MacFarlane on HBO: ‘If Reagan Were President, He Would Try Dick Cheney for War Crimes’

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Former President Ronald Reagan would have prosecuted Dick Cheney for war crimes, Seth MacFarlane (IMDb page), creator, writer and executive producer of the Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show animated sit-coms which air Sunday nights on Fox, declared Friday night on the season premiere of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. But President Barack Obama, he rued, is too “chicken s**t” do to it.

To affirming applause from the Los Angeles audience, the left-wing MacFarlane -- who at another point recalled he campaigned for Obama -- pretended he’s an expert on Reagan, asserting Cheney’s advocacy of water-boarding terrorists means:

If Ronald Reagan were President, based on Ronald Reagan’s assertion that no matter who it is -- if it’s the Japanese in World War II, if it’s Pol Pot, if it’s us and we’re just scared -- torture is torture and you prosecute that. I have to believe if Ronald Reagan were President, he would try Dick Cheney for war crimes.

Maher agreed “it is a war crime by international law and our own law,” before MacFarlane fretted Obama won’t prosecute because he’s afraid of losing Republican support for his agenda. Generating even louder applause -- and to the delight of a giggling Maher -- MacFarlane countered that Republicans aren’t going to back Obama’s policies, “so you might as well string them up.”

Audio: MP3 clip

From the Friday, February 19 Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, with former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer and MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell filling out the panel of three:

BILL MAHER: What about Dick Cheney saying on the Sunday morning talk shows last week, he said “I was the one who ordered water-boarding.” He said “I’m a big fan.”

SETH MacFARLANE: If Ronald Reagan were President, based on Ronald Reagan’s assertion that no matter who it is – if it’s the Japanese in World War II, if it’s Pol Pot, if it’s us and we’re just scared – torture is torture and you prosecute that. I have to believe if Ronald Reagan were President, he would try Dick Cheney for war crimes. [audience applause]

MAHER: I mean, it is a war crime by international law and our own law – if a guy admits to, brags to, committing a war crime, I don't know-

MacFARLANE: But that's where Obama’s chicken shit because he's going to say, “gosh, if I try the former Vice President of the U.S. for war crimes, no Republicans are going vote for my agenda.” Well, they're not going to do that anyway, so you might as well string them up. [applause]