Bill Maher Invades CNN Smacks Down the Right

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Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:44 am

CNN keeps moving to the right, but for one brief hour Bill Maher hosted Piers Morgan Tonight and took down the right on atheism, gay marriage, science, and the environment.

Since this is the right wing pandering CNN, they have posted no video of the best parts of Maher’s interview with Real Time regular Seth MacFarlane, so here is a bit of the transcript.

Maher and MacFarlane on abortion and the environment,

MAHER: So what do you think about the fact that this election is supposedly all about the economy? But the culture wars, sort of reared their ugly head. I mean, we have a lot of discussion about war on women, but we talked about contraception in this election, which I never thought would come up in 2012.

MACFARLANE: Yes. Do you have to view a hologram of Tupac before you can get an abortion? It’s that what –

MAHER: No, no, no, you’re speaking about the vaginal probe.

MACFARLANE: Ah, yes, the vaginal probe.

MAHER: But really, I mean, this is — I mean, there are laws that have been proposed in a number of states and things like that. What is you —

MACFARLANE: That’s where I feel disconnected from the rest of my species. I don’t — I can’t begin to comment because I don’t understand — it’s a mindset that’s so foreign to me. I don’t get it.

And I have to think that a lot of it is — you know, you’ve talked about the outrage industry on your show. I think it’s that we’re just looking for things to rile people up about. I wonder how many people who are advocating those sorts of procedures truly believe that this is what we should be expending our energy on. I —

MAHER: And what should we — I would guess you would say the environment.

MACFARLANE: The environment.

MAHER: You care a lot about that. But I’ve also heard you say that the government needs to force you to recycle.

MACFARLANE: Yes, I do think that. I — there are things that — it’s the argument that — relates to the argument that people make when you — that conservatives make when you say, gosh, we should tax the rich and they say, well, why don’t you just write a check. You know? Well, because it’s not enough. If every rich guy was going to do that, great, but it’s not going to happen. Somebody — that’s the government’s job, is to — is to, like it or not, force us to do things we don’t want to do that will hopefully help us all. And I’m sure I’ll be called a socialist for that last comment.

Maher and MacFarlane on science, religion, and Romney’s Mormonism,

MAHER: And I think you, as I do, believe that you can’t really reconcile, as so many people do, science and religion. It’s —

MACFARLANE: It’s hard.

MAHER: — kind of really one or the other, right?

MACFARLANE: The problem is that if I tell you, hey, there’s a monster living under my bed, you would say, well, that sounds ridiculous. That’s — give me proof. And I say, well, you know, you just have to take it on faith that I’m telling the truth. You would call me crazy.

With the invisible man living in the sky, we are essentially asked to do just that, take it on faith. And yet a lot of us say that it’s — we do exactly that. And —

MAHER: Do you think Mormonism, which is, of course, the religion of Mitt Romney — do you think that’s fair game in this election? I know that Mitt Romney doesn’t want it out there. Obama doesn’t want to be accused of bringing it up. But Americans don’t know what is really in the Mormon religion.

MACFARLANE: I don’t really — as long as they can separate it. I mean, most politicians are — odds are, going to be religious because most Americans are religious. I don’t really care that Mitt Romney’s a Mormon.

MAHER: But it — but there was an article in “The New York Times” last Sunday, where he said that he makes decisions rationally, but then sometimes changes his mind because he feels God wants him to do something else.

MACFARLANE: Well, then that’s a problem.

MACFARLANE: That’s a —

MAHER: Puts a different paint job on things.

MACFARLANE: You know, Jimmy Carter, for example, born-again Christian —

MAHER: Great guy.

MACFARLANE: Great guy, who’s a guy I —

MAHER: Never fired a shot.

MACFARLANE: No, no.

MAHER: As president.

MACFARLANE: Yes. And I mean, there’s an example of guy who — clearly we both have enormous respect for, very religious man. I think that there can be a coexistence in America between agnostics, atheists and religious people. It’s just when it — let’s all keep it where it belongs and not bring it into — you know, bring it into the workplace.

Maher and MacFarlane on atheists and Emmys,

MAHER: And do you understand why people like you and I never win the Emmy?

MACFARLANE: Yes. Yes.

MAHER: Do you think that has something to do with it? Do you think they will not give —

(CROSSTALK)

MAHER: — an Emmy to an atheist?

MACFARLANE: I mean, it’s — I don’t know if it’s that specific, but I think it’s — I think the Emmys do tend to make safe choices.

MAHER: Well, you campaigned for it. You want that Emmy.

MACFARLANE: We do and we don’t.

MAHER: You’re still in that phase.

MACFARLANE: Our campaigns over the past couple of years have been — I kind of feel like our time to be nominated has passed. I don’t think we’re going to — the mailer that we sent out this year was pretty much — well, there it is right now.

As an illustration of how far to the right CNN has gone, the only clip they have from Maher’s guest hosting gig is MacFarlane talking about how much more an animated program like Family Guy can get away with in comparison to live action shows. It certainly seems like CNN would rather sweep Maher under the rug, and not let the conservatives that they are so desperate to court know that he was ever there.

Bill Maher brought a dose of facts and reality to now the tea party friendly Cable News Network, but his appearance is certain to give the right even more reason not to turn off Fox News. Since his one million dollar donation to Obama’s SuperPAC, Bill Maher has been the enemy de jour of the right. Maher was still Maher on CNN, just a bit toned down for basic cable compared to his anything goes HBO show.

For one brief hour sanity returned to CNN, in the form of Bill Maher. The fact that people on CNN’s airwaves would call for the government to do more, not less must have sent the network’s execs scrambling for the Tums. Even though nobody is watching, the few right wingers who did tune in must have been mortified to see Maher there debunking all of their sacred cows of faith. Science is good. Taking away a woman’s right to choose is bad. The government should regulate more, and even a Tupac mention.

How is CNN ever supposed to become Tea Party tee-vee if Maher keeps showing up and ruining the whole thing?

Bill Maher marched into Atlanta and burned down CNN’s tea party confederacy, and delivered a lesson in reality to a the little network that can’t generate viewers by trying to be Fox News lite.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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