Nov. 16, 2006

Maher Talks Election, Kerry

[A partial transcript of Maher's spicier comments about gay Republicans is here]

[Hear interviews with Whoopi, Bill Maher, Don Rickles and Roseanne Barr here]

By Steve Friess
Special for USA TODAY

Whether dressing up as a stingray-barbed Steve Irwin or expounding on religion, Bill Maher polarizes. The host of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher (Fridays, 11 p.m. ET/PT) performs tonight as part of The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas. Maher also appears Saturday in Comic Relief (HBO and TBS, 9 p.m. ET/PT) to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims. He chatted with USA TODAY:

Q: How happy are you with the election?

A: I'm incredibly happy. The moderate majority in the last two elections was cowed into voting for Bush because they were afraid, and the fear card was still working. It stopped working.

Q: You caused a flap right after 9/11 with a remark construed as insulting to American troops. The same thing happened recently to Sen. John Kerry. You seemed really angry on his behalf on your show that week.

A: There's a lot of fake outrage in America. There's enough to get truly outraged by that they don't have to turn their sights on people misspeaking or a botched joke. It's such a cynical way of doing business because George Bush knew what John Kerry was saying just as those guys back in 2001 knew what I was saying. ... It's doubtful that something Kerry, the Dixie Chicks or I say is going to affect the morale of the troops.

Q: Who can't you get on your show?

A: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, John McCain, Barack Obama. They know they're chicken.

###

Go to list of USA Today stories