Politically Incorrect

“Among the biggest victims of the new Political Correctness has been Bill Maher and his show Politically Incorrect. He has been funny,thoughtful, and irreverant. He has gored the sacred cows of the left and right. But when he made mildly flippant remarks about war propaganda, he lost sponsors and affiliates.

It really ticks me off that one of the few genuinely funny, free thinking and intelleging shows on TV has taken these blows.

Anyway, it suddenly struck me: Disney/ABC talked a lot about wanting to dump Nightline for David Letterman. Nightline, is a half hour show. To dump Nightline, they'd have to dump the next show too... "Politically Incorrect." Is is possible that PI was the real target or at least a key target, but that ABC was little scared to go after it?

The funny thing is that Nightline was making a lot of money, despite what Disney/ABC said. It was getting old, but it actually serves to educate people (I've learned from watching it) and stimulate critical analysis... unlike so much other infotainment.”

“I like cartoons.”

“Ped, when you say Nighline was making money, what is your source? I heard that the advertisers will pay more for a younger audience than NL has...”

“I heard several analysts on the news say that nightline was making money. Of course, this doesn't mean that Disney didn't think Letterman would make them more money.”

“Fritz: From an LA times article:

"The ratings for "Nightline" eroded somewhat this year as competition from 24-hour cable news channels has grown increasingly fierce. Additionally, over the last year Koppel has reduced his role on the show. Still, ABC news division President David Westin reminded the staff Friday that the show made $13 million in profit last year and that its ratings had dropped much less than the network has in prime time. However, critics who monitor news saw the latest development at ABC as illustrative of a telling shift in priorities."”

“for the full text:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-000015748mar02.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage”

“Yes, I think that was the issue...increased profits, with no regard to public service.”

“Still, I wonder how much of the profit picture is tied to pressure from advertisers. There has been a lot of big corporate ire over Politically Incorrect, including the firestorm when Bill Maher has made the self-evident, but horribly politically incorrect observation that the plane hijacking terrorists on 9/11 were not cowards. (They may have been blood thirsty, hate blinded fanatics, but not cowards. Of course many of the people who backed them may be cowards, but the guys themselves were not.)”

“.......craven lunatics and religious mad dogs, but certainly not cowards.

Members of our government, under the influence of bribery, graft, payola, spendula, easy money, etc, have handed the public airways over to craven capitalists to plunder as they see fit.

And then there are the zealots who would try to silence free thinkers like Bill Maher.”

“"It really ticks me off that one of the few genuinely funny, free thinking and intelleging shows on TV has taken these blows."

Why? The advertisers look for products that somewhat reflect the show. There will be some politicly incorect products filling the gap for those that pulled out. If you want to be contoversial you can't complain when someone doesn't want to be associated with you. They just need to stop crying foul and find adverts that fit. Silly Putty maybe?

It's all about free market.”

“The public airways are not the free market without permission from the public.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I'm talking about the supply and demand for advertising with a simular TV show.”

“But its not just the free market, if companies pull ads from shows that espouse views they don't like... especially if they are doing this in cahoots with people in government.

Of course consumers are far less powerful than corporations, but there are ways we can retaliate.”

“Freedom of Speech is a right with uncomfortable implications. And, if one chooses to exercise their Freedom of Speech that person HAS to be responsible for what was said. What Bill Maher said about the terrorists is one thing, but then he had the audacity to characterize American soldiers as cowards... as a Veteran I'm appalled when people use their Freedom of Speech to abuse the people that have volunteered to protect said Freedom... (but, I do admit that they are allowed to)”

“That's what makes the market free. Hell, they are justified to pull out if they don't like his haircut. Just find someone who DOES like Bill. My guess you'll be seeing more Ms. Cleo ads and trashier stuff like that soon.”

“"The public airways are not the free market without permission from the public."

LMFAO!

What planet is this guy from?

Congress (DemocRats and RepubliCons) sold what was left of the public airwaves off several years ago. And for pennies on the dollar I might add. We don't own Jack Squat. The networks and cable TV operations own it all and they are going to give the lowest common denominator Amerikan public what it deserves (i.e. the 21st Century equivalent of the Circus Maximus.) Lap it up Citizen!”

“The free market IS all about people making choices. Whadduhfuh?

Ped, I read something about advertisers aiming for young men between 20-35. The article went on to say that marketers may be mistaken in their figures about who spends more money. The article talked about Baby Boomers having more dollar clout. Don't have the figures, and I don't know what goes into the marketing decisions. But you can bet your butt, profit is what controls the decisions.


"The worst crime against working people is a company that fails to operate at a profit."

Samuel Gompers


"It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses."

Winston Churchill


I wish I stayed up late enough to watch Koppel. I think he is the best interviewer of our time. Don't watch PI but I like any source that lampoons every side and has no sacred cows. If we could all laugh at ourselves more, we'd have a whole lot less idiocy in the world.”

“I personally get a kick out of The NoSpin Cycle on Fox. I will go to Bill Mare (politicaly incorrect) for political insite right after I go to Tom Arnold (best damn sports show period!) for sports insite.”

“I also watch cartoons still!

8)”

“Have you seen Samurai Jack?”

“The ratings for NL and TLS (Starring David Letterman) are about the same. Letterman's audience is younger, however, and has more expendable income. That makes them a tastier target...

Bill Maher is a freak.
I thought he was among the one's that were gonna move to South America if Bush got elected. No?

Did any of those Hollywood wierdos do as they threatened?
Inquiring minds wanna know!”

“i am jack squat and NO ONE owns me”

“donman -

Maher never called American soldiers cowards. He said “We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.” Fine line I know, but I think it's an important distinction.

Advertisers have the right to associate their products with whomever they want. What bothers me was Ari Fleischer's warning in response to Maher's comments that all Americans had to “watch what they say and watch what they do.” This is the President's Press Secretary threatening a citizen's right to free speech.

My response: "Bite me Ari, Sears and Federal Express".”

“Keep in mind that use of inclusive language is for general cases. Direct requests by individuals take precedence over general rules”

“Bill Maher has never struck me as a remotely serious commentator. To me his show is barely better than Jerry Springer.

From what I have seen, there is no real attempt to understand the positions the guests take, there are too many interruptions and the questions change too fast. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to keep up, but to me the whole conversation seems to be just set up to give BM ;-) his chances to get applause.

It is entertainment, not political commentary.”

“Ari Fleischer is also the idiot who blamed the Clinton administration for the Palestinian/Israeli violence going on right now...

Let's say it all together "Personal Responsiblity"”

“Bill Maher is not funny enough to be a comedian or smart enough to be a politician.”

“I meant to say, before submitting my last post, that I only see PI very occasionally. I might not have given it a "fair chance."

But I think I have.”

“The only time it's worth watching is when Uncle Gonzo is on there verbaly tearing Mare limb from limb.”

“Bill Maher did not criticize American soldiers as cowards. Lies can run many times around the world before the truth even gets its shoes on. No one who took a serious look at what he said could believe that he did. I was going to put up Maher's exact words, but Violin beat me to it.

Maher skewered the Clinton administration many times and he was not one of those people who threatened to move out of the country if Bush won.

He is not a cautious political commentator, but he makes fun of BS when he sees it... no matter who is cranking it out.

Too many people equate criticizing US military and foreign policy with criticizing its the troops. Maher said US military policy had been cowardly ("We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly."). Maher said it on 9/26/01... before the US fired any cruise missles or did any high altitude bombing under Bush. That part of his remark was in accord with things John McCain and George Bush said.
John McCain criticized Bill Clinton for excessive use of cruise missles and high altitude bombs. Lots of people agreed with him, saying the US leadership had been afreaid to really fight againstAl Queda until 9/11/02. Later, Bush implied similar criticism of US military policy, saying: "It will not look like the air war above Kosovo two years ago, where no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat." Bush implied the same thing with his remarks about not sending over a missle to hit a camel in the butt. Lots people said the US had been way too soft on terrorism, why did they make such a big deal out of Maher saying it?”

“Ari Fleischer is just another example of the low caliber clowns now occupying the White House.”

“Having researched this a bit, I find that Maher may have been guilty of some plagairism.

From a web site(http://www.sacredcowproductions.com/ta2001/billmaher.html):

"They blow themselves up in order to get at us & we launch 3 million dollar missiles off of giant floating iron islands 2000 miles away, who are the real cowards? " Bill Hicks, 1993”

“Ped, that is consistent with my impression that he is not a serious thinker, not a "free thinker," just an entertainer trying to sound clever.”

“I am just sick of people blaming everything on Clinton when it's not all true. We did fire a missle or two at OBL prior to 9/11 that's absolutely true, we had some other opportunities as well that's true. Now whenever Clinton went to get support for military action anywhere the Republicans got on the soapbox about the U.S. being the worlds policeman and crap like that, the government handling of Somalia is what caused the tragedy there, Clinton had a hand in it, but the Republicans did what they could to make Clinton look bad, they blocked a fairly elected President American servicemen died because of vindictive actions, we had no support from anywhere to actively go after OBL prior to 9/11, our Commander in Chief had no Republican support to go after him either, if we had there would probably be more dead military added to the list because of STOOPID partisan politics”

“Never watch the show anymore...he's not entertaining nor worth my time.

Although if he said what was posted above, I don't get it? We're cowards for using our technology vs. running infantry? And how is saying we(meaning our soliders or the US in general) not calling us cowards...it's exactly what he says!

Personally anyone can say what they want, freedom of speech, but you wouldn't catch me sponsoring a man criticizing strategies that will save US soldiers vs. kill them.

What idiot would run into kill a person with the chance of killing oneself vs. launching ammunition at the enemy?

Did I miss something? This seems way to black and white.”

“Maher is an opportunist dancing on the misfortunes of a former President.”

“as it is about WHEN he said it - IMO. Our country was still in a bit of a daze from 9/11, and Mahers comments were insulting to those most closely affected by the tragedies.

He has the tact of a jackass.
Plus, he's a dick.”

“Well, conservatives simply don't like Bill Maher and will take any shot they can, lies notwithstanding. I think he does go after conservatives a bit more, but hey, they make themselves such easy targets and he's a comedian, (SURPRISE), especially Falwell and that bunch.

The subject Maher broached concerning impersonal nature of modern warfare and the POV he took are not original in the least, though some would like to hang him with it. It's just that if it's directed as a slam against a Democratic administration it's fine and dandy. If it's used to slam Bush, it's High Treason all of a sudden (see Ari Fleischer).

There's a word for this behavior and we all know what it is.

My point is, the people who launch the cruise missiles are all wearing the same uniforms, regardless of who is in the White House at the time.”

“I miss Bill Hicks.”

“That's the first time I heard that attributed to Bill Hicks. huh. Ped, you missed your calling.”

“How did Bill Maher's firing become the fault of conservatives?

Bill Clinton had the chance to take down OLB. He would not commit.”

“Bacpac we both know that if Clinton had the chance to cure cancer, kill OBL, Kill Hitler, end world hunger, and educate everyone that the Republicans would have busted a blood vessel trying to stop him... they did that in Somalia and it cost us soldiers”

“Donman,
I've already given you the actual rundown on what happened in Somolia. Clinton and his Defense Secretary, Les Aspin are directly responsible for the Ranger deaths in that country. Exercise some of that "personal responsibility" you whine about and take it upon yourself to read some books about what happened over there. Watch the PBS Nightline show they did about it. Forget about the Hollywood movie, It's nothing but pure PC crap.

As I have already stated, we didn't have U.S. ARMY Abrams tanks or armored personnel carriers in Somolia BECAUSE CLINTON AND LES ASPIN REFUSED REPEATED REQUESTS BY FIELD COMMANDERS IN SOMOLIA FOR THOSE ITEMS. Clinton didn't want to upset the very guy he was trying to capture.

Therefored don't try the Democratic Party weasel move on this one. Get some backbone (if that's possible for a Clinton apologist) and admit that the man was a foreign policy disaster.

JUST LIKE DUBYA IS!”

“I can't believe donman tried to hang Somalia on the Republicans. There is no basis in fact for a wild theory like that.

Just how did the Republicans hamstring Clinton? Cite a few more examples. They kept him from curing cancer?”

“Ha! This thread is more entertaining than watching someone with Terets at Sunday mass!”

“Clinton's a weasel...

that's it, just felt good to say!!”

“Clinton bashing...it's the only thing I do "liberaly".”

“Great examples of "Simple Minded Sure Thinking"


With a bit of circlular logic thrown in.”

“Oh Oh! The PC police are going to bust nigal now for insensitivity towards Touretts syndrome!
@#$%!
%^&$$# you!”

“I guess I'll go back to only making fun of Eskimo pygmies. There the olny ones that don't complain about jokes about them.”