Raspy left-wing talk show host Lionel (no surnames needed) hailed fellow leftist Bill Maher Friday on the Huffington Post with an article titled "God Bless Bill Maher." Lionel says he should win, without any challenge, "the award for best critical thinking by a television news commentator." (He quickly steps on that analysis by adding, "Bill Maher and Jon Stewart have earned my seal of approval for cogent commentary.") Why the honor? The atheism is apparently lovable:
Bill Maher has a point of view shot through his own perspective barrel with its own rifling. You can see his comedic ballistic marks. We know his frame of reference. Personally, I love his take on religion and [Maher's film] Religulous is brilliant. I'm biased. As is he.
While on the subject, it's perhaps one of the best compendia of religious and Biblical lore. Lore, mind you, not fact. He learned a very serious lesson when he dared to make a crack about the bravery of the 9/11 hijackers. Let's hope that issue doesn't recrudesce; that's history. I will say that the event certainly gave Bill an obvious hypersensitivity to the issue. Maybe that's why he has bought the official version hook, line and stinker -- er, sinker -- thus earning him the ultimate label of disparagement among the 9/11 truth-seekers: Gatekeeper. But that's for another time.
Alert for Maher and Jon Stewart: beware being hailed as "cogent" by someone who thinks 9/11 may be a Bush conspiracy. Lionel announced that he loves how Maher is not on Obama toady, since he is a "stoner" and thinks that the Crocodile Hunter deserved to die:
Bill has his perspective, his take, his riff, his biases. No doubt. (Did I mention I love "New Rules"?) All right, enough with the paeans. Bill Maher is not a lap dog for Barack Obama. He's not a fawning, obsequious toady whose eyes flutter when you dare mention B.O.'s name. He doesn't immediately jump on the DNC or progressive bandwagon. He's got gonadal elephantiasis. He agrees when he agrees. He's obviously a stoner and makes no bones about it. He agrees with me that the late Steve Irwin met his demise by unnecessarily annoying a stingray. It was self-defense for Chrissakes. That's very non-progressive. Remember, liberals and progressives are smart, not brilliant, and not necessarily funny.
Lionel does lack a certain compassion for humanity when he suggests animals are more precious than humans. But all kinds of liberals oppose the "slavery" of zoos, like Cher, for one. Lionel, of course, believed that in any zoo combat between a tiger and a human spectator, the tiger should win:
Call me wacky, but hurray for the tiger that killed the kid who was...taunting him. Now, I know this is not right...but let's hear it for the wild...I loathe zoos. I'm still cheering the fact that some stingray whacked that Aussie pain-in-the-ass Steve Irwin.