As the conversation initially centered on the President’s intelligence quotient – what else? – Maher made the case: “I think the science has decided: Yes, George Bush is an idiot.” Yet, in Maher’s view, it’s not just that “he can`t string a sentence together” or that he “looks like an idiot when he speaks.” It’s his policies: “It really doesn`t explain not getting on board with global warming, or fighting the wrong war, or sitting there for seven minutes on 9/11. All that stuff doesn`t have to do with articulation; it has to do with someone who really is in way over his head.”
Maher continued his attacks:
He is a leader, a bad one, but a leader. He has ideas, and he follows them. He believes in what he`s doing. And I think, in a time when people are scared and when that Republican Party is so good at making people feel scared, they feel like he`s a protector, which is, of course, ridiculous because this guy does nothing but not protect people. And then he shows up at the site of one of his screw-ups, like after Katrina, or at the World Trade Center site, and says, "Whatever it takes, blank check." And then, of course, he goes away, and you drive that car off the lot and it breaks down.
While attacking the right, Maher found a way to give praise to the left’s Hero-in-Chief:
And what we have is a case of one guy, George Bush, one party, has a lot of cojones but no brains. And the other side has the brains and not the other part of the equation. We need someone with both. Where`s Bill Clinton when you need him?
As the conversation turned to Israel, Maher chose to go after Mel Gibson: “But how come, after the war, the leader of Hezbollah, Mel Gibson -- no -- Nasrallah, said basically, ‘If I had known what was going to happen, I never would have started this war?’”
You’re a class act, Bill. What follows is a full transcript of this segment, and a video link.
BILL MAHER, HOST, "REAL TIME": You know, I was thrilled that you were the one who brought that up. And I hope I gave you proper credit for it, because I think when you`ve lost SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY, that says something about where you are with the American people.
SCARBOROUGH: I did not say the president was an idiot. Linda Ronstadt said it. But what I said was, Bill, a lot of conservatives are quietly saying the same thing in Washington. Why is that?
MAHER: I heard you. But just the fact that it was brought up, just the fact that it`s a debatable point. And, by the way, I don`t think it really is a debatable point. I think the jury is kind of in on that. I think the science has decided: Yes, George Bush is an idiot.
And I know his defenders say, "Well, yes, he can`t string a sentence together. He looks like an idiot when he speaks, but he`s really very sharp off-camera." But that doesn`t really explain policy stuff, does it? It really doesn`t explain not getting on board with global warming, or fighting the wrong war, or sitting there for seven minutes on 9/11.
All that stuff doesn`t have to do with articulation; it has to do with someone who really is in way over his head, who also -- let`s face it -- didn`t change on 9/11. He was a guy who, you know, didn`t know what he was doing before that and let his father`s friends tell him what to do, and he is still is.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, Bill, you`ve always been very kind to me, and I`ve always appreciated it, but you`ve just walked into my trap. If George Bush is such an idiot, why can`t the Democratic Party beat him?
MAHER: Well, because it`s the same reason why -- I`ll give you an analogy. So nice people say, "Why do girls go out with jerks?" And I always say, "It`s because they have confidence." No, they`re not smart, and the girls don`t really like them, but there`s something in a woman`s biology. They like confidence, and a jerk has confidence. It`s sort of the same thing with George Bush.
Is he bright? No. But he does have confidence. He is a leader, a bad one, but a leader. He has ideas, and he follows them. He believes in what he`s doing. And I think, in a time when people are scared and when that Republican Party is so good at making people feel scared, they feel like he`s a protector, which is, of course, ridiculous because this guy does nothing but not protect people.
And then he shows up at the site of one of his screw-ups, like after Katrina, or at the World Trade Center site, and says, "Whatever it takes, blank check." And then, of course, he goes away, and you drive that car off the lot and it breaks down.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, Bill, I think you`re exactly right about confidence, and that`s what I`ve been saying to my Democratic friends for some time. Why can`t Democrats just say, "This is what I believe in. If you like it, vote for me. If you don`t, vote for dummy"?
MAHER: You`re right. I can`t argue with that. I`m not a Democrat, and I wish they would be better, because we need a strong, loyal opposition. And we don`t have it. And what we have is a case of one guy, George Bush, one party, has a lot of cojones but no brains. And the other side has the brains and not the other part of the equation.
We need someone with both. Where`s Bill Clinton when you need him? Oh, that`s right, he can`t run.
SCARBOROUGH: No, he can`t, thank God. I don`t know that I would say that people like Howard Dean have brains, but anyway, I want to talk quickly about one other problem. That is Israel. Has Israel ever been in as bad a state militarily as it is right now, post-Hezbollah?
MAHER: I don`t know. I don`t buy that idea that they lost that war. I`m sure they were surprised. That`s what was, I think, shocking to a lot of people, is that usually the Israeli military and the Israeli intelligence services are the best in the world and they know exactly what they`re going up against. I think they were shocked to find that Hezbollah was really an army. It really is, of course, as we know, a proxy army for Iran and to some degree Syria. You know, Israel is still there; Lebanon, not so much.
SCARBOROUGH: Which, of course, is a great tragedy, because of what Lebanon has been able to build over the past 20 years.
MAHER: Maybe other countries in the region would take note that, if you let a proxy terrorist army take over your country, you might get your country bombed. You know, I`ll tell you some countries that never get bombed by Israel -- Egypt, Jordan -- because they have peace treaties with Israel. And maybe that will seem like a better idea to some of the neighbors that Israel has that are so fond of them.
SCARBOROUGH: I certainly hope so, and I hope to see you again soon, Bill Maher. Thanks a lot for being with us.
MAHER: OK, Joe, always a good time.
