Obama Super-PAC: Maher’s Words ‘Vulgar And Inappropriate’ (Talking Points Memo)

[LanternWaste]

Bill Burton, the head of the super PAC backing President Obama’s reelection campaign, responded Thursday to calls from the right and some women’s groups that the PAC should repudiate some of the past language from comedian Bill Maher, who donated $1 million to the PAC last month.

“First of all, obviously, some of those things were vulgar and inappropriate and said over the course of years of a comedian’s life,” Burton told MSNBC. “It’s not language I would use or language we would use at Priorities USA.”

Burton then went on to dismiss the suggestion that Maher’s past words about Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann were comparable to Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on Sandra Fluke.

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/obama-super-pac-mahers-words-vulgar-and-inappropriate-video.php?ref=fpnewsfeed


Good. And good, again (although I do tend to have belief-issues when a SuperPAC-- any SuperPAC talks about ethics...)

[southernyankeebelle]

1. The difference to me is the 2 politicians are public figures where Ms Fluke isn't.

Although I don't think anyone should use that kind of language in public forum.

[JDPriestly]

2. Unfortunately, the outrage in the media about Limbaugh's attacks on Sandra Fluke

focused mostly on the use of offensive epithets. But that was the least of Limbaugh's problems.

The real wrong that Limbaugh did was to ascribe to Sandra Fluke statements that she did not make in her testimony before the Pelosi committee. And those statement cast Sandra Fluke in a false light, making her look like a person deserving the names that Limbaugh then called her.

If Maher attributed statements to someone that the person did not make, I would expect Maher to own up immediately and apologize. Anyone can make a mistake, but I think Maher values the truth enough to admit a mistake.

Limbaugh seems to be hanging on to his mistakes or maybe they were not just inadvertent but rather intentional lies.

[ProSense]

3. Good, but

this article is a bit misleading.

Sure Burton rejected Maher, but the frame is that somehow Maher represents to Democrats what Limbaugh represents to the GOP. Maher isn't a friggin Democrat, nor is he embraced by Democratic leaders.

Burton's point here is important:

“What the de facto leader of the Republican Party said to sexually degrade a woman who led in a political debate of our time is crazy,” Burton said. “There’s no similarity about what Rush Limbaugh said, lying about the argument that Miss Fluke was making, a law student at Georgetown, and what a comedian has said in the past.”

[Inuca]

4. But he just gave $1 million to Burton's superPAC

which I am sure Burton would like to keep.

[ProSense]

5. That's fine,

"But he just gave $1 million to Burton's superPAC"

... he donated money. The Obama campaign has no control over what he says, and again, he isn't a voice of the Democratic Party.

Equating Maher's comments to Limbaugh's is ridiculous enough, and especially since the issue is the public airwaves and a private citizen. Trying to create the impression that Maher is to the Democratic Party what Limbaugh is to the Republican Party is bogus.

[applegrove]

6. Maher was using his empathy on Rush, a psychopath. You should never open

yourself up like that. I don't care if Maher lost his job because of a similar outcry after 9/11. Never empathize with somebody like Rush. There is no real comparison between the two but Maher fell into the trap and made them equivalent. Now the greater right wing machine, which is very dependant on Rush Limbaugh to keep the sheeple sheep, will attack Maher to save Rush. And Maher will be covered with slime because of it.