Bil Maher and Minnesota Politics
I know I said in the last post that I didn't like posting rants, but I felt I need to post about this. (I also said I would start posting stuff more often. So believe what you will about that post.)
Bill Maher spoke last night at an event basically trying to get Jim Kline out of office. This is part of his Flip A District campaign/publicity stunt. while the goal is admirable, the execution is not. For example, not surprisingly, all 16 people they targeted for this (of which they will be going to speak in 4 of their districts right before mid term elections next month) are republicans. One, Renee Ellmers from North Carolina, is apparently on the list simply because she is running against Clay Aiken! (when she was added to the Final Four, they did mention some actual political reasons as well.)
What I find interesting is the reasons for them being on the list. They say that the people were chosen due to fans of his show voting, and that may be true. But if your fans all agree with you, of course they are going to chose people who don't agree with you. and that seems to be the reason most of these people are on here. In the video revealing the "Winner," Maher spends most of the 5 minute segment mentioning the reasons Jim Kline was chosen. Every single reason basically boils down to "I disagree with him on this subject."
So if I disagree with Bill Maher, I am must be wrong. How stupid of me to think I had the freedom to chose who and what I believe in and support. For example, Apparently Bill Maher is still funny. After all, he seems to laugh at all his own jokes, so he must be funny.
In the interest of honesty, I would like to point out that I was a fan of his show Politically Incorrect. While I didn't find his comedy to be fall-out-of-my-seat-laughing funny (that would be the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson) I did get at least a chuckle out of most of it and found the rest of the show to usually be a good, balanced debate about whatever subjects they happened to be discussing that night. From what I've seen and heard of his current show, it is mostly people who agree with him on everything. I will admit I haven't watched a whole episode (don't have HBO) but the clips I have seen online certainly give that impression and if they are officially released videos, would be a good indicator of whether you should watch the show or not.
Back on subject, why is he doing this in the first place? He freely admits that they wanted to meddle in local politics and that they are doing it to be negative about everything. But why? What does he have to gain by targeting these people? He isn't affected by Minnesota Politics. If it was Prince or Joe Mauer, it would make sense. Both are from Minnesota, live here, and are affected by Minnesota politics. Even someone celeb like Andrew Zimmern would make sense, because even though he isn't from here (he is from New York) he lives here and the politics affect him. But Maher doesn't.
And if he is being negative about everything, why not target both people in the race. There might be more to use against one person VS another, but that makes sense. After all, Kline has been in office fore a long time. There is obviously going to be more that can be used against him. But there is going to be stuff on the other guy too. There is always stuff that can be used against people.
I think the most telling part of this is that Mehar didn't know the name of Kline's opponent, Mike Obermueller. The reason? because I'm guessing the Democrats are doing the same thing they did in the last two presidential elections; using celebrities and the talking box in the living room to get people to vote for them. By targeting specific people (in this case Kline) they are basically giving their opponent free advertising and helping them with their campaigns. And since it is a celebrity doing it, the good little sheep in this country will listen. After all, we do worship celebrities here, and will do whatever they say
Bill Maher spoke last night at an event basically trying to get Jim Kline out of office. This is part of his Flip A District campaign/publicity stunt. while the goal is admirable, the execution is not. For example, not surprisingly, all 16 people they targeted for this (of which they will be going to speak in 4 of their districts right before mid term elections next month) are republicans. One, Renee Ellmers from North Carolina, is apparently on the list simply because she is running against Clay Aiken! (when she was added to the Final Four, they did mention some actual political reasons as well.)
What I find interesting is the reasons for them being on the list. They say that the people were chosen due to fans of his show voting, and that may be true. But if your fans all agree with you, of course they are going to chose people who don't agree with you. and that seems to be the reason most of these people are on here. In the video revealing the "Winner," Maher spends most of the 5 minute segment mentioning the reasons Jim Kline was chosen. Every single reason basically boils down to "I disagree with him on this subject."
So if I disagree with Bill Maher, I am must be wrong. How stupid of me to think I had the freedom to chose who and what I believe in and support. For example, Apparently Bill Maher is still funny. After all, he seems to laugh at all his own jokes, so he must be funny.
In the interest of honesty, I would like to point out that I was a fan of his show Politically Incorrect. While I didn't find his comedy to be fall-out-of-my-seat-laughing funny (that would be the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson) I did get at least a chuckle out of most of it and found the rest of the show to usually be a good, balanced debate about whatever subjects they happened to be discussing that night. From what I've seen and heard of his current show, it is mostly people who agree with him on everything. I will admit I haven't watched a whole episode (don't have HBO) but the clips I have seen online certainly give that impression and if they are officially released videos, would be a good indicator of whether you should watch the show or not.
Back on subject, why is he doing this in the first place? He freely admits that they wanted to meddle in local politics and that they are doing it to be negative about everything. But why? What does he have to gain by targeting these people? He isn't affected by Minnesota Politics. If it was Prince or Joe Mauer, it would make sense. Both are from Minnesota, live here, and are affected by Minnesota politics. Even someone celeb like Andrew Zimmern would make sense, because even though he isn't from here (he is from New York) he lives here and the politics affect him. But Maher doesn't.
And if he is being negative about everything, why not target both people in the race. There might be more to use against one person VS another, but that makes sense. After all, Kline has been in office fore a long time. There is obviously going to be more that can be used against him. But there is going to be stuff on the other guy too. There is always stuff that can be used against people.
I think the most telling part of this is that Mehar didn't know the name of Kline's opponent, Mike Obermueller. The reason? because I'm guessing the Democrats are doing the same thing they did in the last two presidential elections; using celebrities and the talking box in the living room to get people to vote for them. By targeting specific people (in this case Kline) they are basically giving their opponent free advertising and helping them with their campaigns. And since it is a celebrity doing it, the good little sheep in this country will listen. After all, we do worship celebrities here, and will do whatever they say
posted by R.C. at
9:58 PM
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