At his Super Tuesday scene-stealing press conference, President Obama quite transparently avoided the question when asked if he would condemn anything Bill Maher's said that was demeaning to women. (The questioner did not ask about returning the million-dollar Maher check to Obama's super PAC, Priorities USA, and no other reporter followed up).
So when Priorities USA chief (and former Obama spokesman) Bill Burton showed up on Andrea Mitchell Live on Thursday, it's safe to assume that Burton proclaimed the official Obama Squad position: you can't compare that little old "comedian" Bill Maher to Limbaugh the "de facto leader of the Republican Party." Would Reince Priebus agree that Rush Limbaugh really runs the GOP? But that alleged tough reporter Mitchell found the answer acceptable, and it was quite a love fest, as you can see from this exchange about the ridiculous Obama campaign propaganda film:
BILL BURTON, FOUNDER, PRIORITIES USA: Well, Davis Guggenheim`s a genius, so any time he`s making a movie, it`s going to be great.
MITCHELL: And Tom Hanks.
BURTON: And Tom Hanks.
MITCHELL: Genius plus.
Mitchell didn't underline that Tom Hanks is also the executive producer of the HBO movie "Game Change," which could also be described as a Democratic Party propaganda film. Here's how the Maher vs. Rush comparison broke down:
MITCHELL: There`s been a suggestion that you should return the $1 million contribution from Bill Maher, that if you`re going to -- if liberals are going to go after Rush Limbaugh for the outrageous things that he said about Sandra Fluke, that you should return the contribution from Bill Maher because of things that he has said about Sarah Palin.
BURTON: Well, a couple of facts. First of all, obviously, some of those things were vulgar and inappropriate and said over the course of years of a comedian`s life. It`s not language I would use, it`s not language that we would use at Priorities USA.
MITCHELL: Isn`t that what Mitt Romney said about Rush Limbaugh`s language?
BURTON: Well, the notion --
MITCHELL: It`s not language that I would use.
BURTON: Right. But the notion that there`s an equivalence between what a comedian has said over the course of his career, and what the de facto leader of the Republican Party said to sexually degrade a woman who engaged in an important debate of our time, is crazy. But there`s just no similarity between what Rush Limbaugh said, lying about the argument that Miss Fluke was making, a law student at Georgetown, and what -- and what a comedian has said in the past.
And then finally, if we want to have this debate where we`re stacking up what supporters of candidates have said over time, you know, Mitt Romney begged Ted Nugent for his endorsement and he gave it to him and he embraced it and his campaign was bragging about it. I mean, you look at some of the things he said.
Wait a minute. Does Ted Nugent compare to Bill Maher? Does Nugent have a weekly HBO show? Or maybe Burton would say he is the de facto leader of the NRA?
