I'm a fan of Real Time with Bill Maher, but have been finding myself in greater and greater disagreement with his views on politics.
It seems to me that he, or perhaps the persona that he assumes on his show (a comedy talk show on a large corporation's TV network, after all) is slavishly devoted to promoting the Democratic party.
In the recent episode of this show he and his guests discussed the Republican primaries and repeatedly (and quite humorously) made fun of Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich, but Ron Paul's name was mentioned only once in passing, thereby giving the impression that Ron Paul and his supporters are to be found only in the fringes.
Why does Bill Maher seem intent on pretending that Ron Paul doesn't exist? Is it that Ron Paul, by virtue of his integrity and consistent policies, simply doesn't provide comedians like Maher with easy fodder?
Given that a staple of Maher's comedy is to denigrate the Republican party, one way of looking at his aversion from mentioning Ron Paul is that doing so makes the contrast between Obama and his discreditable rivals much harder. It's easy to ridicule three mad, bad men; it's much harder to package jokes when the fourth candidate offers a credible alternative.
It seems to me that he, or perhaps the persona that he assumes on his show (a comedy talk show on a large corporation's TV network, after all) is slavishly devoted to promoting the Democratic party.
In the recent episode of this show he and his guests discussed the Republican primaries and repeatedly (and quite humorously) made fun of Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich, but Ron Paul's name was mentioned only once in passing, thereby giving the impression that Ron Paul and his supporters are to be found only in the fringes.
Why does Bill Maher seem intent on pretending that Ron Paul doesn't exist? Is it that Ron Paul, by virtue of his integrity and consistent policies, simply doesn't provide comedians like Maher with easy fodder?
Given that a staple of Maher's comedy is to denigrate the Republican party, one way of looking at his aversion from mentioning Ron Paul is that doing so makes the contrast between Obama and his discreditable rivals much harder. It's easy to ridicule three mad, bad men; it's much harder to package jokes when the fourth candidate offers a credible alternative.
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