Potentially the most vile political discussion ever aired on national television occurred on Friday's HBO program "Real Time."
After former Air America comedian Marc Maron said he wanted to have violent hate sex with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), sex advice columnist Dan Savage said he'd like to do the same to Rick Santorum (video follows with transcript and commentary, extreme vulgarity warning):
DAN SAVAGE, SEX ADVICE COLUMNIST: They're grifters and scumbags, the Bachmanns.
[Applause]
BILL MAHER, HOST: Grifters and scumbags.
SAVAGE: Yes
MAHER: Not just one or the other.
SAVAGE: They're not charming grifters like in the movie.
MAHER: No, no.
MARC MARON, COMEDIAN: I don't want to be crass but I just hope that Marcus Bachmann takes all that, you know, rage that comes from repression and denial and brings it into the bedroom with her. I hope he f--ks her angrily because, because that's how I would. And I've thought about it. I just…
[Laughter and applause]
MARON: …It's a political statement I'm trying to make.
[Laughter and applause]
SAVAGE: Because I think…
MARON: I’m with you.
SAVAGE: …he needs it. So, it’s not, it's not just women we’re talking about f--king. Like, let's bone that Santorum boy.
MARON: Alright. Let’s video it.
SAVAGE: I’m up for whipping up some santorum in Santorum
For those that likely don't know what "santorum" is, the Urban Dictionary defines it as "The frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex."
And this is what is now acceptable talk about conservatives on national television.
To give you an idea how vile this was, even the perilously liberal Mediaite - run by ex-MSNBCer Dan Abrams - was displeased:
Maher’s panel put together one of the raunchiest segments we’ve seen on his program…and for a show that’s on HBO and has done this, that’s saying something...Even though it was his intention, Maron took things too far for us there: that line was just too reminiscent of this whole thing.
Indeed. For those that have forgotten, Playboy writer Guy Cimbalo in June 2009 published a list of conservative women he'd like to have hate sex with, and got a lot of heat for it.
Now, two years later, folks on national television discussed doing so not just with a conservative woman but also a conservative man, both of whom running for president.
Welcome to American media circa 2011.
