[Be advised that this item includes accurate quotations of vulgarities.] Actor/comedian D.L. Hughley, the star of the 1998-2002 ABC sit-com, The Hughleys, and the host of Comedy Central's Weekends at the DL, which is now on hiatus, launched some derisive tirades against President George W. Bush while a guest panelist Friday night on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. After Hughley charged that Bush “has spent, and the Republican Party have spent, the last five years making us ignorant and afraid,” he mockingly suggested that the “J.J." character, from the 1970s sit-com Good Times, “could run the country better than this guy!” When host Bill Maher remarked that “what scares me about a guy like George Bush” is the “certitude” he has because of his faith which means that “no matter how low his approval rating goes, he doesn't care because he sees himself as a messianic figure,” Hughley launched this rant: “If I hear one more person tell me how this man is a man of faith, I think I'll lose my mother-fucking mind [audience applause]. Let me tell you why. I'll tell you why. He left his ranch in Crawford to see about one woman, Terry Schiavo, he left his ranch early. But when thousands and thousands of people were being, dying in New Orleans, this son of a bitch didn't do shit, and that's very un-Christlike to me.” (Transcript follows.)
In late 2004, Hughley got a try-out to replace Craig Kilborn as host of the Late Late Show. But CBS went with Craig Ferguson.
The hour-long Real Time with Bill Maher is broadcast live, from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, at 11pm EST Friday nights on HBO East, and repeated several times over the following week.
A couple of noteworthy remarks/exchanges I took down from the March 3 edition on which Hughley shared the panel with Vanity Fair Editor Graydon Carter and Washington Post reporter Dana Priest:
Actor/comedian D.L. Hughley:
“He [Bush] has spent, and the Republican Party have spent, the last five years making us ignorant and afraid. 'Let me torture people, because if you don't they'll be here.' 'Let me strip your civil rights, be cause if you don't they'll be here.' This country has been emasculated. People have just, kind of just, as long as he keeps me safe, I don't give a fuck what happens. You'll see people go, 'what would have happened if Gore would have been in office?' 'Can you imagine if Kerry would have won?' I mean, I can't imagine a scenario -- 'J.J.' from Good Times could run the country better than this guy! I can't imagine a scenario where it would have worked out worse.”
A little later, Bill Maher reiterated his usual mantra:
Hughley jumped in: “If I hear one more person tell me how this man is a man of faith, I think I'll lose my mother-fucking mind. [audience applause] Let me tell you why. I'll tell you why. He left his ranch in Crawford to see about one woman, Terry Schiavo, he left his ranch early. But when thousands and thousands of people were being, dying in New Orleans, this son of a bitch didn't do shit, and that's very un-Christlike to me [applause]. To me, Christ certainly cared more about the poor than he did Haliburton. So to me, I just never understood why it is people called him Christian when everything we do is the opposite of Christianity. It's ridiculous. And it's all these same people who just go, 'well God wants us-' you know, I watch these people use religion to do some of the most vile things I've ever seen human beings do, and that's Christianity?”
