It appears the good folks at HBO must have been extremely concerned that "Real Time" host Bill Maher was going to lose many of his viewers as a result of his tossing 9/11 truthers from the audience two weeks ago.
After all, Maher even admitted at the opening of the discussion segment of Friday's program, albeit almost apologetically, "I'm not going to pretend that we have ideological balance on this panel."
Ideological balance? Are you kidding?
Here were Maher's attendees this fine Friday evening in no specific order: The proprietor of Daily Kos, Markos Moulitsas; comedian Martin Short, and; MSNBC's Alison Stewart.
As it turned out, not only were all three of the panel members far to the left politically, but also one of Maher's other special guests was Jeremy Scahill, a correspondent for the practically socialist publication the Nation.
Honestly, Bill, could you be any more obvious about your desire to reconnect with your liberal audience?
Yet, even more shameful was the opening segment after the monologue when Maher invited Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson to once again tell their side of the now infamous story whilst never mentioning the person that actually admitted leaking the name of the so-called covert CIA operative in question.
Here's a hint, Bill: Dick Armitage. Ever heard the name? Or, was that irrelevant this evening as you were so obviously trying to make amends with folks on the far left you had offended by tossing their brethren from the audience two weeks back?
Maybe more importantly, although the civil suit the Wilsons filed against prominent members of the Bush administration was addressed, Maher didn't feel the need to mention that the case had been dismissed.
Really, Bill, if this is what you need to do to curry favor with your viewers, would you please drop the pretense that you're at all impartial and try to not be so obvious about it?
It's really offensive to those who remember when you actually had a soul as well as something of value to say.
