Bill Maher: “Obama Couldn’t Be Less Threatening if He Was Walking Home With Iced Tea and Skittles”

News One For Black America ^ | May 28, 2012 | Kirsten West Savali

[2ndDivisionVet]

Normally, I’m a huge fan of comedian and political pundit Bill Maher. So much so, that I never miss one of his shows and I bought his book, “New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer,” for my family as gifts. His straight talk about the dangers of religious indoctrination, the awkward, disingenuous idiocy of most GOP politics and timid stagnation of the Democratic Party are usually spot-on. But on his HBO show, “Real Time” Friday night, I found myself, for the first time, staring at my screen in distaste.

He began his closing bit as razor-sharp as normal:

“How can you guys be so unhappy with Obama when I’m so unhappy with Obama?” said Maher in response to scripted GOP outrage over every move that the POTUS makes. “You think you got coal in your stocking? I wanted single-payer health care, a carbon emissions bill, gun control, and legalized pot. If you get to carry around all this outrage over me getting that sh*t, shouldn’t I have gotten it?”

So far, so good – but then things took a turn for the worse.

In a macabre attempt at humor that was so off its mark and unnecessary that it was pathetic, Maher compared President Barack Obama’s non-threatening, conciliatory demeanor when caving to conservative demands — and ignoring liberals — to slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

(VIDEO AT LINK)

“If Obama is a socialist, he’s a lousy one, Maher quipped. “He could not be less threatening if he were walking home with iced tea and Skittles.”

And the crowd laughed. They laughed.

At first seeming a bit awkward after the words were out of his mouth, Maher decided to play off of the crowd’s groans and chuckles, and offered a wide smile of his own. But it was obvious that he knew it and they knew it — he messed up. It was such a transparent attempt at being witty and conscious, that for a split second I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

Then I realized that it was literally three months to the day that George Zimmerman gunned down Trayvon. Literally three months since Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton had their baby’s life snatched away. Yet, there Maher and his audience sat in his snug, cozy HBO studio, sharing a few laughs at the expense of an innocent boy on the cusp of adulthood who was killed for no other reason than being Black.

Note to Bill:

Trayvon Martin is not a political punchline to be trotted out simply because you can compare the Black child to a Black president.

While I understand that at the root of the “joke” was that Obama is as innocent of wrong-doing as Trayvon was on the night he was murdered, it was a horribly misfired attempt at humor. Especially considering that Obama is arguably guilty of war crimes in at least two nations, while Trayvon was guilty of no crimes at all. I am very clear that Mr. Maher has “funny” in abundance; time will tell, however, if he has enough class to admit that, this time, the “joke” was ill-conceived and ill-timed.

I’m sure there are those who will disagree and accuse me of accusing him of racism. Please note that racism was not used once in this article, because I do not believe that Maher has a racist bone in his body. Bottom line: The laughter was beneath him and the comparison was unnecessary. If he had to make it, he should have had the dignity to treat it with the solemnity it deserves.

I may be a fan of Maher, but just as I criticize the president when he deserves it, I will criticize him as well. Just because I think the man is probably one of the most enlightened voices in a generation, does not mean that I won’t call a spade a spade — as I see it.

As he is so fond of telling the president — and it’s as true then as it is now: You made a mistake, Mr. Maher, don’t laugh it off.

Man up.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Thou shalt not criticize, question, defame, make fun of or otherwise disparage Saint Trayvon.

[Seizethecarp]

Barry is actually driving the liberal left bat-shit as they try to defend him! This piece is really psychotic...as is Maher, of course.

[Navy Patriot]

Kirsten West Savali don't be takin’ no jive from a cracker, just like Trayvon.

[rawcatslyentist]

Murh be robotrippin.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

This lady writer is typical of the black liberal/leftist who is delusional about anything Obama, conservative, or logical.

Trayvon Martin may not turn out to be the saint the left has proclaimed him to be. A tragedy, yes. A saint, not looking that way.

Anyway Ms Savali is getting what conservatives have been getting for years without anyone on the liberal/left side saying that this is inappropriate, it crossed the line, or is not conducive to good political dialogue.

Maher just bitchslapped the black left and they are finally beginning to see that what Maher has been doing to conservative women for years.

Welcome to the real world, Ms. Savali. Don’t let it bite you in the ass on your way out into it.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Kirsten West Savali
Kirsten West Savali is Contributing Editor at Newsone.com and former Senior News Editor at YourBlackWorld.com. Drawing from her degree in Psychology and experience as a mental health professional, her provocative topics explore the intersectionality of race, religion, gender, politics and culture. Kirsten's feature articles can also be found on BlackVoices.com, ClutchMagazine.com, VibeVixen.com, Loop21.com, IllumeMagazine.com, BirthplaceMagazine.com and others. Her short story, "She Convinced The World She Didn't Exist," will be featured in the upcoming anthology, Liberated Muse Volume II: Betrayal Wears a Pretty Face. Kirsten is also founder of The Nomadic Poets Oasis, a website dedicated to the elevation and exposure of Poetry and Spoken Word. Connect with her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter: @KWestSavali

[houeto]

...sharing a few laughs at the expense of an innocent boy on the cusp of adulthood who was killed for no other reason than being Black.

Does this mean that Goerge would have let a white man go ahead and beat him slap to death?

[ansel12]

Some of these people just seem desperate for attention, Bill Maher, the Silverman woman, the red headed woman Kathy, Rosanne Barr, and a couple of others just seem unable to endure not being paid attention to for something, anything.

[2ndDivisionVet]

You forgot one!

[dead]

Disgusting inappropriate humor is excellent, unless you direct it at one of my sacred cows.

Have a Skittle and STFU.

[saywhatagain]

“If Obama is a socialist, he’s a lousy one, Maher quipped. “He could not be less threatening if he were walking home with iced tea and Skittles.”

Uhmmm . . . accounts I read, said a person walking home with iced tea and skittles confronted a person who he believed had/was following him and that asked him "whats your problem?" and then began to beat the shit out of that person"

So YES Billy, how threatening can Obama be? Pretty damn threatening.

[UCANSEE2]

I bet Trayvon could kick Obama’s behind.

[UCANSEE2]

If Trayvon had been beating Beyonce’s head into the curb, would Michelle want Beyonce to have and use a gun?

[jocon307]

“...time will tell, however, if he has enough class to admit that, this time, the “joke” was ill-conceived and ill-timed.”

Don’t hold your breath.

Our author needs to wake up and realize that Bill Maher, and many white leftists are indeed racists. Believe me, they like the white-negro Barack Obama because he’s one of them, but they’re not hanging with the homeboys, not now, not ever. They be skeered of them hoodie wearing guys and wouldn’t be caught dead in a black neighborhood, for fear they would be, in fact, caught dead there.

Black folks make a good “cause” for them, but that’s it.

Likewise with women, a good “cause”, but as for actual respect, well all I can say is: look at the record. From Jack and Ted Kennedy onward to Bill Clinton and John Edwards. (But it’s supposed to be Mitt Romney and the Republicans who hate women, right?)

Maher is a creep (self-censorship for bad language is in effect), along with the rest of his ilk. The sooner black people (amoung others) realize this, the better

[JaguarXKE]

Normally, I’m a huge fan of comedian and political pundit Bill Maher.

Nice to see she establishes her idiocy credentials right up front.

[2ndDivisionVet]

"Trayvon Martin is not a political punchline to be trotted out simply because you can compare the Black child to a Black president."

"You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," Mr. Obama.

[Viking2002]

"Trayvon Martin is not a political punchline to be trotted out simply because you can compare the Black child to a Black president."

No, he's the multi-faceted embodiment of every social, racial, and cultural divide that liberalism has proactively helped create in this country for the last fifty years.

"We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power..... the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."

--Patrick Henry, to the Virginia Convention, March 23, 1775

[Ann Archy]

Anyone, and I mean ANYONE who likes Bill Maher, VILE and EVIL as they come, is just as vile and evil.

[Stepan12]

I have heard Bill Maher and I don't find him funny. He is as one freeper described him in the class of unfunny comedians. The freeper pointed out that Maher isn't the only comedian who is unfunny. Pauly Shore is another one according to the freeper (I have never heard him).

As for Trayvon Martin, he did get what he deserved!

[hattend]

Normally, I’m a huge fan of comedian and political pundit Bill Maher

Stopped reading right there.