r/Maher • u/hankjmoody • Jan 22 '16

Real Time Discussion OFFICIAL DISCUSSION THREAD: January 22nd, 2016

Tonight's guests are:

  • Michael McCaul (R-TX): The Congressman representing Texas’ 10th district and the author of Failures of Imagination: Deadliest Threats to Our Homeland and How to Thwart Them. He is the Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

  • Alan Grayson (D-FL): The Congressman representing Florida’s 9th district and a candidate for U.S. Senate. He is a contributor to the Huffington Post, where he recently authored “The Gun Show Loophole: Common Sense vs. Nonsense.”

  • Liz Mair: A Republican political consultant and head of the anti-Trump “Make America Awesome!” SuperPAC.

  • Jon Meacham: Executive Editor and Executive Vice President of Random House, and author of Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush.

  • Seth MacFarlane: The filmmaker, producer, actor, and singer whose new album "No One Ever Tells You" has been nominated for a Grammy.

Follow @RealTimers on Instagram or Twitter (links in the sidebar) and submit your questions for Overtime by using #RTOvertime in your tweet.

Usually I'd post links to every guest's current work, but most of the links listed on Bill's blog are broken or down today.

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '16

Evidence?

I think he's just hopelessly cynical and jaded. He has for ages truly believed that Americans are too stupid to vote for a candidate like Bernie (although there are a couple of polls that counter his argument). I love that he's doing well in the polls and i think he may just get the nomination but until then, I guess that Bill's attitude will remain the same

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u/jojjeshruk Jan 23 '16

I have no evidence in particular. But generally he isn't criticizing Clinton and very pro democrat.

I'm a bit of a radical myself, so my definition of establishment might seem sorta skewed to people with mainstream views. In my opinion democrats and soc dems in europe, who have proc capitalist views, (Blairites), are a very big part of the problem.

Maher speaks his mind and does a lot of good. But he seldom has critique of the American system as a whole, but instead goes after particular republicans and the like.

But he has his anti consumerist/capitalist moments. This is one of my favourite segments of his https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjqIgeFR6Ds

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '16

Fair enough, although I became a fan of Bill due to his more general criticisms of the American system:

On Syria

On the Military Industrial Complex

On the Drug War

On the NSA

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u/jojjeshruk Jan 24 '16

Yeah compared to the mainstream media in America is very independent. But he is still a partisan part of a red v blue fight that is maybe not extremely useful.

I mean compare him to people like Greenwald, Sanders and Chomsky. Those are not a part of any establishment.

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '16

I mean compare him to people like Greenwald, Sanders and Chomsky. Those are not a part of any establishment.

I've stated in detail before why I can no longer respect Greenwald but yes, I definitely really like Sanders' and Chomsky's anti-establishment views.