Bill Maher, Jay Leno, Free Speech, and Guns

Bill Maher was as greasy as ever, literally and figuratively, when he was Jay Leno's guest on Tuesday night.

Maher's gray hair was oily and slicked back and his remarks were equally slimy.

The segment began with a discussion of free speech.

Maher spoke of people getting upset over silly things.

For example, "Bill Clinton spilled some Arkansauce." He thought people blew that out of proportion.

He defended Don Imus, not agreeing with what he said, but his right to say it.

He brought up Janet Jackson and her "milkshake" Super Bowl incident.

Leno said he understands why people were upset about that. Families weren't expecting to see any "porn" during half time.

Maher said, “Spoken like a man with a flag in his lapel.”

Maher went on to say that he and Rosie O'Donnell were being targeted by the Right. Conservatives are arguing that if Imus had to go, so should Maher and O'Donnell.

Maher said that O'Donnell was really wacko. He talked about her 9/11 conspiracy theories, that the attacks were an inside job.

He said that was crazy. How could any one believe that Bush could knock down a building when he couldn't get a helicopter into the Superdome?

Big laugh.

Leno then put his flag pin on Maher’s lapel, as Maher backed away in disgust.

Maher said that he's "a real patriot" and he didn't need that.

Yeah, right. When I think "patriot," I think Bill Maher.

On Harry "the war is lost" Reid, Maher said, "Harry Reid isn't the bad guy for pointing out what the reality is."

Maher said that rather than slamming Reid, people should be slamming Bush for getting us into the war.

Cut to commercial.

After the break, Maher talked about when he was fired and compared it to the Imus controversy. The difference was that Maher said things he believed in. Imus was just an old white guy making a stupid joke.

Then, Leno and Maher turned to the shootings at Virginia Tech.

Maher said it was ridiculous that we had to have a dialogue about Imus saying "nappy headed hos." He complained that after all "these people get shot, there's absolutely no debate about gun control."

WHAT???

I guess Maher wasn't watching TV last week or reading newspapers or listening to radio.

Regarding the supposed lack of dialogue, Leno didn't point out the ridiculousness of Maher's statement. Instead he asked, "Why is that?"

"Because gun owners are selfish," Maher replied.

Maher said he's a gun owner himself.

He said the problem isn't that there are guns, but that there are too many guns.

After tastelessly joking about Virginia's gun laws, Maher gave his profile of gun owners.

"I would just like gun owners to admit they're selfish, and that it's a vice, like booze or drugs or cigarettes. Stop the nonsense about 'it's my right.' You just like it because you have a small penis."

Leno asked, "Did you say you had a gun?"

Leno quipped, "I myself don"t have a gun, but I know you have a gun."

Wow. What an entertaining exchange!

Maher went on to talk about the profile of killers.

He talked about the common denominator. He dismissed the bullying excuse, one applied to Seung-Hui Cho and the Columbine killers.

"What's the common thing for all of them? They can't get laid. It's true. Instead of sending them to shrinks, send them to hookers."

"Everybody who does something like that can't get laid."

How crass!

Leno talked about Cho sending his manifesto to NBC. He said that we were bombarded with images of Cho, but not the victims.

Maher explained, "The media has no sense of responsibility." (I can't argue with that sentence.)

Maher countered that the media did show the faces of the victims. He then segued into Iraq.

"We never see the faces of the people killed in Iraq. We never see our soldiers."

Not true. I've seen their faces. Local stories on the fallen are common.

He talked about the difference between a victim and a hero. Maher said that victims find themselves in a bad situation, but heroes knowingly put themselves at risk.

He said our war dead, heroes, deserve at least what the Virginia Tech victims got.

(Question: Is Liviu Librescu a hero?)

(Another question: Is Bill Maher clueless?)

Maher says he sees no way out of Iraq.

He said, "George Bush is the only person who thinks that going more is better… He thinks if we can surge now, then we can pull out. But as anyone who's ever done porn will tell you, that's backwards. You pull out, then you surge. I think we all know that."

Maher really delivered for Leno again, didn't he? What a classless act!

So much for the Right being responsible for coarsening the culture.