Not an especially memorable edition of Real Time with Bill Maher. Bill Maher seemed off his game, jumping uneasily from foreign policy to the Republican primaries to pet peeves about Valentine's Day.
No Joy in Damascus
Rick Santorum is the new Republican frontrunner. I guess it's still okay to allude to the fact that his last name has been pretty successfully redefined (by sex columnist Dan Savage) to describe a byproduct of gay sex. It just feels a bit tired these days. Maher's first guest was former ambassador and author Peter W. Galbraith, who wrote The End of Iraq and talked fairly insightfully about politics in Syria and Iran. I was in the mood to be entertained, but this brief interview was rather somber. Couldn't Galbraith have told more jokes, or danced or something?
Follow the Bouncing Republican
The panelists were nothing special. Conservative Reihan Salam of the National Review and tired old lefty Reverend Al Sharpton of MSNBC bloviated at each other, while Zanny Minton Beddoes of The Economist sat in the middle and struggled to get in on the action. Salam was surprisingly pessimistic about the Republican "strategy" so far, though I suppose it shouldn't surprise anyone anymore that conservatives are struggling to find something positive to say about these candidates.
Bill's Blah Bubble
The extra-special added panelist was comic Mo Rocca. I haven't really paid much attention to Rocca's career since he left The Daily Show, and he didn't add much here, aside from allowing Salam to put words in his mouth about how America should go about making gay marriage legal. (Salam doesn't think it should be done through, say, the Supreme Court, because that would engender too much resentment.) News alert: the people who are still against gay marriage are not going to be convinced by a bunch of state referendums either.
Bill complained a lot (and rightfully) about the Republican candidates' eagerness to impose their values on all of us, with particular focus on their recent anti-contraception stance.
This show can be fun, but none of the guests really got off any zingers tonight, that I noticed. Things got kind of bogged down in wonky policy discussions that not even Sharpton's wheezy would-be aphorisms could enliven.
Best Lines:
"Santorum and Romney, they don't like condoms because sex should be all about making babies. Newt Gingrich doesn't like them because they're hard for a fat guy to put on in a car."
--Maher explains the candidates' anti-contraception stance.
"They are looking for anybody, and he is one of the last non-Romneys standing."
--Beddes doesn't think the Republicans are serious about nominating Santorum.
"Isn't there a little hypocrisy in saying 'Obama wants to rule over you, but I will tell you what kind of f__king is okay?' "
--Maher sees hypocrisy in Santorum's desire to impose his religious beliefs.
"Let's just call Valentine's Day what it is: A flowers-for-b__j__s exchange program."
--Maher complains about recent sleazy Valentine's Day ad campaigns.
"Subway riders, they think they're so great, packed ass-to-crotch in a shrieking, creaky, lurching underground tomb. Why don't they travel like real Americans? On a spaceship to the moon!"
--Maher mocks Gingrich for referring to people who ride the subway as "elites."
Recommendations:
