Maher on CNN: Petraeus and Maliki ‘Stooges’ For President Bush

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Bill Maher gave an unsatirizable interview on Tuesday evening’s "The Situation Room" on CNN, spending a large portion of his ten-minute interview attacking, among others, General David Petraeus, Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, and Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, labeling them "stooges" for President Bush. When host Wolf Blitzer asked about the recent congressional testimony of the general and the ambassador, Maher parroted the MoveOn.org line. "Well, it was a White House-written report. We know that. Bush has an interesting little scam going. He also quoted in his speech on Thursday night, Maliki. And he said basically that the Iraqi leadership is asking us to stay. So, in other words, he puts words into his stooges' mouths, and then, he quotes them."

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Maher appeared at the bottom of the 5 pm Eastern hour of "The Situation Room." Blitzer first asked the HBO host about the congressional Democrats’ lack of action on the Iraq war. "Is there more that they [the Democrats] could be doing? Should be doing?"

Maher’s answer:

Yeah, I guess there is. But, you know, what can you do with a situation where there's one man who stubbornly has the power and will not relinquish it? And he's such a liar, you know? I think that -- if he would just be straight with the American people, instead of saying things like, 'The people who are attacking us in Iraq are the same people who attacked us on 9/11.' What a blatant lie. Or, 'Every day, every month, since January, we've killed over 1,500 terrorists and other extremists.' Who is a terrorist? Who are extremists? Who are the enemy? What do these terms mean? Would they even be the enemy if we weren't in their country? Not to mention all the lies...

Blitzer then asked about General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.

BLITZER: You listen closely to General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Both are career professionals. A career military officer. A career diplomat. They made the case effectively for President Bush that the U.S. should continue this strategy.

MAHER: Wait a second. He put the words in their mouth. That wasn't the Petraeus Report.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: They say those words were their own.

MAHER: Well, it was a White House-written report. We know that. Bush has an interesting little scam going. He also quoted in his speech on Thursday night, Maliki. And he said basically that the Iraqi leadership is asking us to stay. So, in other words, he puts words into his stooges' mouths, and then, he quotes them.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But let me point out. General Petraeus, who has been a military officer for more than 30 years, the first thing he basically said out of his mouth when he testified last week, is 'I didn't show this testimony to anyone. I wrote it myself. I didn't have it vetted by the chain of command. Not by the White House. Not by anyone at the Pentagon. Not by anyone in Congress.' Don't you believe him when he says that?

MAHER: No. I'm sorry, I don't. Because that report was -- I called it the 'Enron Surge Report,' because they manipulated the statistics the same way Enron did. It didn't count. Violence didn't count if it was a car bomb. It didn't count if it was Sunni-on-Sunni violence. It didn't count if you were shot in the back of the head, instead of the front of the head. I mean, that's utter nonsense. They manipulated that report. Every independent report that came out about the surge contradicted what David Petraeus said. It said that the violence has not gone down. It just moved to different areas. It was never a case, Wolf, that we were wondering whether if we put 20,000 or 30,000 more troops in a certain area, violence would go down. Of course, violence would go down in that area. But violence in the country didn't go down. And even Baghdad residents said, 'No, violence is as bad as it ever was.' Is there a reason why 93% of the Sunnis in that country think it's okay to attack Americans and want us dead? 50% of Shiites want it.

Blitzer should be given credit for pressing Maher on the question of Petraeus. After asking about the possibility of the Democrats cutting off funding for the Iraq war, Blitzer played a sound bite of Hillary Clinton’s answer from "American Morning," where she was asked about the "General Betray Us" ad by MoveOn.org. Blitzer asked Maher if he agreed with Clinton’s statement about General Petraeus, and pressed him again about his comments on the general.

BLITZER: So, you agree with her on that?

MAHER: Of course. I mean, look, the Republicans who attacked that ad -- it's very convenient -- it gave them something to divert from the issue, which is that the war is a total mess, and allowed them to excite their 'fake outrage' base once again. But basically, they did it on a big lie, as they usually do. Hillary, in the hearings, said the report, the Petraeus Report, required 'a willing suspension of disbelief.' She didn't attack him personally. And, of course, they turned around and said, 'How dare you attack him personally!' That's exactly the opposite of what she did. Hillary Clinton is a little too careful to attack a general personally.

BLITZER: Well, you (INAUDIBLE) that. You attacked him personally. You just did on our show. You said you don't believe him when he said he never cleared his testimony with anyone in Washington.

MAHER: Call me a cynic, Wolf. Look, I understand that he's doing an impossible job over there. And I have no doubt that he actually does more before 9 am than I do all day, or perhaps all year. Yes, I admire anybody who is in the war zone. But that doesn't mean that he is not performing a political function for the White House. Now, you can read into that what you will. But I'm sorry. Just because he's wearing a uniform, I can't not [sic] see what I see, which is that the man is doing a political job for George Bush.

In the last three minutes of the interview, Blitzer and Maher discussed if Barack Obama is ready to be president, who Maher liked amongst the Republicans (as might be expected, Maher said he supported Ron Paul), the Emmy Awards, the Larry Craig scandal, and the new criminal case against O.J. Simpson. Maher actually had some interesting things to say about Simpson.

BLITZER: What about O.J. Simpson? Do you think he could get a fair trial if this does go before a jury, given the notoriety?

MAHER: You know, that was very disappointing, Wolf. I mean, first, he kills his wife, and now, this. I beginning to think he's something of a scofflaw. But, you know, O.J. is someone who has certainly benefitted from not getting a fair trial.

BLITZER: But does he have a case when he says, 'You know, I just went into that room because that was all my stuff that had been stolen from me,' including some photos and sports memorabilia. Does he have a case when he says, 'I was just trying to retrieve stuff that had been taken illegally away from me'?

MAHER: I'm sure he does. But from what I hear, what I heard last night, at least, on Larry King, and now, on your show, is that he had a gun or somebody with him had a gun. You'd think a guy in his position with the baggage he brings, with the reputation he has, leave the gun at home, maybe. I mean, when you hear 'gun' and 'O.J.,' you know, the first thing you think is, 'Oh, couldn't find the knife, huh?'

—Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.


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Maher's An Idiot

Maher claims:

"Just because he's wearing a uniform, I can't not [sic] see what I see, which is that the man is doing a political job for George Bush."

Of course, Bill's total ignorance of military protocol, not to mention US Criminal Law, is showing here. General Petraeus is expressly forbidden by at least 3 USCC's and many military regs from acting as a political advocate for any cause.

In other words, Maher, or anyone else calling the General a liar (see Mrs. Bill Clinton) think the General is a criminal. Im Maher's case he's an entertainer, but Mrs. Bill Clinton actually voted to confirm the General, which makes her nothing more than a sleazy hypocrite.

Well, IMO Bill is a stooge

Well, IMO Bill is a stooge for the far left.

Sonny, that ain't an

Sonny, that ain't an opinion, that's a statement of fact.

"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan

And when things were not

And when things were not going so well in Iraq, wasn't Mrs. Clinton one of those who told Bush to stop hiding his head in the sand, and "listen to the Generals!"? Of course, now that a General has said something she didn't want to hear, she says it's because Bush put the words in his mouth.

This doesn't say much about

This doesn't say much about The Situation Room, that they somehow value the opinion of Bill Maher.  Stooges, he says?  Pot meet kettle. 

Why?

Why does this guy get such attention. I mean everytime something happens CNN always asks this guy what he thinks. I mean he is a dumbass comedian who is one sided on the issues but believes he knows what he is talking about. I mean he said he was more knowledgeable then our troops, this prick has never been in Iraq but claims to know more then our troops. What a moron. He knows as much about Iraq as Clinton does about integrity.

Vote Fred

Speechless..

Why in THE HELL is this TOILET BUG on CNN giving
commentary on anything other than the positive attributes of Clearasil??? I mean WHAT THE HELL!?!?!? I mean hello!!! What else is this asshole going to
say?!?! How do these people come up with
this??? …..How did they do the intro for this walking-talking Sphincter??? ‘And joining us now is noted Historical Scholar,
Celebrated author on U.S. Foreign Policy, and Senior Fellow of the Play Boy mansion……Bill
Maher!!!’ Good Christ!!! He’s a mealy mouthed, uneducated, opportunistic,
blowhard. He should be the poster child
for the ‘I was a complete dork when I was growing up, got beat up a lot, and
now I’m taking it out on the world because I'm on TV and yer not’….How he can still be walking around with all his teeth is way beyond me.

 

Now, this might sting just a little bit.....

Why does this guy get such


Why does this guy get such attention.
- Agnew80

Because he's a "famous person", you dolt! Everyone knows that if you are a comedian with a show, or a movie actor, and everyone knows who you are, that you are smarter than everyone else. Come on, there are women in this country who won't even read a book unless Oprah tells them which one!

It's the cult of celebrity. It's all about what the "cool" people think. Liberals just think it's so wonderful that these "stars" are on their side, as if that validates their own viewpoint. "Nyah, nyah, we have these big Hollywood stars on our side, so we're better than you!"

Devy Kidd Insane

I just finished surfing the rense site checking "his stories" and happened upon Devy Kidd, a strange meld featured on both the WorldNetDaily site and Jeff Rense.

It is troubling for this American citizen to simply not grasp such what is not the Molotov Mob, the fossil media and this group of anarchists of Maher, Huffington, Kidd etc...., because all of them rant.....and it is a literal rant about the most mind boggling things.

Maher goes on television and called Petraeus and Malaki "stooges".

A stooge is someone who has unquestioning obedience. This is astounding, because what does Maher expect? Bush to appoint bin Laden to Iraq and hire Raul Castro as general?

Maher might as well accuse Bush of being a white guy for as much as sense as what these anarchists come up with.

All of them as I have been warning are an absolute danger to the United States. I have written enough that Teddy, Hillary and Harry all know the lies they spew are lies, but for political nature.........the problem is the crazy people like Cindy Sheehan can not tell the difference. They honestly believe Darth Vader is a real guy living in the future or the past.

People are accusing other people of crimes and being evil FOR JUST BEING PEOPLE NOW. Maher attacks 2 people just doing their jobs in American interests...........Kidd attacks Fox News as Faux News when Fox has every right in America to broadcast Karl Marx manifestos to bin Laden rants 24/7 or broadcast democrat socialism or a form of jingoistic republicanism. It is people's right to believe what they want........it doesn't make it criminal or evil. It just makes it a belief.

One can go on Rense and see the horror of Zimbabwe and in his vegan diatribes see attacks on meat and milk........followed by a penchant for bashing all "jews" as Jews responsible for evil.

That all seems fine for Rense........just like when he was using Jessica Lynch who was a bombed out raped woman on his site as a battering ram against George Bush.

It is fine for Maher to use women as sex dumps, speak with more f words than a weakling thug and attack Christians, but nowhere in any of this are they being questioned to apologize for reprehensible behavior.

Devy Kidd was tonight using US soldiers "with battered bodies and exposed to DU" as her own battering ram in a propaganda war without one care or one letter to veterans asking if she could speak for them.......she just did it. (Not meaning in this to sound the least bit cold hearted, but when I learned in my military family that all soldiers are nothing but ordnance.......that means assetes to be used up in the most efficient way like bullets, bombs and jets........it is a sobering reality people have to face. Soldiers are meant to die in the most efficient way there is. Ask any real soldier who has served and they will tell you they are like Jesus, born with a mission to die. They are not meant to come home for parades even if America does a most wonderful job in trying to preserve their lives and thank God for it.

But nowhere in the job description is there a clause that anarchists like Devy Kidd or Bill Maher have the right to rape these soldiers for their own political cause.)

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and, allot of information in believing everything these anarchists hear is an absolute danger to America.

Bill Maher just accused 2 very brave men in harms way OF BEING LOYAL TO AMERICA. Goodness people that is a good thing.

Accusing people of crimes and evil for being good is no different than the Biblical warning of calling evil good and good evil.

If you don't like George Bush, vote for the other politician. If you don't like Fox news, then go turn on whatever wacko information you find and turn into Charlie Sheen or Rosie O'Donnell and if you don't like Jews........too awful bad as Jews no matter their conversion got their piece of the world.

Free Speech is not the right to say anything. It is the right to RESPONSIBLY SPEAK your individual ideas. HBO should be ashamed to the termination of Bill Maher and CNN should fire the dolts who put on this nonsense as much as Rense's sponsors should pull the plug and Joseph Farah should find bloggers who actually have experience instead of read about it.

America is now a nation where the good are attacked for being themselves and political points are criminalized to gain profit. No nation or naytion can stand on a minority ilk of desenters leading a mob of dimwits with 30 second attention spans.

America has reached the point that General Sherman and General Patton both spoke of in, "America is best left to the few responsible who can govern as the mob is incapable".

I had always struggled with these two gentlemen saying this as I have always believed in the Republic, but it is not more.........Maher was tossing grenades tonight as much as Kidd upon the atomic arsenal the Islamocommunists have built with Russia's help.

No nation can stand on subversive activity as this. This insanity must stop. Period.

 

*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS

We'll see who's a stooge

When the Dems take the White House, and it's likely they will, and suddenly the talk of repealing the Patriot Act falls by the wayside, we can only conclude their theatrics these last few years is nothing less than traitorous posturing. Totally unacceptable in time of war. We'll see Hillary turn against the left wing blogosphere and refuse to splay herself for them. She'll keep a significant number of troops in Iraq and engineer a sacrifice of them. She'll blame it on the Bush Administration and call it payback for her husband's sins on 9-11. It's gonna be disgusting.

Do Blitzer, Larry King and

Do Blitzer, Larry King and the rest of the leftist fools at CNN have Maher on their programs to offer Maher's noted expertise on warfare and military operations or do they have Maher on merely to serve his boilerplate leftism to CNN's audience of mindless dingbats?

To clear something up....

"It takes two people to lie Marge"

"One to lie and one to listen...."

I have a question that I need answered, so here goes: Maher and other keep talking about "seperate and unbiased" reports that contradict Gen. Patraueas's (forgive the spelling) statistical reports. But, isn't Maher and all of these other clowns ,Congressman Wexler comes to mind, citing the NIE report that doesnt include a whole 5-6 weeks of information leading up to the Generals report? I thought even the NYT's, US news and World Report and even newsweek have stated that his stats match up.

Question 2: Maher also states that the stats do not include car-bombs, shots to the front of the skull and other acts of violence, but I do remember the General stating that this was not true in his sworn testimony.....now, why would Blitzer not challenge him on these points (I know this is rehtorical), when just on CNN during the Anderson Cooper 360 show after the hearings, the author of Cobra II backed up the Generals statistical analysis.

A solid answer on these would be appreciated.

Also, this interview was another CNN joke. Bill Maher? What a lame attempt at pushing his show...at least Blitzer called him a "comdedian" although he was a failure at that too. Who the hell is Bill Maher to call anyone a liar....and everyone calls Fox News the Fascist propaganda machine. Blitzer didnt challenge him on even ONE single "comment" Maher made....what a joke.

Liberal Life Support

Bill Maher is a despicable human being, and as such fits right in with the leftist media and their Democrat cohorts.

Maher Quotes: "We [Americans] have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from
2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits
the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly. Stupid
maybe, but not cowardly."
--Maher, praising the 9/11 terrorists

"…But I've often said that if I had — I have two dogs — if I had two
retarded children, I'd be a hero. And yet the dogs, which are pretty
much the same thing. What? They're sweet. They're loving. They're kind,
but they don't mentally advance at all. ... Dogs are like retarded
children."
--Maher, 2003

The liberal media is responsible for keeping Maher "alive", but the POS is dead to me.

http://www.discovert...

 

Asks Bill Maher: "Who is a

Asks Bill Maher: "Who is a terrorist? Who are extremists? Who are the enemy?"

Well, let's start with you, Maher. YOU are an extremist. YOU are the enemy. And YOU are the best friend of the terrorists. Scumbag.

Maher is an idiot

maher is simply a ventriloquist's dummy.
The funny thing is Maher thinks he's intelligent.
That's the big lie.
Who can watch this clown?   Not me.
Besides, if Bush put words in their mouth, wouldnt we be
getting a "won't get fooled again strategery?"   Just kidding, W.

If you want to see the

If you want to see the ultimate combination of sheer ignorance and smug arrogance, just watch Maher interviewing that lightweight bimbo Ben Affleck.  If you can hold on to your lunch after that idiotfest, you have a stronger stomach than I do.

Is there any doubt who it

Is there any doubt who it is that really has the "interesting little scam" going?

 

"The goal of these politicians is not to bring you health care. Their goal is
to make you more dependent on government ... and them. Wake up, people ... and smell the socialism."

In Bills own idiom....

My response to Bill...Bow-wow! Woof! Woof! Yap,yap,yap!

There, I'm kinda chagrined that I actually barked back at a barking dog, but someone had to do it.

...Happy Trails...

I love this

Obviously Bush has these people in hysterics.

BTW - Here's a novel idea for you Libs out there, how about if we try to WIN THE WAR? Ever think of that???