ugh… it *pains* me to say this, but good for Bill Maher. He hits the nail on the head here. Our culture *is* more civilized, open and tolerant of dissent, other religions and other points of view. Islamic culture is not.

Kaiser Sozay on May 6, 2010 at 2:07 pm

I have to take issue on this Debbie. Last night on his show, O’Reilly shed light on how the media have ignored that the would be Times Square bomber is Muslim. O’Reilly also noted how the far left news anchors such as those on MSNBC are actually sad that the bomber turned out to be Muslim.

Fox News isn’t perfect perfect, but they are far more balanced than any other cable news outlet out there.

O: You are not paying attention. O’Reilly defended–yes, DEFENDED!–Comedy Central’s decision to wimp out on “South Park’s” portrayal of Mohammed. Maher didn’t. O’Reilly repeatedly defends even Islamic terrorists like Sami Al-Arian and repeats the BS that the majority of Muslims are peaceful and the “hijacked the religion” baloney. WAKE the heck UP. As long as you defend FOX News, they will only be a tiny bit above CNN and MSNBC. That’s not good enough. But b/c people like you praise it, you’ll never get better. That’s why we had Bush–a supporter of amnesty and panderer to Muslims–for 8 years and got McCain as the next Prez candidate. You didn’t demand better. So you’ll never get it. DS

Oscar on May 6, 2010 at 2:20 pm

When he’s right he’s right. One of the (very) ferw times I can say I agree with him. We can only hope that this one far left winger has the courage to repeat this after he gets hammered by his “peers” on the left. It’s easy to take shots at Christians and Jews when your buddies are all sitting around the table laughing with you. It takes courage to take a stand like this you know you will take some heat.

Jim on May 6, 2010 at 2:23 pm

Bill Maher is still a radical, leftist, libtard piece of shit. I don’t believe one thing that streams from his blowhole. Give him 5 minutes and he’ll change his stance.

IceNoMore on May 6, 2010 at 2:59 pm

Say what you will about Maher, he’s not nearly so obnoxious and condescending as Jon Stewart.

Graty Slapchop on May 6, 2010 at 3:16 pm

Although “Bill Maher is still a radical, leftist, libtard piece of shit”, you are correct…he has the clarity and balls to say the obvious!
Unlike o’Reilly and the rest of the “Islam is a religion of peace”.

Thanks, Debbie

docgary on May 6, 2010 at 3:32 pm

Debbie, I think the GUILT can also be applied to the La Raza crowd as well. They can’t cope with living in America or being American and have these juvenile tantrums of how hard they are having it in America. Give me a f–cking break!! The Chicano/La Raza crowd which is different then the illegal aliens, want to glorify the homeland and has never lived a f–cking day there.

I have had these conversations with these Mecha/La Raza types and to ‘keep it real’ is to hate America. Yet they eat off the fruits of the land. They believed they are entitled to others wealth because they feel they were wronged. They display the child-parent relationship. They expect the parent to provide them with everything and b*tch about it when they aren’t provided everything they want.

Muslims complain about America, but also want to eat off the fruit of the lands. Maher points out what people won’t say. Apparently he is having too much of the spoiled child syndrome.

CaliforniaScreaming on May 6, 2010 at 3:38 pm

He still makes an equivalence statement comparing Mohammad’s texts to Torah. I’m not terribly religious in a ritualistic sense (though I admit I’d like more in my life), but I would be religiously *AGAINST* the Torah if it said any proactive statement like the writings of Mohammad have.

Noah David Simon on May 6, 2010 at 3:47 pm

Bill Maher and the journalists at the Canadian Free Press! They get it about Islam and have the guts to openly name the threat. We can’t say that of every one else who seem to have their mouths sealed with duct tape and act like they have a guy with a proverbial sword standing behind them. If we can’t stand up to Islam, we won’t be free much longer.

Right now, we’re dying inside and we don’t know it but our enemies do know it. That’s what denial is doing to America.

NF: FYI, the Canada Free Press is NOT a credible source, as they make a ton of stuff up and have total frauds like Doug Hagmann making the stuff up for them. Wouldn’t exactly call ’em journalists. DS

NormanF on May 6, 2010 at 3:53 pm

[ But on Islam, he GETS it. On Islam v. Christianity, he GETS it. On Islam v. Judaism, he GETS it. Unlike the mainstream “conservative” talking head BSers, HE. GETS. IT.]

Did you actually hear what he said, Debs? We’re better because we don’t take religion seriously. Is that what you agree with?

Norman Blitzer on May 6, 2010 at 4:07 pm

First Whoopi making sense on the “Happy Meal” ban, now Maher saying something that isn’t pure islamo-pandering. Is this “oppsite month”?

DS_ROCKS! on May 6, 2010 at 4:14 pm

i do remember hanity saying the usual” its only a few bad ones, its not the majority of hard working, pious people”

drew299 on May 6, 2010 at 5:12 pm

Sorry, I will NOT give Bill Maher any kudos on this. What he says is very obvious to me and the peeps who deny it are kidding themselves.

Bill Maher is a DISPICABLE, angry (in a bad way) POS. I’ve never seen anyone wear his intense self-hate so boldly on his sleeve. I laugh at it because if I were as ugly as him (inside and out) I reckon I’d hate God too. The way he views women and they way he disrepects them in his PERSONAL life is off-putting. At least George Clooney is handsome and when he’s using broads as a pin-cushion, he is prolly charming, funny and pleasant. What do broads get out of it when they are dumb enough to hit-it with hidious Bill Maher? Lose/lose with an ugly loser. Maher is that quinetessential Liberal that will rag on Conservatives for being (unfoundedly)heartless when he can beat the whole pack in the heartless department.

I agree with DS on her pointing out the OTHERS who try to serve up Islam with a cherry on top for us. In fact, DS is the ONLY one with the guts to say it like it is. I think the only other one is Ann Coulter. Sad…considering 9/11 is almost 10 years old.

Skunky on May 6, 2010 at 5:16 pm

Maher still posits an “equivalence” between Torah and Koran, but let’s be serious. The Torah was written down well over 1,000 years before the Koran, and those provisions we find most egregious today were not then seen as such by a group just coming together as a people, especially given what other peoples were doing at the time. But those same provisions have been interpreted away or bound up by qualifiers over the centuries so effectively they are only historic references. The Koran is still taken literally as the unalloyed word of Allah, its mandates still held as binding everywhere and for all time.

So an observant Jew who sees his Jewish neighbor or even a family member violating the Sabbath shrugs his shoulder thinking “What have we become” or simply “What can you do”. Meanwhile a Muslim teenager who dates a non-Muslim, a Muslim who becomes a Christian, a Muslim who defaces a Koran or “insults” Islam can be marked for death.

I recall reading of an Islamic “scholar” at Al Azhar in Cairo (where Obama spoke) asked about the notion of “reforming” Islam – you know, equality for women, respect for non-Muslims, abandoning polygamy, etc. His response: “But then it wouldn’t be Islam!”

Raymond in DC on May 6, 2010 at 5:25 pm

Raymond, the cleric is right… if Islam is reformed, it won’t be Islam anymore.

And they’ll throw you out of a school classroom window merely for suggesting Islam should grow more “tolerant” of the rest of the world.

NormanF on May 6, 2010 at 5:35 pm

I have no problem saying a leftist is right. I don’t get blinded by peoples politics I listen to what they think on issues. Most people on the right can’t bring themself to agree with Maher but he is right. The partisan crap gets old fast and thats what talk radio has become. A bunch of arrogant millionaires preaching partisan bs, never calling out their own and defending the indefensable. Thats to an extent what fox news is and unfortunatley there is an audience for that. Nothing is going to change with this mind set.

tyler on May 6, 2010 at 5:51 pm

Bill Mahar is trying to contriversal enough to the ire of his contemperaries, once he gains they’re notice maybe he can be booked on more mainstream TV shows and become a pundunt someone will listen to ala Ann Coulter.

I did like his point on our phony attempt to move away from fossil fuels. A 1984 Honda Civic CRX HF would get 45 miles per without all the electronics and gas sipping 4 valve per cylinder engines. Today a 4 cylinder motor only gets on avg. 30 miles per gallon ashame.

THE LORD THOR on May 6, 2010 at 10:04 pm

Deb:

I saw Maher’s interview last night and couldn’t help thinking: Why does Debbie Schlussel dislike Bill Maher so much?

From what I glean from your column, Bill Maher hasn’t been clear and consistent wrt the comments he made on CNN last night. I’m I reading you right?

Thanks,

TINSC

There is No Santa Claus on May 6, 2010 at 10:39 pm

On another note, I think Maher offers a unique thesis; one I haven’t heard before… even here.

Muslims LIKE America and feel guilty about it.

I’ve never heard that thesis articulated like that before. Deb, do you have any comment about that?

There is No Santa Claus on May 6, 2010 at 10:44 pm

First Whoopi, now Bill?
Looks like we are running low on subterranian fossil fuels.
………….Hell is really freezing over.

I aree with ‘THE LORD THOR on May 6, 2010 at 10:04 pm’
There’s way too much crap in these newer cars. Just make ’em safe, solid and cool looking. Muslims shouldn’t drive Taxis and computers should not be ‘driving’ your vehicles. I’m not even too crazy about ABS…or Bill Maher for that matter.
Saw Alec Baldwin on his show once. His man-love for Bill Clinton was totally embarrassing. Gushing like a teen girl over the Jonass brothers.

On a side note: if your car was speeding up out of control on the thruway, couldn’t you just put it in neutral and pull over?

theShadow on May 6, 2010 at 11:10 pm

No Santa: Maher is very liberal (big Clinton fan) and VERY anti-religious, all religions including yours and mine. But he can be pretty funny at times and with comments like “Muslims LIKE America and feel guilty about it” definitely offers a different perspective, if you can stomach his lib BS.

…and love your site BTW.

theShadow on May 6, 2010 at 11:25 pm

Bill Maher hits the nail on the head this time!

Lee in IL on May 7, 2010 at 12:08 am

Another excellent post, Debbie.

I generally don’t like Bill Maher.

That said, on the CNN shown here, Bill Maher was correct on Islam. As Debbie wrote above, “But on Islam, he GETS it. On Islam v. Christianity, he GETS it. On Islam v. Judaism, he GETS it.”

Anytime someone says something right, that person should be praised for it and when someone says something wrong or outrageous, the person should be called to account for it. In both cases, it doesn’t matter if a person is a liberal or conservative; left winger or right-winger, or even if a person is a centrist.

JeffE on May 7, 2010 at 12:16 am

I remember a long time ago. (at least over ten years) seeing a stand up act bill maher did and he said basically the same thing about islam and it’s culture as compared to western culture.

billdo on May 7, 2010 at 2:04 am

So Muslims suicide bombing the west and killing Jews is because they don’t hate, but they like Americans and the Jews way of life (the liberal porns industries) and felt guilty about it? So if the Muslims are feeling guilty, should we blame them for doing what they did? These muslims are victim of dreaded psychological disease, should we blame them for that? Probably that’s the message Bill Maher wanted to convey. BLAME NOT THE MUSLIM, THEY’RE JUST SICK PSYCHOLOGICALLY. Blame it all on white conservatives. That’s why Gun controls for Bill Maher is more important than bombing Taleban. Why waste money bombing Taleban? They’re just psychologically sick, they are just victim of their own guilt. … Let’s strip the white conservatives from their gun, that’s energy better spent.

I think one day Bill Maher will support fund for curing Muslims from feeling guilty of watching liberal produced porns and enjoy masturbating and free sex to the fullest and join the liberal for the new (sex) world order. Why felt guilty of sex and promiscuity while heaven itself is a prostitutes parlor with 72 eternal virgins? Let all feeling guilty Muslims join the new liberal world, it is good symbiose, muslim could enjoy their repressed sex drive now on earth before entering heavenly harlotry, and liberals porns industries got more customers, a win win solution.

Since only conservatives are unwilling to bow to their liberal porns way of life, he surely will support fund to castrate all conservatives so that all of them can become eunuchs or gays, that’s better for the liberals envisioned world.

And HE.GETS.IT. YEAH, RIGHT!!! For the glory of porn industries and atheism, by the great Bill Maher full of compassion for the victim of religious produced guilt. F*ck all religions, sez Maher 🙂 .Thank’s for supporting me, Debbie.

TheBlackHole on May 7, 2010 at 2:52 am

Well I guess then Kadafi then is a good Muslim because he has said that we don’t need to fire a shot or do anything in Europe because we will be the dominant culture soon.

He isn’t for war. He has learned from Christian and Jewish leaders who don’t kill you but just use more subtle means of destroying you. Teaching women to hate their own men. That is the good Jewish and Christian way. Don’t kill someone. Just ruin his/her life in other ways.

Yes, the litmus test for who is a good person is how much you hate a religion. That is a great value that Jews and Christians seem to be learning while their own leaders do retaliate in other ways do those who don’t bow down to them. But focus on hating another religion. That will solve our problems.

adam on May 7, 2010 at 7:44 am

Maher got one thing very wrong when he said Islam is going through a period similar to the dark ages. Islam IS the dark ages, always has been, and always will be. Their book is written in stone and can NEVER change.

Consider this: The first Muslims had no chance to “misinterpret” the quran because they were being taught it by the man who was supposedly receiving it word-for-word from God, and in their own language. Mohamed taught them everything they needed to know about God’s wishes, and led by example when he ordered attacks against the Byzantines in 629 AD.

At the only time in history when Islam was 100% unified, and “God’s” message was most direct, clear, and fresh, they set out to conquer the known world.

stevecanuck on May 7, 2010 at 11:07 am

You know what, I may NOT be a fan of Bill Maher, and I also may detest his guts, but on this issue with radical islam he’s got a point about the radical islamofascist.

You see people, the radical islamist have been on this quest this the Prophet Mohammed died in the year 637 AD, when he died, the muslims went onto a conquest in order to convert the world into islam, they did a good job of doing so, they conquered Egpyt, as you all notice, Egypt before 639 was a christian nation, it wasn’t a muslim state during that time, but when the muslim army burned down the Alexandria libary, the mayor of Alexandria surrounded and that’s how Egypt became a muslim state. The radical islamist also conquered Jerusalem, Antolia (Turkey), Hispanolia (mainly by the Moors), etc. But by the Crusades they were stopped and they decided to tolerate other religions across the world, unlike the muslims back in those days, these radical islamist don’t believe in tolerance, I haven’t heard O’Reilly, Hannity, Beck, etc. explained all of that and articulate all of that information I gave out to you. Both Beck and Hannity only hold a HS diploma between them, Hannity dropped out of college, while Beck dropped out of HS, and O’Reilly to his own credit has a college degree.

Liberalism is a Mental Disorder!!!

“A nation is identified by it’s borders, language & culture!”

Sean R. on May 7, 2010 at 11:16 am

Bill Mahr was actually pretty good on his old Politically Incorrect show and many times it was hard to tell his ideology. Unfortunately, Bush drove him and many others insane with his idiotic invasion of Iraq.

dougx on May 7, 2010 at 12:21 pm

Debbie,all that HAIR DYE HAS DAMAGED YOUR PEA,BRAIN!You; Cannot handle the Truth that Marhar is stirring up Racial hatered.HE IS AN EVIL,UGLY MINDED NEGITIVE MAN.HATRED,SEEMS TO BE POPULAR,IT HAS CREATED A BRAIN FOG!START DEFENDING AMERICANS,NOT ILLEGALS AND MUSLIMS,YOU ALL INSANE?

brainwashed on May 8, 2010 at 1:48 am

When this Maher mentioned “our” culture what culture he’s referring to? Conservative Judeo Christian culture? Or liberal freesex cheat-your-wife Clinton Lewinsky Lady Gaga culture? I bet he’s talking about the latter. Next time you have a chance, ask him what he meant by our culture, you might be surprised.

So when someone said something that pampered thy ears, don’t be too quick to assume what he meant is what you interpreted. You interpreted his message with your own view of what’s suppose to be your culture, not his idea of what “our” culture is supposed to be. If he had Judeo Christian culture in his mind, would he be avid fans of Lewinsky’s lover? What do you think?

TheBlackHole on May 9, 2010 at 10:24 am

A slight caveat—he still doesn’t support forceful defense against the terrorists. We will see.

Occam's Tool on September 8, 2010 at 4:38 pm

Apparently, we elected one president…

mark on November 16, 2011 at 12:42 am