Bill Maher Rocks

[Belated post: found a saved draft from October 8 that I'd meant to post....oh well...better late than never...pretend it's the 8th.]

Without a doubt my favorite show. Last night's had Andrew Sullivan, Ben Affleck and Salmon Rushdie. It was pretty good. All of the participants were intelligent and articulate. (really Affleck was the only one in question, but he aquitted himself very well. Rumors of his political savy are pretty well founded. Don't expect a Senate run though. Politicians don't drop the F-bomb on TV...not even Dick Cheney.)

One of the satellite interviews was Ann Coulter. Ordinarily I'm not a big Ann Coulter fan. Yesterday she was tolerable, because she spent most of the time ripping on Miers. Her main objection to Miers is not that she might be too moderate, but rather her lack of qualification. She looked a little queasy when Maher tried to direct her angry towards Bush for appointing her. That part was awesome...I almost felt bad when she was forced to admit, that, yes it was Bush's fault. Poor Ann. I don't know what wretched twists of fate have caused her to hold the philosophies she does, but the idea of Conservatism being conflated with Cronyism and Idiocy is genuinely painful to her. On the other hand, as Sullivan points out it was her and hers who put Bush in office (the second time) and they're reaping what they sowed.

Speaking of Sullivan, I watched the show with my girlfriend, who had never heard of Andrew Sullivan. I prepped her by saying he was a conservative, gay, HIV positive, English blogger. Towards the end of the show she leans over and asks why Sullivan hates Bush so much (after one of Sullivan's longer rants). I imagine it's a once-bitten twice shy effect. Sullivan went to bat for Bush in 2000 and feels a bit responsible for what we ended up with (but that's just my cheap psychoanalysis).

Anyway, the interaction between Bill Maher and Ann Coulter is even more precious if you're familiar with their backstory. Bill is about as libertarian as they come and possibly the most aggressive anti-Bush voice on tv, and Ann is an uber-conservative who wrote a book "How to talk to a Liberal if you absolutely have to". Of course when Ann speaks of "liberals" she doesn't really mean libertarians, but imagining the two of them together is still hilarious. It was a good show.

A few weeks ago Maher had an interview with Kurt Vonnegut which was also very entertaining. Vonnegut and Maher have a similar cynical pessimistic wit and it was cool to see them talk. Anyway Maher has a way of finding unique voices.

[And now I realize why this was saved as a draft and never posted...it definitely lacks something...like a conclusive point. Sorry. Watch Bill Maher if you have HBO. This past week's was pretty good too. Max Cleland was hilarious: he was funnier than the "comedian" guest.]