Bill Maher Uses Mexico's Vicente Fox to Insult President Bush

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In reality, there were a lot of disgraceful moments during Friday's "Real Time" on HBO, like "The View's" Joy Behar saying "the Republican [presidential] candidates are a bunch of pussies," and calling Michelle Malkin "a selfish bitch."

Despite such lowlights, the most deplorable moment of the evening -- and maybe the most despicable thing Bill Maher has done his entire entertainment career -- was to invite former Mexican president Vicente Fox on his program to bash George W. Bush.

After all, it's one thing to have actors, musicians, comedians, and pundits on your show debasing the most powerful man on the planet who also happens to be a fellow citizen. But to invite a former president of one of America's closest allies and neighbors to participate in insulting your own president is about as low as a member of the media can go.

For those with a strong stomach, Maher began the interview with the following shameful question (video available here courtesy my dear friend Ms Underestimated):

One party ruled Mexico for 71 years. And, for, I remember reading about this, for decades people were saying, "We want someone to come along and break that monopoly on power." And you were finally the man who came along and did that. And that power, that party that was in power for all those years was very corrupt, and very inept. It was like having Bush Republicans in there for 71 years. Now is that, would that be a correct thumbnail telling of Mexican history, sir?

Amazing. Imagine how much hatred Maher must have for his own country's president to ask such a question of a former world leader on national television.

Sadly, that was just the beginning of the Bush bashing, for later, Maher asked his guest the following:

I know you have very mixed feelings about President Bush. I know you are friendly with him because he came and visited you during his early days in office. That was a very gratifying thing for you. But that doesn't really stack up against some of his giant boners like the Iraq war, does it? And, you've called him a "windshield cowboy." What is that?

Incredible. So, now Maher was setting up Fox to himself make fun of our president. Sadly, Vicente did not take the highroad that a classier former head of state would:

Yes, you know, in that visit, I took him to see this beautiful stallion that I ride. And having rided all my life since I was too young, I noticed that he was a little bit trembling, a little bit afraid of touching the horse. I invited him to ride it, and he said, "No, no, no, security would not allow me to ride that horse."

And then I paid a visit back here in Texas, and he invited me to go around his farm there, by the way, a very modest home he's got there. And, he was driving this pickup, this beautiful pickup, and so I could notice that he knows how to drive a pickup, but he doesn't know how to ride a horse.

Isn't that special? Alas, there was more bashing in the following exchange:

Maher: I remember a couple of years ago at one of the correspondents' dinners in Washington, his wife, Laura Bush, got up and told a story...

Fox: Great lady.

Maher: What?

Fox: Great lady.

Maher: Great lady? Well, sure, look who she's standing next to.

Very nice thing to say about your own president, Bill, to the former president of one of our nation's allies no less. Really, you should be very proud of this moment, and look back on it as the pinnacle of your career.

Of course, assuming Maher actually has a conscience, it seems almost a metaphysical certitude that some day in the future, maybe when he's old and retired, he will watch these videos with greater disdain than those of us in this nation today who regardless of the person in the White House hold the Office in highest esteem.

Moving forward, as a positive sidebar, very enthusiastic kudos go to MSNBC's Tucker Carlson, who actually did a better job as the lone conservative on Maher's show than possibly any I've seen. In fact, some of his comments to the New York Times' Paul Krugman were absolutely spectacular.

In particular, when Maher moved the discussion to SCHIP, Carlson ripped Krugman to little pieces (video available here, relevant section begins at 1:50):

Krugman: What actually happened was they were looking for a bipartisan bill. This is a bipartisan bill to expand the children's healthcare program. And they wanted something the Republicans would go along with. And that was the only tax they would go along with..

Carlson: So you're blaming the Republicans for it?

Krugman: Yes.

Carlson: What are you working for them or something? What is this?

Krugman: Look at the House bill...

Carlson: Why don't you address what he just said?

Krugman: The House version of the bill proposed to pay for it in large part by cutting the excess payments to insurance companies under the Medicare program...

Carlson: But why are you evaluating...

Krugman: ...and the Republicans said, "No, we will not sign on to a bill that takes money from insurance companies. We will only take one from one that taxes smokers." And you're going to say that that's a problem with the Democrats?

Carlson: I'm saying that the Democrats, look, I'm not defending the Republicans. You, meanwhile, are flacking for the Democrats by making excuses for something that's indefensible.

Absolutely delicious! Now, move the video ahead to 6:50:

Krugman: If you look at the programs these guys [Republicans] go after, they're not the programs that are wasteful. They're the programs that work. Because they don't want the government to be helping people, and they don't want...

Carlson: (sarcastically) Right, right, because they're evil.

Krugman: No, because they think it's a whole mistake. They want to go like Grover Norquist said, "I want to bring this country back to the way it was before Teddy Roosevelt and the socialists came in."

Carlson: Can I ask you a quick question? Do you think it’s useful to begin a debate assuming that your opponent is evil and not just wrong? Because that's what you're doing. You don't allow that the other person might have a legitimate point and explain the whole thing.

Marvelous. In fact, what Tucker just identified is the entire modus operandi of today's Democrat Party and media: depict conservatives and Republicans as evil so as to eliminate from the public discourse opinions they disagree with.

Bravo, Tucker. You made my Friday evening significantly better by taking on three of America's leading liberal media members, and absolutely wiping the floor with them.