Download | Play 
Download | Play (h/t Heather)
Bill Maher breaks out his new rules on Friday’s Real Time and his final rule deals with politicians who say that Americans are smart enough to see through spin and lies. Maher speaks the truth - it’s amazing that during the information age, it’s still so difficult to get factual information to the public. The facts are that Barack Obama isn’t a Muslim, Saddam Hussein wasn’t involved in the 9/11 attacks and global warming is real — yet somehow, to some, they still remain theories.
Maher:”New rule, politicians must stop saying “the American people are smarter than that.” No they aren’t! If the Bush era has taught us anything, it’s that voters want a president carved in their own image. Someone who doesn’t like to read or believe anything he’s told and is easily distracted by bright, shiny objects.”
No Trackbacks To “Real Time: New Rule - Stop Saying Americans Are “Smarter Than That”“
Maher stole this rant from H. L. Mencken:
Get your free Pocket BARACK-itizer here.
[Deleted. Old rule. Knock it off with the 9/11 stuff-Sitemonitor]
No, Americans are not smart enough. Americans are numbed into drone-like responsiveness by product advertising (including when the product is a political candidate). And the talking points that the Clinton and (especially) Obama supporters are hyping in the previous C&L threads (and on similar threads on HuffPost, etc) confirm that progressives are as gullible as the kool-aid drinkers on the right to the marketing spin that political campaigns dish out.
Discouraging, but true.
Of course they are not. So many Americans were willing to believe that a third rate country like Iraq somehow posed a threat to the biggest military power on the planet. It was a contest to see who were the bigger fools, the average flag waving patriotic American or the compliant media, who, with the exceptions of people like Phil Donahue and Amy Goodman in television land, gladly went along with the propaganda that the government was feeding them.
i’d also like to add that in my opinion, it isn’t an accident that this is way things are.
BoilThemInTheirOil @ 3:
Very well said. During every American election, the average American will once again fall prey to the claim that a certain politician is America’s [alleged] agent of hope and change, without bothering to look past the smooth talk and fancy rhetoric put forth by people such as Obama and Clinton and actually take the trouble to analyze what he or she is saying. Pull back the curtain and the Democrats are exposed for the charlatans that they actually are. Yet Americans believe that Obama will somehow take them to the promised land.
What’s with the fucking racist Japanese accent?
Americans are idiots. See the Fedex commercial where the guy is supposed to put the pin into China on the map? Yeah. I have kids who come into the library, don’t want books, but use the Internet for research and will use anything they find in their reports. There’s no fact checking, no second thoughts on whether the information is factual. People don’t take the time to check anything.
.
[Deleted. Max. You’ve been very rude all day about this. If you want instant news, turn on your tv. If you want to suggest a topic, email the site. If I catch you doing this again, I’ll ban you-A different Sitemonitor who’s not as nice as the other one]
.
[Check back at the top of the hour. Site Monitor]
My problem as both an employee and employer has been that I am stuck hiring gen y kids, when the phrase out to be gen “WHY”. Because I am constantly having to explain why they have to do this or that, or why I chose them to do xyz. It’s a major problem in this country now. None of the kids coming into the workforce understand the concept of doing the job because its your job.
Bill Maher is a typical American moron!
In Mike Judge’s movie “Idiocracy”, the president of the US 500 years from now is a WWF superstar with no experience or common sense. The movie is very prophetic, but it feels like it’s going on now, not 500 years from now.
A dumbed down populace is much easier to manipulate and control. Critical thought is sorely lacking in the electorate. Most people approach politics as if it’s nothing more than rooting for your favorite team. This is especially true for most if not all Republicans.
Bush himself is too stupid to be involved with 9/11 but that doesn’t mean the people who back him aren’t. Also, Maher is wrong about the “planning” bit if you consider that if the plan was to never leave Iraq, then everything worked perfectly didn’t it?
Erroll @ 7:
Some are WAY over the top in their support, but it boils down to who do you want? Someone with known lobbyist corporate cronies (McCain, Hillary) or an unknown quantity (Obama)……….everybody seeks change, but when actual change is offered (because he’s unknown really), the status quo shows it’s face and people don’t want it. “No thanks Mr. New Guy. We are going to vote for known corrupt experience.”
Oh, I was wondering if Bush was behind 9-11. That clears that up.
L.A. Confidential @ 11:
Most under 40’s, can’t even wipe their own noses now. They live at home, in mom’s basement, for free. Go to work when they feel like it. Know everything, but never did anything. And you can’t get a days work out of them if you were legally able to flog them. Truth really is stranger than fiction.
Quiet Burp @ 12:
And your A-typical of the morons that call Bill Maher a moron.
Everyone hates Clinton! The media has been telling us that for years and years, it must be true. I wonder how many people have had their perception of Hillary shaped by media coverage rather than stripping away the veneer of personality and digging down and examining policies. No matter who we think we’re choosing, we’re kidding ourselves. The media, the hype of flashy campaigns, sound bites, photo ops, press reports, it all has an impact on our psyche by the time we walk into the voting booth.
Then there’s people like Bill Maher, playing his own game of pandering to the audience, as if to say, “They say you’re dumb, but I know you’re not.” And the audience laps it up like kittens being given a saucer of milk. Television, all of it, is a vast wasteland with an agenda. Check out Gore’s book, The Assault on Reason. He explains quite precisely the power of televised images and messages. AFAIC, they should call it dupevision.
Maher might want to take some of his own advice, the guy who founded the weather channel states Gore should be sued for hyping Global Warming, just because they said it on some liberal blogs does not make it true Bill, do alittle research..
ConcernedHusseinCanuck @ 18:
Ah, the gripe of the baby boomers. They claimed to fight the establishment that held them down and now they claim kids these days don’t do squat. At what point will the boomers realize they’re the ones who followed along and let the current mess erupt? On all fronts. Thanks boomers. I mean, who’s been voting and putting people in office the past 40 years? The “under 40’s” will handle it from here on out.
[Deleted. Old rule. Knock it off with the 9/11 stuff-Sitemonitor]
grs @ 22:
Current employee shortages in certain industries, and lower production outputs prove you wrong. You can’t handle any situation living in your mom’s house letting her wash your dirty underwear.
Erroll @ 7:
Maybe Obama and the other Democrats can’t lead us to the promised land, but it is CERTAIN that Bush, McCain, and the rest of the Republicans are leading us into hell. I’ll take my chances with the possibility that a Democratic president could slow our descent, because a Republican president–McCain, that is–will simply accelerate our damnation and drag the world down with us.
If you need evidence of this, look at the state of America and the world before the 2000 election and compare it to the start of 2008. Don’t feed me the “9/11 changed everything” line, because that’s bull. It didn’t change our Constitution, yet for 7 years now the Republicans have been actively seeking to eradicate key protections from that document. Sadly, the Democrats have been willing partners every step of the way, but at least a few of them have tried to limit the damage.
Yes, let’s look at what the candidates are actually saying. McCain says more of what Bush has done, 100 years in Iraq, etc. Hillary says more of what the Clinton era did for America, get us OUT of Iraq (with some forces likely remaining for some period), and NO MORE of Bush-style “America.” Obama says time for change, time for hope, time to get America back to something Americans can be proud of, time to get OUT of Iraq, and more of what America was like under Kennedy and/or Clinton.
I’m pretty sure that America is doomed within the next generation or so anyway, so we have nothing to lose by trying a Democratic president, and everything to lose by continuing the utterly failed policies of Bush and the Republicans. At least Obama and Hillary seem to imagine the same kind of America that I grew up in, while McCain and his ilk clearly think America needs to be more like the early-1980s Soviet Union.
I’ll go with the hope-laced sales pitches over the fear-filled sales pitch any day.
sadsad @ 19:
And another typical moron that doesn’t ask why I think he is a moron to begin with!
[The name-calling is over, right? Please keep it civil. Site Monitor]
grs @ 22:
Handle What? You have to have to have a purpose before you can handle anything.
The problem is that the “Information Age” is just another myth. Baby, we live in the Disinformation Age. Instead of having no information, today we are bombarded by tons of utter bullshit by corporations whose interests are served by keeping Americans stupid and ill-informed.
Still, it’s not all the fault of e-vile corporations. Americans so far have lacked the will power to face reality, or even the impulse to find out what reality is. Even among people that know how to use computers, most of them don’t know how to use Google or Wikipedia, much less information freely available from their own bloody government.
That’s a keeper!
Okay, but if the “name-calling is over”, then I can’t really say what I’d like to about Scar’s mouthy filibuster that was his schtick on last night’s “Real Time.” Jebus, the guy wouldn’t shut up, and every last bit of it was “surge-is-working” talking point drivel.
There, I said it. It’s true. Is it still name-calling? Don’t think so, and doubt if anyone else who watched the show would disagree, either.
grs @ 22:
Not all boomers vote Republican. If you find the need to lay blame lay it on a dumbed down electorate that eats up the shit the Republican Party puts on the table as if it’s manna from Heaven. Don’t forget to include the gen x’ers that are too busy with their own self indulgence to be bothered with being active participants in the nations democracy. Your shallow myopic analysis of why things are so f’d up does not bode well for your smug and dimwitted prediction of the under 40’s crowd solving today’s problems. Now run off and play another video game.
bright shiny objects.
please
keep them away from the Preznit.
He’s already done enough damage to last 2 lifetimes.
So Erroll, where will McBush take America? How about Iran.
chris @ 21:
This is snark, no? I mean, is this a serious comment? The guy who founded the weather channel?
chris @ 21:
That comes straight off Republican Senator James (craziest motherf#@ker in Congress) Inhofe’s web site doesn’t it?
It is sad but I do agree. Most Americans I have met, are not smart enough.I travel a fair bit and have met quite a few over the years. But let me start at home. I live in the province of British Columbia, which shares borders with Alaska, Washington state, Idaho, and Montana. While travelling in Mexico I have met Americans that thought that British Columbia was in South America. Another guy I met travelling in Ohio asked me if I knew so and so(he mentioned his name but I have forgotten), from when he was in the Air Force in Labrador.
I don’t want to continue because I have enough respect for the people that read this blog. But the bottom line is just when I think I’ve hear it all I hear something new.
When I talk to Americans I see people that listen to what their leaders (there are alot of exceptions)tell them and are willing to follow them blindly. I look at what is on your TV networks…….American Idol,Survivor..which ever one this is now,etc. 2 of my favorite shows are on PBS on friday nights. They are informative and interesting. Ocassionally someone will be interviewed on your cable networks that actually says it like it is as well.
I wonder how many people in the states read news sites from Other places in the world……CBC , BBC, ABC(Austrailian Broadcasting), Deutsche Welle…. they are interesting and give a different perspective on the land of king george
chris @ 21:
Climate and Weather are two different things you ass hat! I bet you say: “oooh its cold today, I guess that proves there is no global warming” Its one thing to not know anything and another to go out and try to prove it everyday.
jimbo92107 @ 28:
Good point. Or in the (as usual) prophetic words of New Model Army, my favorite underrated 80’s band:
“This golden age of communication
Means everyone talks at the same time
And liberty just means the freedom to exploit
Any weakness that you can find
Turn off the TV just for a while
Let us whisper to each other instead
And we’ll hope that the Corporate ears do not listen
Lest we find ourselves committing some kind of treason
And filed in the tapes without rhyme, without reason
While they tell us that it’s all for our own protection,
I swear we never asked for any of this “
[To borrow from another site monitor at the top of the thread: Deleted. Old rule. Knock it off with the 9/11 stuff. Site Monitor]
Most Americans pay more attention to the rims on their SUV - most American couldn’t care less about politics. that is why time and time again we get the politicians we deserve.
The part that piss’s me off is that those of us who do pay attention and do care about who leads this country and how get the same politicians that the rest of the country deserves and that’s not even cool. and when you try to enlighten someone about what they can do to find out for themselves what is going on they just give you that blank look, like they are too stupid to read for themselves…they just hope that Rush or Bill’O will explain it to them so they can understand.
I am truely convinced that the Republican party are the people who can be fooled all of the time. Lincoln didn’t even know it yet, but he was telling us of the future!
Maher isn’t smarter than that, for sure, either — judging from his most recent proud fratboy sexist rantings.
[Deleted. Don’t spam threads with the same message, Big Dick-Sitemonitor]
Sitemonitor bellowed -
” [Deleted. Old rule. Knock it off with the 9/11 stuff-Sitemonitor] ”
[Deleted. No, we are not kidding. We consider the conspiracy topic off limits and we have from the beginning. If you’d like clarification, please consult the commenting policy and/or contact the site team. Links to both are located at the upper left of the page. Thank you. Site Monitor]