Bernie Bros in that audience, yelling Yeah! Several times.

He's one of the reasons Trump won.

As Brett Stephens noted, if the Democrats run a far left candidate in a red state, that candidate will lose.

Guess we will find out if he's right about Abrahams in GA.

[SpiritSong]

51 minutes ago, scrb said:

Sounds like a lot of Bernie Bros in that audience, yelling Yeah! Several times.

He's one of the reasons Trump won.

As Brett Stephens noted, if the Democrats run a far left candidate in a red state, that candidate will lose.

Guess we will find out if he's right about Abrahams in GA.

Yeah, because running corporate Democratic candidates has worked out so well for them. 1000 seats lost during the Obama years.

The whole discussion of left vs center irritated me. As the one panelist said, winning is the point. Yet it hasn't occurred to him, or Bill, or the Democratic establishment that the Dems are winning and flipping seats by specifically running on a progressive agenda. And that agenda is not friendly to Corporate America, which is what the "center" or "moderate" Dems are all about. You have to put the people first, or working families as Bernie Sanders calls them. There is a reason he's the most popular politician in America.

I had never heard of Charlemagne tha God before, but thought he was a pretty good mid-show guest.

[Victor the Crab]

2 hours ago, SpiritSong said:

Yeah, because running corporate Democratic candidates has worked out so well for them. 1000 seats lost during the Obama years.

The whole discussion of left vs center irritated me. As the one panelist said, winning is the point. Yet it hasn't occurred to him, or Bill, or the Democratic establishment that the Dems are winning and flipping seats by specifically running on a progressive agenda. And that agenda is not friendly to Corporate America, which is what the "center" or "moderate" Dems are all about. You have to put the people first, or working families as Bernie Sanders calls them. There is a reason he's the most popular politician in America.

Really? From what I've seen, traditional Democrats have been winning special elections post 2016, while the Bernie favored candidates and propositions have been left on the curb. America is not ready to embrace European style socialism just yet. And if they have any chance of succeeding, they're better off not having by their side an all bark no bite nihilistic showboat like Bernie Sanders who has managed to polarize the left while making the right wet themselves in laughter.

Bill handled the whole "whataboutism" critique of calling Drumpf a half orangutan on his father's side as effectively as only he can. And the entire New Rules, including his sermon, was brilliant.

[GoldenGirl90]

2 hours ago, Victor the Crab said:

And the entire New Rules, including his sermon, was brilliant.

“And now Republicans, you’re the Alex Jones party. There is literally nothing too stupid or conspiratorial that you will not swallow.”

I laughed but I’m in shock at how many imbeciles eat this stuff up. I don’t mind differing opinions at all but once they become downright stupid as hell I have to tune it out.

[teebax]

9 minutes ago, Alexis2291 said:

“And now Republicans, you’re the Alex Jones party. There is literally nothing too stupid or conspiratorial that you will not swallow.”

I laughed but I’m in shock at how many imbeciles eat this stuff up. I don’t mind differing opinions at all but once they become downright stupid as hell I have to tune it out.

I have a conservative coworker, and when I mentioned I was looking forward to Bill Maher this week, he told me the show had been canceled. 

This is a teacher with masters degree, and he can't tell fake news from real news. I weep. 

[wknt3]

I liked this show better than I thought I would. I was fearing another scrotal tongue bath for Bernie, followed by hearing all about Berkeley and snowflakes and the First Amendment, with a panel full of the usual cable news punditry, and Charlamagne Tha God doing his usual self help slightly more intellectual Steve Harvey blather and weak scripted bits. What we got was the usual Bernie nonsense, Bill doing a surprisingly good job of breaking down the distinction between Roseanne and Samantha Bee and dispensing with his usual demand for free speech without any consequences (perhaps because so many MAGA types were using him as their whataboutism go to until Bee gave them an opening), a panel that was a lot of the usual talking points, but was at least polite and cogently argued, Charlmagne acquitting himself fairly well, and some sharply written scripted bits, especially New Rules. It was a much needed change of pace this week to be pleasantly surprised by a comedian who I loved on ABC in the 90's!

[Frisson]

I thought it was interesting that Charlemagne Tha God said exactly what people on this board have been complaining about regarding free speech and Bill’s misunderstanding of what it means. Essentially, that you can say what you want, but other people are allowed to have their reactions and give consequences. Bill agreed with him, even though, any other week, Bill would be saying the opposite. 

[iMonrey]

Good show. Bill made a lot of points I wanted to hear, such as bringing up the fact that Ted Nugent called Hillary Clinton the c-word and nobody on the right batted an eye. And that Roseanne's Tweet was "abhorrent bordering on Presidential." Yes, comics held to a higher standard than Presidents.  And if Sam Bee got into this much trouble calling Ivanka the c-word I wonder if there will be any blowback on Bill for calling Donald Trump Jr. "Douchebag Von Fuckface." It's not the first time he's called him that.

Bernie, Bernie, Bernie. I love the guy, but . . . he's still towing the same old tiresome line about "going out and talking to the Trump voters about the issues." I'm so sick of Democrats saying "We just need to get out there and talk to them." That's bullshit, as Bill so adeptly demonstrated with New Rules: these are batshit crazy people who believe all kinds of wild conspiracy theories. They believe  Hillary Clinton ran a child sex ring out of a pizza parlor. You can't reason with unreasonable people. Forget about trying to appeal to Trump voters, it's never going to happen. They need to appeal to people who didn't vote in 2016.

I also question the oft-mentioned assertion that a lot of people who voted for Trump had voted for Obama in the prior election. There are probably a handful of them but that sounds like some made-up factoid right-wing pundits trot out whenever they want to defend Trump supporters. I want to see some actual numbers on that statistic.

I did think Bret Stephens made one good point, although it didn't really land with the audience or the panel. They were talking about "poor Melania" and he said "You sleep in the bed you made." Exactly. She doesn't deserve our pity, nobody forced her to marry Donald Trump.

I like Bill's idea of spreading the conspiracy that the Clintons are working with environmentalists to poison the air ducts at polling stations to turn everyone who votes gay. I bet that would actually stop some people from voting!!

[burghgal]

I guess as a moderate Dem - I agree with the statement proposed by Stephens that the slogan should be "Sanity Now" for the Democrats in 2018.  I am in Connor Lamb's district and there is no way a Bernie progressive would've won in this district.   I think the Democrats need an overarching "sanity" message at the Federal Level and, but run elections at a local/state level that specifically target the candidate (whether moderate or progressive) that CAN WIN and get us, as a nation, out of crazy town.   Focusing on the issues like Lamb did, that impact the district seems to make sense to me.  I don't understand why Bill continues to blast on the moderates in the Democratic party - we are still out there, and we are okay with a Big Tent party that includes progressives -- why isn't Bill?.

I liked the panel tonight, good subjects with humor

Edited June 2, 2018 by burghgal

[GHScorpiosRule]

I really enjoyed the show last night; but Bernie Sanders just seems to be saying the same thing over and over again.

Though Bill called Roseanne out for what she said, when Charlamagne Tha God was on, he tried to make excuses for her-bringing up that she was mentally ill, so “people” should understand. But I loved that Charlamagne wasn’t having that and finally said everyone has a right to Free speech, but there are consequences. And that Bill shouldn’t worry about Roseanne because she’ll be fine.

And this might make me a hypocrite, but that picture of the Orangutan and Drumph will NEVER not be hilarious. I always end up ????

Now this is the kind of New Rules that keeps me a fan of this show and why I keep watching.

Oh, and I ?? when Bill boasted that ABC already fired him!???

I hate D’Souza so much. I will always blame him for Politically Incorrect[/I{ being canceled (because of what he said), though tht would mean we wouldn’t have this show. But Instill hate him for all his other racist shit he’s said. 

Off to watch Overtime.

Edited June 2, 2018 by GHScorpiosRule

[attica]

Was Bret Stephens separated at birth from Brian Williams? Same voice, same-ish face. Bill was surprisingly courtly toward him given his climate science positions.  

Once again with the "DEMS need to reach out". Which Is all they ever fucking do, and which is never a request, let alone requirement, for the Rs. And for the certainty with which the panel  agreed that progressives can’t win with out moving rightward,  I'd sure like to see somebody try. At least then we'd have evidence.  Because right now it's just pundits, who are wrong more often than not. No, I don't expect the deplorables to be won over, but so many progressive goals will benefit everybody -- free college, universal healthcare, minimum wage, legal weed, and so on. The VA leg is a good example, mentioned by Paul.

CTG was funny and sharp, I thought. I particularly liked his "ya THINK?" eyeroll.

[sistermagpie]

The right has moved so far to the right that positions that are basically just responsible and not full-out evil are considered too fringe. I mean, honestly, who is being so out there that they're chasing away potential centrist Republicans and how are they doing it? Is it because they're something as basic as pro-choice?

[GHScorpiosRule]

I’m blaming my raging and vicious headache for not mentioning how much I ❤️❤️ Paul Begala! Can he be on every week? Too much? How about once a month, then?

Overtime was just okay. And way to piss me off, Bill, after I stated what a good show this was, by saying what will Democrats do to mess it all up. ????

[DrScottie]

18 minutes ago, attica said:

Once again with the "DEMS need to reach out". Which Is all they ever fucking do, and which is never a request, let alone requirement, for the Rs. And for the certainty with which the panel  agreed that progressives can’t win with out moving rightward,  I'd sure like to see somebody try. At least then we'd have evidence.  Because right now it's just pundits, who are wrong more often than not. No, I don't expect the deplorables to be won over, but so many progressive goals will benefit everybody -- free college, universal healthcare, minimum wage, legal weed, and so on. The VA leg is a good example, mentioned by Paul.

I'm absolutely with you and I think, in principle, much of the American people would agree with the progressive economic stances, but there are a couple of problems here:
1) To win an election, the standard is that you have to raise a lot of money. In order to do that, you may have to sell yourself to certain corporations in order to do so. As such, it becomes a challenge to push for legislation that might hurt them financially. For a progressive to win, they'll need crowd sourced funding or some other outlet that would minimize being beholden to corporations. 
2) While the economic benefits are certainly attractive, the social component of the progressive movement ranges from well-intentioned to annoying and insufferable. The hyper-PC social justice warriors in that group make it harder to appeal to the average American. 

[formerlyfreedom]

As reminder . This is to talk about the episode, not personal politics. Posts that are not mostly episode specific have and will be removed. Repeated offenses may result in further action. Thank you!

[Calamity Jane]

I enjoyed this episode more than any in months - maybe I was just in the mood, or maybe it really was as good as it seemed to me.  I actually laughed out loud several times, which hasn't happened in I don't know how long.  Good show!  

[alias1]

I laughed when Natasha Bertrand said the last time we saw Melania was during the North Korea hostage exchange.  I actually thought that was funnier than when Bill said the last time we saw her was with Trump and a shovel.  I really enjoyed this weeks show and the guests.    

[lovinbob]

On 6/2/2018 at 9:22 AM, teebax said:

I have a conservative coworker, and when I mentioned I was looking forward to Bill Maher this week, he told me the show had been canceled. 

This is a teacher with masters degree, and he can't tell fake news from real news. I weep. 

I wish PTV had an option besides the heart, because your post chilled me. Good god. 

On 6/2/2018 at 5:11 PM, attica said:

Was Bret Stephens separated at birth from Brian Williams? Same voice, same-ish face. Bill was surprisingly courtly toward him given his climate science positions.  

... CTG was funny and sharp, I thought. I particularly liked his "ya THINK?" eyeroll.

Regarding "ya THINK?" Of course Bill got butthurt about it. Bill is amazingly thin-skinned when he even sniffs that people may be questioning his street cred. 

Re Bret Stephens: He has not been on my radar, but I appreciated his comments. I'm sorry to hear that he isn't on the ball re: climate change. 

On 6/2/2018 at 10:28 PM, SierraMist said:

I laughed when Natasha Bertrand said the last time we saw Melania was during the North Korea hostage exchange.  I actually thought that was funnier than when Bill said the last time we saw her was with Trump and a shovel.  I really enjoyed this weeks show and the guests.    

This was a great line and her understated delivery was charming. 

[iMonrey]

So a whole week's worth of punditry and outcry over Sam Bee calling Ivanka the c-word but no blowback whatsoever from Bill calling Don Jr. "Douchebag Von Fuckface." 

Interesting.

[b2H]

On 6/4/2018 at 1:50 PM, iMonrey said:

So a whole week's worth of punditry and outcry over Sam Bee calling Ivanka the c-word but no blowback whatsoever from Bill calling Don Jr. "Douchebag Von Fuckface." 

Interesting.

I'm guessing because it's old news.  I think Bill's been using that line for a while and who cares about Don Jr.

In my opinion and only in my opinion, the Sam Bee thing was over a single incident (kids being separated from parents with immigration, while the photograph with her child is totally the opposite) where Don, Jr., is continually Douche...  ah, well, you get the picture.  Again, just my opinion.

[wknt3]

On 6/4/2018 at 1:50 PM, iMonrey said:

So a whole week's worth of punditry and outcry over Sam Bee calling Ivanka the c-word but no blowback whatsoever from Bill calling Don Jr. "Douchebag Von Fuckface." 

Interesting.

Many folks had already tried to use Bill Maher as their "whatabout" before the Samantha Bee nonsense became the story of choice for them and the "both sides" media. It didn't get much traction. And he didn't really give them anything new this week. As I said above I was pleasantly surprised that he handled the issue so well. Perhaps he's learned from experience that he can't get away with the n word since he's not part of that community no matter how enlightened he considers himself, but he can call out smug douchebags with impunity? After all who wouldn't agree with him when he argues "it's our word, we can say it"?

[WarnerCL45]

On 04/06/2018 at 1:50 PM, iMonrey said:

Bill calling Don Jr. "Douchebag Von Fuckface." 

I think my sense of humor is becoming less sophisticated as I age, but this cracks me up.