Professed Pothead Bill Maher: 'Kids Are Dumbasses Taking Drugs and Not Learning'
Bill Maher has for years bragged about his love for marijuana and his desire for drugs to be legalized.
On HBO's "Real Time" Friday, the sometimes comedian linked our nation's education problems to drugs claiming, "The kids are dumbasses and their parents are dumbasses and they’re taking drugs and f--king and not learning" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
BILL MAHER: [President Obama] seemed to be saying in this speech if I get it right that education is where we have to start. That if we're going to reclaim our place in the world -- because we're not doing too well -- we're going to have to spend money to educate our kids. I mean, the most recent nationwide science tests, a third of fourth graders and only a fifth of high school seniors are at the proficiency level. Allen Friedman, who's on the board who administers, says, “I was rather dismayed at the relative lackluster performance at the top of the achievement tests.” Well, it’s not your fault, Allen. Just watch that "Skins" show on MTV and you'll see what the problem is. The kids are dumbasses and their parents are dumbasses and they’re taking drugs and fucking and not learning.
In reality, I agree with Maher that this is a huge part of the problem. But last week, he admitted – as he often does on his show – that he’s a frequent pot user that advocates the legalization of drugs:
MAHER: Look, I have never made a secret of the fact that I have tried marijuana.
UNKNOWN PANELIST: Shocking.
[Cheers and applause]
MAHER: About 50,000 times. The jury is still out. You know, I'm gathering evidence.
RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC: Testing.
MAHER: But, you know, this is a picture from High Times. They have the, now I like High Times. You know, they do this every, they actually have a center fold like this. I never understood this, because, like, even if you like pot, well why, what do you, okay, that’s enough of it. Do you, do you, I mean, what do you masturbate to it? Okay.
DAVID STOCKMAN: The two are related, alright. The number one source of gun violence in America is the fact that illegal drugs drive this massive culture of violence. And if we want to deal with gun violence, then let's legalize illegal drugs.
STEPHEN MOORE, WALL STREET JOURNAL: I agree with that.
[Cheers and applause]
MOORE: In fact, just to punctuate that point, the murder rate…
MAHER: Right on.
MOORE: …the murder rate in the United States dropped every year for ten years after we eliminated prohibition. So, this is a good, you’re exactly right, this is a good way to fight crime. I think we may even have a consensus.
MADDOW: I have learned when two Republicans are talking about legalizing drugs to shut up.
[Cheers and applause]
Of course, no one will forget the October 29, 2010, installment of "Real Time" when Maher said he supported California's Prop 19 - which would have legalized marijuana in the Golden State if it had passed - leading guest Zach Galifianakis to light up a joint on the set passing it around to other panelists.
So which is it, Bill?
Are drugs harming America's youth making it impossible for them to learn science and other subjects in school thereby harming our public education system, or should drugs be legalized so that you and your adult friends like Zach can smoke whatever and wherever you want?
If the answer is the former, then stop glorifying drug use every chance you get bragging about it like some insecure child on the playground pretending he's cool to his friends.
If it's the latter, then stop complaining about kids taking drugs and doing poorly in school for it is you and all your hip friends in Hollywood that are setting this pathetically poor example encouraging Amerca's youth to light up whenever the urge strikes them.
If Maher wasn't so stoned all the time - and therefore such a dumbass! - he'd realize his hypocrisy is so thick you need Glenn Beck's chainsaw to cut it.
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Comments
Ahhhhhh...........Donkeyface
Submitted by killa37 on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 3:55am.
Ahhhhhh...........Donkeyface may be 'fessin' up' about his own habits and resultant problems, but he can't hide behind being a 'dumb ass kid' anymore. Well, he IS a dumb ass..........but we've known that for a long time................
Don't you just love Donkey Do Drugs?
Submitted by Newsbubba on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 11:34am.
He should be the poster child for NOT doing drugs!
Double Duty!
Submitted by bigdaddy on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 1:37pm.
Two national campaigns for Maher:
Don't Do Drugs!
Birth Control
Stockman is right about the
Submitted by ant on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 4:29am.
Stockman is right about the homicide rate going up during Prohibition, evidently as a result of illicit financial opportunities spearheaded by mobsters (according to the US Dept of Commerce). What I found interesting, and this wasn't mentioned, is that after prohibition was repealed the government addressed the organized crime problem with stricter firearms regulations. The homicide rate declined after alchohol was legal again but the homicide rate was pretty much the same with stricter gun laws in place as it had been before prohibition and before the new gun regulations.
I think we just solved the mystery...
Submitted by DumbCanuck on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 7:58am.
...of the inexplicable logic behind some (strike that... MOST) of Maher's commentary.
"There... Are... Four... Lights!"
Don't forget, it's also most
Submitted by AMR1960 on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 11:12am.
Don't forget, it's also most likely the reason "DearLeader" Obama got elected...
_____________________
Long Live...THE REPUBLIC !
We already spend insane amounts. How much more Bill?
Submitted by The Vet on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 8:16am.
# 1 Switzerland: $9,348.00 per student # 2 Austria: $8,163.00 per student # 3 United States: $7,764.00 per studentsource.
New York State spent $14,119 per student — more than any other state in the nation — in the 2005 fiscal year ... public school districts spent an average of $8,701 per student on elementary and secondary education in the 2005 fiscal year
Oops. It is even higher when you tell the truth.
The Los Angeles, California Metro K-12 schools “average real per-pupil spending of $19,000 a stunning 90 percent higher than the $10,000 the districts claim to spend. In addition, real public school spending is 127 percent higher than the estimated median private school spending of $8, 400,” Cato’s report stated. The report also claims the figure is actually around the $24,000 per pupil when you add all the real costs to operate a business – salary, operating expenses, health care, pensions and school supplies.
I drink booze. I drink a lot. There are too many brands.
Submitted by The Vet on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 8:26am.
Got to test them all. Worldwide, 20,000 brands of beer are brewed in 180 styles, from ales, lagers, pilsner and stouts to bitters, cream ales and iced beers. Got to get out there and try them all Mr. Sheppard. I drink a lot. I am half plastered now. I am sitting in a pool of my own vomit as we speak.
Sage advice Mr. Sheppard -- If the answer is the former, then stop glorifying drug use every chance you get bragging about it like some insecure child on the playground pretending he's cool to his friends.
People that drink alcohol, a legal drug, don't go around bragging about it like Mr. Maher does. There is something pathological about it.
It comes with being "hip"
Submitted by Galvanic on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 9:03am.
Like many smug celebrities, Maher is a narcissist who needs constant approval of his lifestyle, as in the hooting and applause anytime he (or his ilk) advocate using illegal drugs. The reaction of his audience, from applause to cheers to laughter, is what he needs: re-certification of their love for him.
And like Tammy Bruce points out, narcissists hate those who they perceive hate them. Hence, Maher's anger and personal attacks on opponents.
Where have we heard this before?
Submitted by Galvanic on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 9:06am.
Maher identifies the problem -- underachieving students -- and unsurprisingly comes up with the wrong solution (again) -- spend more money on education. This is the Leftist mantra.
What he conveniently ignores is the fact that only one country in the world spends more education money per student than us -- Switzerland.
And in constant 1970 dollars, we now spend twice as much money per student than we did 40 years ago, but our test socres have flat-lined and dipped for decades.
Obviously, money isn't the issue.
But to Limosine Liberals like Maher and the Kennedys, it's the solution that makes them feel good abuot themselves.
Isn't his audience a bunch of pothead students?
Submitted by Lipton on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 9:58am.
Even when he says something that makes sense, he is still revolting.
Self Description
Submitted by Cactus Kurt on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 10:49am.
MAHER: "...are dumb asses and they’re taking drugs and fucking and not learning."
Sounds like an accurate self description.
Maher....
Submitted by adamsmith on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 10:19am.
This guy's opinion means nothing to me. He's an overaged teenage malcontent who thinks he knows everything politic, when in fact has no more knowledge than your typical Marxist college sophomore. The boy is truly an idiot operating with the maturity level of a ninth grader. What was his major in? Underwater basketweaving and Communist indoctrination? He really is a complete idiot.........
Without dumbass brain-damaged-by-drugs kids...
Submitted by JohnMcGrew on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 10:50am.
...where is Maher going to get his supply of viewers?
It's the pot calling the
Submitted by HypocriteHater on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 11:16am.
It's the pot calling the kettle high.
Drugs are only a part of the problem
Submitted by Mean Gene Dr. Love on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 11:21am.
Our education woes can't be blamed squarely on drugs...I find it very hard to believe that many elementary school students use drugs. American kids at all grade levels are not doing as well as they could be. I think the more significant problems with our education system can be attributed to (in order of severity):
I think that drugs are further down the list of contributing factors and affects middle and high school students more than grade school students...but still fall in behind the above listed factors.
At any rate, Maher is doing his typical know-it-all act and saying things about which he certainly hasn't given any serious thought or consideration.
"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life." --Robert A. Heinlein, "Beyond This Horizon," 1942
And our scores are higher in
Submitted by tvhall on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 12:35pm.
And our scores are higher in elementry.
Most teachers want the students to learn but kids who curse, threaten and refuse to do anything taken
with admin who's highest value is don't rock the boat.......
Points 3,4 and 5 I agree and are symptoms of the moral breakdown of our nation!
~MEAN GENE IS IN THE HOUSE
Submitted by Wrathful Brunette on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 6:03pm.
Welcome back, stranger!
Spoken with experience!!!
Submitted by Patriot II on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 11:27am.
From the worlds biggest DUMB ASS!!!!
Yup, he raises a good point.
Submitted by wiwf on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 12:07pm.
Yup, he raises a good point.
I know no one will read this
Submitted by tvhall on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 12:31pm.
I know no one will read this one way down here...BUT as a Right Wing Public Educator (and I'm choking on a little vomit as I say this) Bill is right the kids and their parents are dumb asses, having sex (creating dick weed in the case of the parents and spreading STDs in the case of the kids) and stoned (I wish more were stoned in my class - it sooths the symptoms of their inbreeding and makes me slightly less desirous of feeding them into a wood chipper).
I was sad that Prop 19 failed. I had planned to have a big ole brownie in the parking lot before I went into school each day(don't want to drive high), but alas it wasn't to be. It would have gotten me to retirement with fewer psychoses.
I'm almost 60 and glad I'll be dead before this crop of dick weed runs things!
"Slightly less desirous
Submitted by UpNorth on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 1:54pm.
of feeding them into a wood chipper". LMAO, TV. Monday morning at the front door of most public schools in this country have all the appearances of Monday morning at any factory still open in the U.S. The same zombie-like, vacant stare, the same dull-witted conversation, from a majority of those walking inside, much like their parents going to work. The recurring theme of the conversations I heard were, "Like, Duuuuude, I got so wasted this weekend, ya know", yada yada yada.
Much as the black student has to live down the "acting white" stereotype, the talented, dedicated student has to live down the "acting smart" stereotype.
Government Schools...
Submitted by Scott Trent on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 12:31pm.
Today`s Government Schools are turning out good little Government loving, braindead idiots who are indoctrinated to believe government and more government is the answer to any problem big or small...
Drug Abuse!
Submitted by iveseenitall on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 1:03pm.
Most of us have been around those who use or have used drugs on a daily basis. We know the signs-- narcissism and a warped sense of reality being among the most prevalent characteristics. These characteristics, of course, are readily apparent in so many of our celebrities and politicians--- Maher, Clinton, Gore,and Obama to name a few.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal" (Progressive)
"Education"
Submitted by iveseenitall on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 1:15pm.
Yeah, it's terrible how much drug use there is in "schools" today---by the teachers, professors, and administrators--as well as the "students". I've witnessed it for decades.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal" (progressive)
They are emulating you Bill,...
Submitted by bigdaddy on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 1:40pm.
...you've set the bar so high!
Maher is a mental midget
Submitted by StanO360 on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 5:31pm.
He somehow got the idea that being smug equates to intelligence. He clearly believes that having wit in a controlled circumstance with a pre-planned cast and audience makes him witty and clever in the real world, it does not.
He is right though, parents don't care so kids don't care. Thank the Lord for the Asian kids (including those from India) they set the standard for education. Kids are taking the coursework, but somehow coming out more ignorant.
And the Mormon kids. I'm not
Submitted by tvhall on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 5:57pm.
And the Mormon kids. I'm not Mormon, do not agree with their theology BUT their kids are hard working, very busy, usually talented (my improv club president is a Mormon) and totally lovable as a hope for the contuation of the "Great America".
EG my one bad Mormon kid had a "C" average, was in sports and had a slightly sullen sassy attitude (I liked him a lot too!).
Bill is wrong again, as usual
Submitted by ckc1227 on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 7:09pm.
The problem in schools today isn't rampant drug use.....unless he's referring to the drugs pushed by the schools themselves.
"If Maher wasn't so stoned all the time - and therefore such a dumbass! - he'd realize his hypocrisy is so thick you need Glenn Beck's chainsaw to cut it.'
Not really, at least not on this. Maher is a dumbass extraordinaire, but thinking drugs should be legalized for adults doesn't make you a hypocrite in regards to children using them. I don't think he's arguing that drugs should be legalized for children. And like him or not(and I don't), his show is aimed at adults, not children.
Our pill-popping culture.
Submitted by drsamherman on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 7:40pm.
Sounds strange for a neuropsychiatrist to say this, but the public's appetite for prescription drugs is so out of control in many ways. Daily, I receive at least five or more calls from a vast collection of drug-seeking patients. This includes the usual suspects (e. g. substance abusers), but what really worries those of us who practice in the area is the number of parents who are seeking some kind of ADHD, Asperger's or other mental disorder for their children and accompanying multidrug therapy. This is alarming and wrong on so many levels.
Appropriately used and monitored, prescription drugs are a mainstay of modern medical treatment across almost every known disease state. I repeat the "appropriate", and this includes proper patient selection, counseling and a darn good pharmacist. Against that, successful treatment relies upon a compliant patient, and unfortunately those are few and far between.
"The kids are dumbasses and
Submitted by Rusty Shackleford on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 9:26pm.
"The kids are dumbasses and their parents are dumbasses and they’re taking drugs and f--king and not learning" In totally unrelated news, the youngest voters traditionally vote Democrat by large margins and most kids still adore President Obama. But like I said this is totally unrelated to their being dumbasses.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Matthews: The Joy Behar of MSNBC.
Bill Maher: The Joy Behar of HBO.
Paul Krugman: The Joy Behar of The New York Times.