The TV King

Aired - 12 June 2009

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CNN Icon Larry King From "Hardball": Chris Matthews Humorist P.J. O'Rourke NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous Bush Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend

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Aired - 29 May 2009

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"CSI: NY" Actor Hill Harper Ex-U.N. Ambassador John Bolton Ex-U.S Representative Heather Wilson (R-NM) Food Industry Critic Michael Pollan

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Aired - 22 May 2009

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Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank Simon Johnson, economist Jon Meacham, author M.I.A, singer

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Aired - 27 February 2009

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No Description set.

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Aired - 20 February 2009

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Aired - 29 May 2009

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Aired - 22 May 2009

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Guests:Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank; Simon Johnson, economist; Jon Meacham, author; M.I.A, recording artist Maherisms We've got to worship principles, not people. – Bill Maher In state parks, you can now carry a gun. So, when you're buried under a mountain of debt, now at least you have a scenic place to go kill yourself. – Bill Maher We're $26 billion in the hole. I don't want to say it's bad, but today Mexico announced they're building a border fence. – Bill Maher On the Financial Crises I don't know if we're ever going to move our country to a place where we're going to have a sound financial footing as long as people think happiness springs only and eternally from money. – Bill Maher We also should be looking at [the global financial crisis] as the greatest of opportunities. Crisis brings the opportunities to change. – Muhammad Yunus We need micro-finance now in America. – Jon Meacham I'm not against profit; this is good. But, at the same time, there should be a business on the basis of the selflessness, so that I do business to make the world change, to impact on people's lives. – Muhammad Yunus On Dick Cheney I think it's a bad thing that the media doesn't have a bullshit meter. – Bill Maher. Bobby Jindal has a not-enough-oxygen-to-the-brain problem already. – Dan Savage Cheney is fighting, in a way, not with Obama, but with his former president, because a lot of the issues that he's arguing about are, in fact, second-term Bush initiatives. – Jon Meacham Eight years of Bush Administration was enough for the whole world. – Muhammad Yunus On Gitmo Wartime presidents commit great sins, and I think [Obama] is willing to do that. – Jon Meacham On Obama You do not get to be President of the United States when you're 46 years old and you're a black guy, without being a very hardball, hardcore, practical politician. – Jon Meacham When Spider-Man catches someone robbing a bank, he punches their nuts through an armored car. Whereas, Obama writes them a check. – Bill Maher On Religion American presidents didn't used to be so openly religious and so politically religious. – Simon Johnson I think [Obama's] sense is that the American religious tradition includes religious freedom. And a key element of religious freedom is the ability to be unreligious and non-religious. – Jon Meacham I can't think of a character who is less reliable as a role model than the God of the Old Testament. – Bill Maher I think that Obama...has, in fact, helped us move beyond a kind of public piety. – Jon Meacham

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Aired - 15 May 2009

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Aired - 08 May 2009

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Guests: Reza Aslan, writer; James Carville, political consultant; Naomi Klein, author; Seth MacFarlane, animator; Matt Taibbi, writer On the Public Having a public that actually knows something is our best defense against ever again electing a president who knows nothing. – Bill Maher Last week the Swine Flu was a pandemic that was going to wipe out the human race; this week; a great way to lose a little weight for bikini season. – Bill Maher On Republicans I think that Republicanism is revealing itself as a personality disorder, not so much an ideology. – Naomi Klein Republicans don't understand comedy... if they did, they wouldn't put Dick Cheney out all the time. – James Carville Comedians...they need punch lines and [George W.] Bush was a kind of a walking punch line. – James Carville On Taxes Corporate tax cheats are like steroid users. They're always one step ahead of the testers. – Matt Taibbi I want to control the major Democratic Party. If people think we're too liberal, let them start the second party. – Rep. Barney Frank One minute, [the Democrats] are going after trillionaires in the Bahamas; the next minute they're going to come into your trailer and take your gun. – Bill Maher On Diplomacy When we send aid instead of bombs, people like us better. – Bill Maher On Gay Rights Anyone who tries to fight the advancement of any particular minority group, you're going to lose. Whether it's now or whether it's twenty years from now, they are wasting their time. – Seth MacFarlane Religion doesn't make you a bigot. You're just a f*ckin' bigot. – Reza Aslan On Physical (and Fiscal) Responsibility I think if there were more women who were politicians, there would be more humiliated men on book tours. – Naomi Klein Anybody who spends $80,000 on prostitutes in two years shouldn't be running a multi-billion-dollar state budget. – Matt Taibbi

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Aired - 01 May 2009

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Guests: Fareed Zakaria, journalist; Richard Engel, news correspondent; Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA); David Kessler, former FDA chief On The Supreme Court We will die, many of us, being haunted by Antonin Scalia's bigotry being practiced on the U.S. Supreme Court. – Rep. Barney Frank The Supreme Court is right now very substantially to the right of the country because of 30 years of essentially Republican domination of the executive branch. – Fareed Zakaria Generally, what the courts can do is to stop you from doing bad things. They can't make you do good things. – Rep. Barney Frank On Lawyers I'm not a lawyer, but I know this much: the law is what they make up as they go along. – Bill Maher On Political Parties Arlen Specter switching sides was like Dylan going electric. – Bill Maher I want to control the major Democratic Party. If people think we're too liberal, let them start the second party. – Rep. Barney Frank The 'Party of Lincoln' is becoming the 'Party of Shrinkin' at this point. – Bill Maher We do need two parties. I think five or ten would be better, but we need at least two. – Bill Maher On the Middle East One of the things America could learn from Israel is how not to totally panic in the face of what you think is a threat. – Rep. Barney Frank If there are members of the Taliban that want to negotiate and don't want to fight anymore, that should be absolutely encouraged. – Dr. Howard Dean [Teddy] Roosevelt also showed that you could be pro-nature and still kill a lot of animals. – Randy Cohen How come we can't be friends with Cuba, but we're friends with a country [Saudi Arabia] that marries an eight-year-old girl? – Bill Maher As a gay Jew, going to Afghanistan under the Taliban would be very low on my list. – Rep. Barney Frank A lot of people in the Middle East actually do think that the president is Muslim. – Richard Engel The Muslims and Arabs who live [in the U.S.] are assimilated; they're pro-American. That is the strength that has kept us safe. – Fareed Zakaria

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Aired - 24 April 2009

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Guests: Randy Cohen, The New York Times Magazine; Bethany McLean, Vanity Fair; Howard Dean, Former DNC Chairman; Dana Gould, Comedian; Robert Baer, Former CIA agent On Torture I've spent the last 30 years inside prisons watching torture, watching that it doesn't work. It never works. – Bob Baer I don't understand why a country that faced down King George III, Jefferson Davis, the Kaiser, Hitler and Stalin, without resorting to torture, needs to do it now. – Bill Maher There are arguments that [torture] makes us a safer country. There are no arguments that say it makes us a better country. – Dana Gould I'm obviously not an expert on torture, except when I was practicing medicine. – Dr. Howard Dean If you're going to be a nation of laws, you have to enforce the law, even when it's inconvenient. – Randy Cohen On the Economy If this crisis really results in some long-term changes, that will be terrific. Because, that, I think, is the only way capitalism survives. – Dr. Howard Dean If the economy doesn't get better, I think it's going to make all of the rest of Obama's plans very, very difficult for the next bunch of years. – Bethany McLean On Gun Control The Democrats have a lot to answer for. There's been a spate of shootings, for example, in this country in the last month. And yet, where is this party on gun control? Nowhere. – Bill Maher Most members of the NRA that I know don't think you need an assault rifle to kill a deer. – Dr. Howard Dean The real NRA nut says, 'If the government can take our guns, then after that, they can come and take our freedoms.' But, what happened with the Patriot Act is the government said, 'No, no, no, keep the guns, just give us the freedoms.' – Dana Gould On the Environment How do we solve this [global warming] problem when the response of one-half of the people who should be helping is, 'I like turtles'? – Bill Maher Unlike the financial crisis, we can't avert this [environmental] crisis...all we can do now is ameliorate how bad it gets. – Dr. Howard Dean [Teddy] Roosevelt also showed that you could be pro-nature and still kill a lot of animals. – Randy Cohen Everything has to be presented as "fair and balanced," when really it's sane and insane. – Bill Maher On Health Care We have to have a wellness society instead of an illness model for health. – Dr. Howard Dean People tend to behave pretty much like their neighbors. So, this doesn't eliminate our responsibility. It means we have a responsibility to create good neighborhoods. – Randy Cohen We got our kids smoking, and they just tend not to want to eat as much. They're my 'Merit girls.' – Dana Gould

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Aired - 10 April 2009

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Guests: Filmmaker Ron Howard and novelist Gore Vidal. On Directing I've always tried to find subjects that, thematically, meant something to me, that I thought could also then mean something to an audience. – Ron Howard I was determined to prove to myself and to everybody else that I could work in a lot of different styles and genres and tell all kinds of stories, because I love all kinds of movies. – Ron Howard On Jumping the Shark Even that episode [of Happy Days], as we were doing it, we were kind of going around and going, 'He's jumping the shark?' – Ron Howard Some people would say this country has 'jumped the shark.' – Bill Maher At a certain point, I don't think we will be so consumed with being the preeminent superpower. – Ron Howard I have thought for some time that we were going to find our natural place. Between Argentina and Brazil...but we'd end up with a great soccer team. – Gore Vidal On The Andy Griffith Show Why is it that every man in Mayberry was single? – Bill Maher On Rance Howard [My father] wrote for 'The Flintstones.' I was incredibly proud of that. – Ron Howard On the American Empire The Romans were getting territory. They were getting money. They were getting raw materials. They had a purpose. We didn't have any. – Gore Vidal On Conservatism I think of myself as a conservative. Admittedly, I can read the New York Times without moving my lips, which is a sign of communism. I have to live with that. – Gore Vidal [The Republicans] are not even a party. They're a mindset. They don't like this group and they don't like that group. And it could be sex; it could be race; it could be religion. They're just filled with dislike and discomfort. – Gore Vidal On Being Shocked What shocked me was, one by one, our Bill of Rights was taken away from us. And we all knew it. – Gore Vidal On Small Towns There are some towns where it's kind of a contest between the most churches or the most titty bars. – Bill Maher

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Aired - 27 February 2009

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Guests: Alan Cumming, actor; PJ O'Rourke, political satirist and journalist; Myr. Gavin Newsom (D-San Fran); George Stephanopoulos, political orrespondent; Robin Wright, author

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Aired - 20 February 2009

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Editor-in-Chief of TheDailyBeast.com Tina Brown, Managing Editor of the Financial Times Chrystia Freeland, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), journalist Brigitte Gabriel, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)

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Aired - 14 November 2008

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Actor Ashton Kutcher, editor Jon Meacham, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). Via satellite: Sean "Diddy" Combs and Dan Savage.

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Aired - 07 November 2008

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Real Time Guests TV host Howie Mandel, political consultant Paul Begala, Mayor Cory Booker, author Joe Queenan, and journalist Farai Chideya.

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Aired - 31 October 2008

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Singer John Legend, award-winning columnist Connie Schultz, Republican strategist Amy Holmes, prominent African American scholar Cornel West, filmmaker Michael Moore.

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Aired - 24 October 2008

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Aired - 17 October 2008

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Aired - 10 October 2008

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Aired - 03 October 2008

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This week on an all new live edition of Real Time, Bill welcomes actor Alec Baldwin, reporter Christiane Amanpour, and comedian Garry Shandling. Plus via satellite, journalist Bob Woodward.

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Aired - 26 September 2008

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Actor Tim Daly, independent candidate for president Ralph Nader, commentator Lisa Schiffren.Comedy superstar Chris Rock, reporter Ron Suskind. On McCain/Palin Suspending the debate? David Blaine said, "I thought hanging upside down was a lame stunt, but, wow!" No one was buying his excuse not to debate. But it was better than the first one he had, which was, "None of my 13 cars would start." – Bill Maher We were just talking about the "warm and fuzzy" part of the Republican Party. Well, the fuzzy part is John McCain's brain. – Tim Daly On Obama's Chances of Being Elected They'll change the whole rules of everything. You know, sometimes I think Obama actually thinks that having the most votes is going to mean something. You know, they'll change it all. They'll look him dead in the face and go, "Hey, man, you got the most votes. Too bad you lost." – Chris Rock On the Debate Bloated military budget won. Corporate crime won. Bailing out Wall Street crooks won. Peace advocates lost. Huh? Georgia and USA lost, right? So, he wants to rebuild Georgia over there. What about Georgia here? – Ralph Nader On the Financial Crisis I thought that this was grandstanding. And then it actually sank in just how serious a crisis this is. It seems to me that one of these men will be our next president, and they should want to be involved in crafting a response to this crisis, and in understanding this crisis, in a way that almost nobody in Congress or the White House or the other party or whatever party does. This is well beyond the abilities of most of our elected leaders. – Lisa Schiffren On McCain We were just talking about the "warm and fuzzy" part of the Republican Party. Well, the fuzzy part is John McCain's brain. – Tim Daly On Wall Street It was supposed to be a source of capital for factories that produce real things. Now, it's a gambling casino. And, "Socialist Superman" is swooping down on New York City from Washington, D.C., to bail out the casino capitalists on Wall Street, which is spewing forth more and more chunks of kryptonite. How much can the taxpayer take? That's why there's going to be a taxpayer revolt. Call a demonstration. There's an uproar! – Ralph Nader

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Aired - 19 September 2008

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Musician and Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am., journalist Naomi Klein, political blogger Andrew Sullivan, and economist Paul Krugman. On the Wall Street Bailout You heard what happened. The federal government - you know them- they announced the plan to spend like a trillion of taxpayer dollars to buy up bad mortgages and debt. Wall Street was surprisingly enthusiastic about the plan to save their asses with other people's money. It was either that or Sarah Palin's idea to sell it all on eBay. – Bill Maher If you had a sensible capitalist tax system which did not direct people to buy one thing rather than another and allowed the market to take place, this wouldn't have happened. I believe this is a failure of capitalism because capitalism hasn't been properly put into operation. – Andrew Sullivan On the Economic Crisis Yeah, anybody who knew what was going on would have been in a bomb shelter by now. I mean, this is - this is panicky. Look, you know, quite seriously, I was looking at the numbers, like, on Wednesday. And I said, "You know, the world is coming to an end." And apparently the people at the Treasury Department thought the same thing. So, this was - boy, this was as - as - this is the worst thing I've ever seen. I've been - I've been in this business for a couple of decades, and this was the worst thing I've ever seen. – Paul Krugman And the disaster is far from over. They've actually just relocated the disaster. The disaster was on Wall Street, and they have moved the disaster to Main Street, by accepting those debts. And, you know, you said they didn't have to bomb, but the bomb has yet to detonate. You know, the bomb is the debt that has now been transferred to the taxpayers. So, it detonates when - if - John McCain becomes president in the midst of an economic crisis, and says, "Look, we're in trouble; we've got a disaster on our hands; we have to privatize Social Security; we can't afford health care; we can't afford food stamps; we - we need more deregulation, more privatization." – Naomi Klein At this point, we have - that's the crisis. And, now, look. Wall Street is to blame for - for giving these people these loans, but no one is ever forced to take out a bad loan they cannot repay. And, to some extent, the American people are responsible for the crisis they're currently in. If you had a sensible capitalist tax system which did not direct people to buy one thing rather than another and allowed the market to take place, this wouldn't have happened. I believe this is a failure of capitalism because capitalism hasn't been properly put into operation. – Andrew Sullivan I don't want to agree with the fact that it's the American people's fault, because the American people are relying on the government to govern them. So, to say that it's the American people's fault... I'm not saying that the government should bail you out. But, the government should put regulations on banks so that the banks have rules on what kind of loans they give to the people. – will.i.am On McCain And, yet, somehow - somehow, he is the - the man of the people. And this - this guy who was brought up on food stamps and earned his own way up the system, managed to make himself president of Harvard Law Review, he's the elitist?! – Andrew Sullivan On Palin But, I mean, the thing - the thing about Palin is - is - you know, the sort of liberal talking point about McCain is it's four more years of Bush - Palin is much closer to four more years of Bush. I mean, you have all of these traits in common. Secrecy and unwillingness to cooperate with inquiries. A belief that foreign policy is dictated by God. I mean, she's basically Bush in drag. And then when add the hunting - you've got Cheney, you know. – Naomi Klein On Religious Beliefs When you have a people that's never been given equal opportunity, and they're living in New Orleans - let's use New Orleans as a real example - when Katrina comes and they're left with no help from American government, the only thing they have to rely on is the Bible and those stories, because the troops did not come to help rebuild the Fifth Ward. So, you cannot fault them for believing in God and angels and all these things, when they can't even believe in their government. – will.i.am

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Aired - 12 September 2008

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Actress Janeane Garofalo, author Salman Rushdie, journalist John Fund, comedian Roseanne Barr, and political consultant Paul Begala. On Lipstick-Gate Obama was talking about McCain's policies. He said, "You cannot put lipstick on a pig. If you do, it's still a pig." This was supposed to describe McCain's policies. McCain said he was actually talking about Sarah Palin. Which is very unfair, because pigs are smart. They don't believe in creationism. – Bill Maher I write on foreign policy. You could not have gotten me to remember exactly what the Bush Doctrine is, because there have been two or three of them. – John Fund On Palin Interview I write on foreign policy. You could not have gotten me to remember exactly what the Bush Doctrine is, because there have been two or three of them. – John Fund I'm a snob because I want to judge the intelligence level of someone who seeks the White House? That makes me a snob? This is not "American Idol"! It's not a beauty pageant, even though her answers sounded like a beauty pageant. – Bill Maher On McCain McCain is just like Bush. He goes with his gut. You know, no facts, no interviews, no background check. He goes with his gut. And that's why we're in this mess. So, if that's how much thought McCain gives to his vice president, how much thought is he going to give to which country to invade next? Will he just stay with the "i's"? Iraq, Iran...maybe Ireland, I don't know, Italy? Could be Indiana? I don't know. – Paul Begala On The Republican Party Well, I think what's extraordinary is for the Republican Party, through its candidates, to present itself as the party of opposition. You know, here's this thing that's been running the country into the ground for eight years, and they say they're the mavericks?! They're the establishment. – Salman Rushdie

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Aired - 05 September 2008

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Actress Kerry Washington, fmr. Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R-MD), Real Time correspondent Dan Savage, journalist Jeffrey Toobin, and fmr. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. On O'Reilly Obama went on the "Bill O'Reilly Show" last night. Anybody catch that? Ooh. I thought O'Reilly was tough... but fair. Cordial, but I didn't like that he was always checking to see if his wallet was still there. – Bill Maher If there was a black teenage male with a MySpace page that was any way comparable to that white kid's MySpace page... and he was Barack Obama's daughter's baby daddy, the election would be over. – Dan Savage On Palin And, how about the other woman at the convention? How about the new star of the Republican Party, Ms. Sarah Palin! Wow! The media loves her! The headlines were all, "Palin Delivered!" I said, "Another baby?!" – Bill Maher Fred Thompson said, "She's from a small town" - Sarah Palin, he was talking about - "with small town values. But, that's not good enough for the people attacking her." Well, excuse me, it's not good enough! To be from a small town with small-town values is supposed to be good enough to be in the second-most important job in the world?! Are you kidding me?! – Bill Maher And you know what else we could talk about? The fact that Sarah Palin opposes abortion, thinks it should be illegal in all cases, including rape and incest. And, yet, praised her own daughter for the decision she made to carry this baby to term. – Dan Savage On Palin's credentials The other point that they're making, which I think we really need to think about is... she has a lot of national security credentials because Alaska is so close to Russia. That's an argument that - that Laura Bush actually made, because it's just across the Bering Straits. I mean, that's the national security credential she brings. – Jeffery Toobin On McCain's RNC speech Yeah, but, at least, you know, at the Democratic Convention, you had problems put out and then you had solutions to fix them. (McCain) was talking about all the kids that he - this autistic kid he's fighting for, this person he's fighting for, that person he's fighting for - but he didn't tell me what that fight looks like. He didn't talk to me about every American having health care. He didn't talk to me about every American having access to real education. He talked about choices, as if that's the problem: people can't choose what salad they want on the menu. That's not the problem. The problem is there's no salad on the menu! – Kerry Washington On McCain's Candidacy McCain said, "I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need." Well, first of all, yes, you are. That's exactly what you think, and isn't that what a presidential candidate should think? – Bill Maher On Obama's Reaction to Palin's Qualifications What you fail to understand about small towns - small towns are where particularly women get their start in politics... A significant number of the women in this country - mayors in this country - are women. My point is, when you come out - the first statements out of your mouth on the Obama campaign is to belittle her service as a mayor of a small town of 9,000, what signal are you sending to all the women you've already ticked off by not picking Hillary and the way you treated Hillary during the campaign? – Michael Steele On the Candidates This goes back to the question that started at the beginning, is how are they going to govern once they get in there. We know how they're going to campaign, but are they going to stand up to the hard-line ideologues in their party? – Scott McClellan On Levi Johnston If there was a black teenage male with a MySpace page that was any way comparable to that white kid's MySpace page... and he was Barack Obama's daughter's baby daddy, the election would be over. – Dan Savage

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Aired - 29 August 2008

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Gov. Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA), TV host Craig Ferguson, journalist Michel Martin, Real Time Correspondent Matt Taibbi. On Obama's DNC Speech What a historic night. The first time an actual black person is leading the charge for a major - major American political party. I think that says something pretty great about America. We will accept a black man to lead us if the only other choice is a woman. – Bill Maher I've met Governor Palin just once or twice. Don't know her well. But, you know, congratulate her on getting picked. I think the choice says interesting things about Senator McCain. What I saw today was that he had only talked to her once last February in person. Called her on the cell phone during the Alaska State Fair last week and decided to offer her the job. I mean, it's only to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, so that struck me as a little impulsive. But, you know, you make a statement about yourself when you make a pick like that. – Gov. Tim Kaine So, to me, this is a very cynical pick, from the guy who says he's always thinking about "Country First," and who's 70 years old and has had cancer. I mean, let's be honest. He could croak, which would mean...that this lady who was the mayor of a town of 7,000 people a few years ago, and has a couple of years on the job as the governor of Alaska, population 600,000 - a fifth of Chicago - would be the leader of the free world? Yeah, "Country First," John. – Bill Maher On the Democrats I've always thought about the Democrats the way I think about the Dave Matthews Band. I like the Dave Matthews Band, but people who are too into the Dave Matthews Band, I'm like, "Oh, behave yourself." But, even Dave Matthews isn't into the Dave Matthews Band that much. – Craig Ferguson On Obama's DNC speech I think you're missing one big thing about that speech is, there's ways to win without fighting with people. It's not the only thing that he has to do. And one of the things I think he did very effectively was have a conversation. He had a conversation about who he is. He had a conversation not just about - to me, the pivotal line of the speech was, "This isn't about me. It's about you." – Michel Martin

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Aired - 08 February 2008

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Panel members are: *Bob Costas, NBC sportscaster and anchor for the Olympics coverage. * Jonah Goldberg, editor of "National Review Online" and author of "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning." * Matt Dowd, former Bush strategist, author of "Applebee's America." Also appearing: * Amy Holmes, political analyst for CNN, who formerly worked for Bill Frist. * P.J. O'Rourke, political satirist/writer, author of "On The Wealth of Nations."

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Aired - 01 February 2008

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Panel members are: * Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist from the Chicago Tribune. * Kim Gandy, President of N.O.W. and a supporter Hillary Clinton. * Rep.Darrell Issa (R-CA), known for his support of anti-marijuana laws and the Patriot Act. Also appearing: * Frank Luntz, pollster and author of "Words that Work." * Matt Taibbi, journalist for Rollingstone and author of "Smells Like Dead Elephants."

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Aired - 25 January 2008

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Panel members are: * Herbie Hancock, Grammy-winning musician. * Richard Belzer, comedian/actor, famous for his role on "Law & Order: SVU." * Martha Raddatz, senior White House correspondent for ABC news, just back from a trip to Afghanistan. Guest by satellite: * Merle Haggard, Country music legend. Also appearing: * Amy Holmes, election correspondent and former employee of Bill Frist.

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Aired - 18 January 2008

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Panel members are: * D.L. Hughley, actor/comedian, host of HBO's "Def Comedy Jam." * John Fund, columnist from the Wall Street Journal and author of "Stealing Elections." * Trace Adkins, musician/author, recently seen on Celebrity Apprentice. Guest by satellite: * Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, who has just returned from a trip to Pakistan. Also appearing: * Dan Savage, columnist and gay rights activist. Dan interviews voters in South Carolina.

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Aired - Air date unknown.

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Aired - 02 November 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Martin Short, comedian/actor. * Alison Stewart, NBC/NPR journalist. * Bill's guest via Satellite: * Valerie Plame, outed spy, and Joseph Wilson, ex-Ambassador. * Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, founder of blog site "Daily Kos."

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Aired - 26 October 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Martina Navratilova, openly gay Tennis legend. * Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark, affiliated with the Democrats. * Andrew Sullivan, openly gay Libertarian conservative. Bill's guest via Satellite: * David Frost, contributor to Al Jazeera English. * Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the senior-most Republican woman in the Senate.

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Aired - 19 October 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Chris Matthews, host of "Hardball" on MSNBC. * Joel Stein, journalist from the LA Times and Time magazine. * Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) Bill's guest via Satellite: * John Edwards, Democratic Presidential candidate. * Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion.

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Aired - 12 October 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Joy Behar, co-host of "The View." * Tucker Carlson, host of MSNBC's "Tucker." * Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist. Bill's guests via satellite: * Vincente Fox, ex-President of Mexico. * Naomi Klein, author of the book "The Shock Doctrine."

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Aired - 28 September 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Michael Eric Dyson, scholar. * Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), one of the engineers of the Democratic victory in the 2006 elections. * Pete Hamill, author/journalist from "The New Yorker." Bill's guest via Satellite: * Ken Burns, PBS documentarian, whose current show is "The War." * Maria Bartiromo, CNBC hostess of "Closing Bell"

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Aired - 21 September 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Rob Thomas, musician, lead-singer of Matchbox Twenty. * Sir Salman Rushdie, controversial author, and newest target of Al Qaeda. * Janeane Garofalo, actress/comedian/activist. Bill's guest via satellite: * Michael Scheuer, author and former CIA agent, who was referenced in the recent Bin Laden video. * Bjorn Lomborg, environmentalist/author, whose famous book is "The Skeptical Environmentalist."

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Aired - 14 September 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Drew Carey, comic/actor, new host of "The Price is Right." * Carl Bernstein, writer/journalist, who famously broke the Watergate scandal. * Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), who serves on the Energy and Commerce committee. And Bill's guests via satellite: * Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), who recently announced his retirement. * Robert Draper, author of the Bush bio "Dead Certain."

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Aired - 07 September 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Cornel West, Professor of Religion at Princeton * Mos Def, rapper/actor, critic of the Katrina relief effort And Bill's guests via satellite: * Col. Larry Wilkerson (ret.), former Chief-of-Staff of Colin Powell. * Ralph Nader, consumer activist and some-time third-party candidate for President.

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Aired - 31 August 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * John Mellencamp, Rock-star and co-founder of Farm-Aid. * fmr. Sen. Mike Gravel (D-AK), Democratic Presidential candidate. * fmr. U.S. Ambassador Barbara Bodine, writer. Plus via satellite, actor/blogger Harry Shearer and animal activist Ingrid Newkirk.

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Aired - 24 August 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This Friday, Bill welcomes: * Tim Robbins, actor/director, outspoken for his liberal views. * Stephen F. Hayes, columnist for the neo-con magazine The Weekly Standard, who famously postulated a pre-war link between Al Qaeda and Iraq. * Michel Martin, Emmy-winning journalist for ABC/NPR. Bill's guests via satellite: * Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR), Presidential candidate. * Damien Cave, reporter for the NY Times.

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Aired - Air date unknown.

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Aired - 30 March 2007

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Funding of Iraq War, Clinton vs. Obama, privatization of government, still more on U.S. attorney firings, death of Pat Tillman

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Aired - 28 March 2007

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Iraq War anniversary, more on U.S. attorney firings, energy independence, campaign finance, "purity balls"

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Aired - 16 March 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL)Tonight's episode is Live from L.A.Tonight, Bill welcomes:* Jason Alexander, actor on TV's "Seinfeld" and regular guest on Real Time. * Dan Rather, former CBS news anchor and respected journalist. * Martha Raddatz, chief White House correspondent for ABC and formerly of NPR.Bills guests via satellite:* Chris Rock, actor, formerly of SNL, known for his outspoken comedic routines. * Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), possible 2008 presidential candidate who is known to espouse personal fitness and creationism.

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Aired - 09 March 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL)Tonight's episode is Live from L.A.Bill's panel members are:* Roseanne Barr, Comedienne/Actress most famous for ABC's Roseanne is an outspoken critic of the current administration.* Dana Milbank, political reporter for the Washington Post and analyst on MSNBC. He has covered the last two presidential elections extensively.* David Kuo, former Special Assistant to George W. Bush, whose book "Tempting Faith" asserts that Bush used the religious right for political purposes.Also appearing:* Deepak Chopra, author of more than 40 books on spirituality and health. His new book is entitled "Life After Death."Bill's guest by satellite:* Paul Eaton, a retired Army Major General, who was in charge of training the Iraqi military circa 2003-2004. He has since been highly critical of the handling of the war, with a pointed finger at Donald Rumsfeld.

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Aired - 02 March 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL)Tonight's episode is Live from L.A.Bill's panel members are:* John Ridley, writer/creator of Undercover Brother and stories that formed the basis of U-Turn and 3 Kings. He is also a film director and a regular contributor to public radio.* Rep Barney Frank (D-MA), Congressman since 1981 and is an openly gay liberal. He is currently the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.* Joe Scarborough, host of Scarborough Country on MSNBC and former Rep R-FL. A conservative who has been critical of the current leadership.Bill's guests by satellite are:* Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative reporter currently writing for The New Yorker. He recently wrote that the US was developing plans to bomb Iran.* Mia Farrow, Actress in such films as Rosemary's Baby and Hannah and her Sisters. She is a UNICEF ambassador who is currently drawing attention to the Darfur crisis.

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Aired - 23 February 2007

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In this Episode, Bill welcomes David Mamet, Steven Weber, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and via satellite Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE). Tune-in Friday night at 11pm ET/PT and stay around after the show for Overtime our exclusive live web program.

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Aired - 16 February 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL)Tonight's episode is Live from L.A.Bill's panel members are:* Carly Fiorina is former CEO (1999–2005) and Chairman of the Board (2000–2005) of Hewlett-Packard (HP).*Craig Ferguson is the host of the CBS 'The Late Late Show.' He is from Scotland and is an Emmy-nominated actor, film director, screenwriter, comedian, composer, and novelist.*Michael Steele is a former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland (Republican). Presently, he is a political pundit on the CNN series 'The Situation Room.'Bill's guests by satellite are:*John Edwards is a one term former U.S. Senator for N.C. He was the 2004 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee and is presently running for the Democratic 2008 Presidential nomination.*John Amaechi is a former NBA basketball player. He is working a broadcaster in the United Kingdom. In February 2007, Amaechi publicly announced that he is gay and became the first player associated with the NBA to come out.This is the first episode of season nine.

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Aired - 11 June 2010

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Queen Noor of Jordan (Chair of The King Hussein Foundation) Rachel Maddow (MSNBC show host) Jon Meacham (Newsweek columnist) Bill Frist (Former Senate Majority Leader and author of 'A Heart to Serve') Oliver Stone (Film director whose latest project is the documentary 'South of the Border')

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Aired - 04 June 2010

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Paul Begala (Democratic political strategist) Van Jones (Author of 'The Green Collar Economy' and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress) Katrina vanden Heuvel (editor and publisher of 'The Nation') Andrew Siullivan (Snr editor of 'The Atlantic' and founding editor of the blog 'The Daily Dish') Judd Apatow (Writer, director, producer)

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Aired - 28 May 2010

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Philippe Cousteau Jr (Conservationist and grandson of Jacques-Yves Costeau) Jonathan Alter (Author of 'The Promise: President Obama, Year One', senior editor of 'Newsweek' and contributer to NBC and MSNBC Patrick Ruffini (Republican political strategist) Dr Cornel West (Professor at Princeton University) Scott Turow (Author of 'Innocent')

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Aired - 21 May 2010

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Nouriel Roubini (Professor at NYU and author of 'Crisis economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance') Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Author of 'Nomad: From Islam to America, A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations') Michael Eric Dyson (Author of 'Born to Use Mics' and 'Can You Hear Me Now', public radio host, professor at Georgetown University) John Fund (Columnist at 'The American Spectator' and author of 'Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy') Patton Oswalt (Actor and Comedian)

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Aired - 14 May 2010

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Sebastian Junger (Contributing Editor for 'Vanity Fair' and author of 'War') Cory Booker (Dem. Mayor of Newark, NJ) John Avlon (Author of 'Wingnuts') S.E. Cupp (Author of 'Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media's Attack on Christianity') Rep Darrell Issa (Rep Congressman from California)

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Aired - 07 May 2010

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Guests: Sarah Silverman (Comedian and author of 'The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee') Salman Rushdie (Author of 'The Enchantress of Florence') Alexis Glick (Former wall Street executive and former Fox News VP) David Frum (Founder of Frumforum.com)

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Aired - 30 April 2010

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John Bolton (Former Ambassador to the United Nations and author of 'Surrender Is Not An Option'), Chris Matthews (Host of MSNBC's Hardball), Laura Tyson (Economist and University of California, Berkeley Professor, Ross Douthat (NY Times Columnist and co-author of 'Grand New Party'), Rep. Anthony Weiner (Democratic congressman from New York)

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Aired - 23 April 2010

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Guest: Dr Jack Kevorkian. (Right-to-die activist and subject of the new HBO movie 'You Don't Know Jack') Panellists: Rep Alan Grayson (Democratic congressman from Florida), Susan Eisenhower (Consultant and expert on International Security and US-Russia Relations; President of the Eisenhower Group, Matthew Continetti (Author of 'The Persecution of Sarah Pailin' and Associate Editor of 'The Weekly Standard'.

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Aired - 16 April 2010

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Jesse Ventura, former governor of Minnesota, comes on to promote his new book "American Conspiracies" and discuss a variety of topics. Panel: Simon Johnson MIT economist and co-author of "13 Bankers" Laura Flanders author of Blue Grit and host of GriTtv David Remnick editor of the New Yorker and author of "The Bridge"

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Aired - 09 April 2010

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Billie Joe Armstrong, Alice Waters and Chris Rock.

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Aired - 26 March 2010

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Guests: Jeff Garlin, Christopher Hitchens Panelists: Jonathan Capehart, Rob Thomas, Randi Weingarten

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Aired - 19 March 2010

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Guests Include: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Economist Steve Moore

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Aired - 12 March 2010

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Guest Interview: Sen Michael Bennet (D-CO) Panel: * "CSI" Actor and Author Hill Harper * Ex-Gov Gary Johnson (R-NM) * Syndicated Talk Show Host Amy Holmes Additional Guest: "Game Change" Co-Author John Heilemann

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Aired - 05 March 2010

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Bill's panel members are: * Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post co-founder. * Andrew Ross Sorkin, reporter. Bill's other guests are: * Michael Moore, documentary filmmaker. * Sean Penn, actor.

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Aired - 26 February 2010

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Panelists: * Chrystina Freeland, managing editor of Financial Times. * Reihan Salam, political journalist. * Olivia Wilde, star of House. Guests: * Chris Rock, comedian. * Adam Corolla, comedian.

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Aired - 19 February 2010

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Wanda Sykes, Elizabeth Warren, Seth MacFarlane, Norah O'Donnell, Eliot Spitzer (TVMA) (AC,AL)

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Aired - 16 October 2009

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Actor Alec Baldwin, comedian and actor Garry Shandling, Hardball host Chris Matthews, Maryland governor Martin O'Malley & Alan Grayson

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Aired - 09 October 2009

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Fmr. senator Bill Frist, actor Richard Belzer, professor Cornel West, fmr. senator Lincoln Chafee, comedian Sarah Silverman...Topics Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Iran, peace, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, the economy and the job market, income inequality.

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Aired - 02 October 2009

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Tonight's Guests Thomas Friedman, author Janeane Garofalo, actor/comedian Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) Richard Dawkins, author/biologist Admin. Lisa Jackson, Environmental Protection Agency

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Aired - 25 September 2009

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Tonight's guests are Paul Krugman, Michael Moore, John Waters, Eliot Spitzer

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Aired - 18 September 2009

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Bill interviews actress Drew Barrymore and comic/actor David Cross. Panelists include journalist Mathew Continetti, law professor Annette Gordon-Reed, and legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

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Aired - 11 September 2009

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Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) Kathy Griffin, comedian Paul Rieckhoff, author and veterans advocate Rajiv Chandrasekaran, journalist Richard Clarke, fmr. counter-terrorism czar

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Aired - 28 August 2009

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Jay-Z and Bill Moyer are guests

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Aired - 21 August 2009

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Aired - 14 August 2009

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Ashton Kutcher, actor Gen. Anthony Zinni (ret.), fmr. Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command Ross Douthat, journalist and blogger Dana Gould, comedian Brad Pitt, actor

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Aired - 07 August 2009

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Arianna Huffington, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Dr. David Scheiner

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Aired - 31 July 2009

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Joe Queenan, author Rachel Maddow, news anchor and political commentator Niall Ferguson, professor and historian Michael Ware, journalist Jeff Sharlet, journalist

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Aired - 24 July 2009

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Guests: Rob Thomas, recording artist Susan Eisenhower, international security and relations consultant John Heilemann, writer Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Matt Taibbi, writer

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Aired - 17 July 2009

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Guests: Joe Scarborough, actor Jason Alexander, actress/playwright Anna Deavere Smith, Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT), Markos Moulitsas.

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Aired - 26 June 2009

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Bill Maher hosts Billy Bob Thornton, Oliver Stone and Cameron Diaz.

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Aired - 19 June 2009

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Meghan McCain; Hooman Majd, writer; Katty Kay, journalist; Paul Begala, political strategist; Joel Stein, writer Iran is a government propped up by oil money that's led by a religious wacko. Kind of like Alaska. – Bill Maher

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Aired - 12 June 2009

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CNN Icon Larry King From "Hardball": Chris Matthews Humorist P.J. O'Rourke NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous Bush Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend

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Aired - 05 June 2009

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Actor and comedian D. L. Hughley, Council of Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, novelist Paula Froelich, journalist Jeremy Scahill, Fortune editor Matt Miller Obama's visit to the Middle East, terrorism, abortion debate and the murder of Dr. George Tiller, gay marriage, health care reform in the United States

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Aired - 29 May 2009

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Guests: Fmr. Ambassador John Bolton; Fmr. Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM); Hill Harper, actor; Michael Pollan, author and professor Maherisms That's how you know America is a great country -- when your Supreme Court justice has the same backstory as your lap dancers. – Bill Maher The last time Rush Limbaugh talked to a Hispanic woman, it was his maid getting him his drugs. – Bill Maher If I wanted to start my day depressed, I'd watch 'Fox and Friends.' – Bill Maher Americans will do anything to each other for money. – Bill Maher They say, 'If only we had a government as good as the people.' Unfortunately, we do. – Bill Maher Don't say we're all a faithful people…I'm a logical people. – Bill Maher On Food What happens on your plate represents your most important engagement with the natural world, and the biggest impact you have on climate change. – Michael Pollan We learn how to make food that never dies. – Michael Pollan If you had six months to live, you'd eat a Twinkie...and, of course, if you ate Twinkies, you'd have six months to live. – Bill Maher [to Michael Pollan] By and large, we're eating sick animals... If the whole world ate as much meat as we do…we will need 2.3 more worlds to feed everybody this way. – Michael Pollan On Republicans Bush used the word 'evil' to describe anything he didn't like. – Michael Pollan I think the way for the Republican Party to regain power, which I think will come soon, is to be the party of ideas again. – Fmr. Ambassador John Bolton I think if [Reagan] was alive today, Rush Limbaugh would be trying to push him out of the Republican Party. – Bill Maher On North Korea I have faith in the North Koreans. I know that if you just give them enough time, they'll act like themselves. – Fmr. Ambassador John Bolton One of the risks of the North Koreans having nuclear capability is that, you know, Kim Jong Il will sell his mother for hard currency. – Fmr. Rep. Heather Wilson I think that the risk of proliferation of nuclear weapons is, in fact, the gravest threat that the United States and its friends and allies face in the world today. – Fmr. Ambassador John Bolton On Role Models I was fortunate enough to go to Brown and then on to Harvard Law School, because I had mentors in my life. – Hill Harper “I would suggest that all of us take pride in the fact that we have the Obamas in the White House. It's not just about black people/white people. – Hill Harper On The Supreme Court I hope that we have experienced, thoughtful people on the Supreme Court, irrespective of their race. – Fmr. Rep. Heather Wilson I think the problem with Judge Sotomayor's quotation about the Latina and the white male shows that she doesn't fully understand her judicial oath of office. – Fmr. Ambassador John Bolton The [California] Supreme Court here disappointed gay people, I think, who want to get married -- although I don't know why that's a disappointment. – Bill Maher

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Aired - 22 May 2009

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Guests:Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank; Simon Johnson, economist; Jon Meacham, author; M.I.A, recording artist Maherisms We've got to worship principles, not people. – Bill Maher In state parks, you can now carry a gun. So, when you're buried under a mountain of debt, now at least you have a scenic place to go kill yourself. – Bill Maher We're $26 billion in the hole. I don't want to say it's bad, but today Mexico announced they're building a border fence. – Bill Maher On the Financial Crises I don't know if we're ever going to move our country to a place where we're going to have a sound financial footing as long as people think happiness springs only and eternally from money. – Bill Maher We also should be looking at [the global financial crisis] as the greatest of opportunities. Crisis brings the opportunities to change. – Muhammad Yunus We need micro-finance now in America. – Jon Meacham I'm not against profit; this is good. But, at the same time, there should be a business on the basis of the selflessness, so that I do business to make the world change, to impact on people's lives. – Muhammad Yunus On Dick Cheney I think it's a bad thing that the media doesn't have a bullshit meter. – Bill Maher. Bobby Jindal has a not-enough-oxygen-to-the-brain problem already. – Dan Savage Cheney is fighting, in a way, not with Obama, but with his former president, because a lot of the issues that he's arguing about are, in fact, second-term Bush initiatives. – Jon Meacham Eight years of Bush Administration was enough for the whole world. – Muhammad Yunus On Gitmo Wartime presidents commit great sins, and I think [Obama] is willing to do that. – Jon Meacham On Obama You do not get to be President of the United States when you're 46 years old and you're a black guy, without being a very hardball, hardcore, practical politician. – Jon Meacham When Spider-Man catches someone robbing a bank, he punches their nuts through an armored car. Whereas, Obama writes them a check. – Bill Maher On Religion American presidents didn't used to be so openly religious and so politically religious. – Simon Johnson I think [Obama's] sense is that the American religious tradition includes religious freedom. And a key element of religious freedom is the ability to be unreligious and non-religious. – Jon Meacham I can't think of a character who is less reliable as a role model than the God of the Old Testament. – Bill Maher I think that Obama...has, in fact, helped us move beyond a kind of public piety. – Jon Meacham

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Aired - 15 May 2009

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Guests:Elizabeth Warren, TARP Overseer; David Simon, creator of HBO's The Wire; Amy Holmes, political commentator; Richard Brookhiser, journalist and historian; Dan Savage, columnist Maherisms I'm speechless. Which is more than I can say for Dick Cheney. – Bill Maher Republicans keep changing their story on torture. First, it was, 'We didn't torture.' Then it was, 'Okay, we tortured, but it worked.' And now it's, 'Nancy Pelosi said we could. – Bill Maher Newt Gingrich...called Nancy Pelosi a "trivial" politician. Pretty strong words from a guy who goes on CNN just to swipe food from the Green Room. – Bill Maher On the Bank Bailout If you don't ask the banks what they're going to do with the money, then it's not possible to track whether they do it or not. – Elizabeth Warren On Republicans [Dick Cheney] steals the oxygen from rising stars in the Republican Party. – Amy Holmes Bobby Jindal has a not-enough-oxygen-to-the-brain problem already. – Dan Savage We're in a bad situation now; maybe the answer isn't to throw teabags at the guy who is trying to get you a job. – Bill Maher Trillion is the new billion. – Richard Brookhiser I think some people feel that the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans now is not ideological so much as intellectual. – Bill Maher On Global Warming and the Environment The only thing that didn't happen [during Bush's presidency] was plagues of locusts. – Richard Brookhiser When one party has no position, then it's like, 'excuse me, you go watch Glenn Beck; let the adults work this out. – Bill Maher If you're going to solve problems, people are going to have to sacrifice. Presidents are not magicians. Not even 'chocolate Jesus. – Bill Maher On Gay Rights The Democratic position on gay marriage is becoming antiquated and untenable. – Bill Maher On Drugs The drug war has morphed into a war on the underclass. – David Simon I am for jury nullification on non-violent drug offense...if there's not an act of violence in it, I am not sending another person to prison. – David Simon Not all drug use is abuse. – Dan Savage On the Decline of Newspapers It was at that critical moment before the Internet arrived that all [newspapers] did was take profits. – David Simon

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Aired - 08 May 2009

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Guests: Reza Aslan, writer; James Carville, political consultant; Naomi Klein, author; Seth MacFarlane, animator; Matt Taibbi, writer On the Public Having a public that actually knows something is our best defense against ever again electing a president who knows nothing. – Bill Maher Last week the Swine Flu was a pandemic that was going to wipe out the human race; this week; a great way to lose a little weight for bikini season. – Bill Maher On Republicans I think that Republicanism is revealing itself as a personality disorder, not so much an ideology. – Naomi Klein Republicans don't understand comedy... if they did, they wouldn't put Dick Cheney out all the time. – James Carville Comedians...they need punch lines and [George W.] Bush was a kind of a walking punch line. – James Carville On Taxes Corporate tax cheats are like steroid users. They're always one step ahead of the testers. – Matt Taibbi I want to control the major Democratic Party. If people think we're too liberal, let them start the second party. – Rep. Barney Frank One minute, [the Democrats] are going after trillionaires in the Bahamas; the next minute they're going to come into your trailer and take your gun. – Bill Maher On Diplomacy When we send aid instead of bombs, people like us better. – Bill Maher On Gay Rights Anyone who tries to fight the advancement of any particular minority group, you're going to lose. Whether it's now or whether it's twenty years from now, they are wasting their time. – Seth MacFarlane Religion doesn't make you a bigot. You're just a f*ckin' bigot. – Reza Aslan On Physical (and Fiscal) Responsibility I think if there were more women who were politicians, there would be more humiliated men on book tours. – Naomi Klein Anybody who spends $80,000 on prostitutes in two years shouldn't be running a multi-billion-dollar state budget. – Matt Taibbi

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Aired - 01 May 2009

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Guests: Fareed Zakaria, journalist; Richard Engel, news correspondent; Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA); David Kessler, former FDA chief On The Supreme Court We will die, many of us, being haunted by Antonin Scalia's bigotry being practiced on the U.S. Supreme Court. – Rep. Barney Frank The Supreme Court is right now very substantially to the right of the country because of 30 years of essentially Republican domination of the executive branch. – Fareed Zakaria Generally, what the courts can do is to stop you from doing bad things. They can't make you do good things. – Rep. Barney Frank On Lawyers I'm not a lawyer, but I know this much: the law is what they make up as they go along. – Bill Maher On Political Parties Arlen Specter switching sides was like Dylan going electric. – Bill Maher I want to control the major Democratic Party. If people think we're too liberal, let them start the second party. – Rep. Barney Frank The 'Party of Lincoln' is becoming the 'Party of Shrinkin' at this point. – Bill Maher We do need two parties. I think five or ten would be better, but we need at least two. – Bill Maher On the Middle East One of the things America could learn from Israel is how not to totally panic in the face of what you think is a threat. – Rep. Barney Frank If there are members of the Taliban that want to negotiate and don't want to fight anymore, that should be absolutely encouraged. – Dr. Howard Dean [Teddy] Roosevelt also showed that you could be pro-nature and still kill a lot of animals. – Randy Cohen How come we can't be friends with Cuba, but we're friends with a country [Saudi Arabia] that marries an eight-year-old girl? – Bill Maher As a gay Jew, going to Afghanistan under the Taliban would be very low on my list. – Rep. Barney Frank A lot of people in the Middle East actually do think that the president is Muslim. – Richard Engel The Muslims and Arabs who live [in the U.S.] are assimilated; they're pro-American. That is the strength that has kept us safe. – Fareed Zakaria

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Aired - 24 April 2009

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Guests: Randy Cohen, The New York Times Magazine; Bethany McLean, Vanity Fair; Howard Dean, Former DNC Chairman; Dana Gould, Comedian; Robert Baer, Former CIA agent On Torture I've spent the last 30 years inside prisons watching torture, watching that it doesn't work. It never works. – Bob Baer I don't understand why a country that faced down King George III, Jefferson Davis, the Kaiser, Hitler and Stalin, without resorting to torture, needs to do it now. – Bill Maher There are arguments that [torture] makes us a safer country. There are no arguments that say it makes us a better country. – Dana Gould I'm obviously not an expert on torture, except when I was practicing medicine. – Dr. Howard Dean If you're going to be a nation of laws, you have to enforce the law, even when it's inconvenient. – Randy Cohen On the Economy If this crisis really results in some long-term changes, that will be terrific. Because, that, I think, is the only way capitalism survives. – Dr. Howard Dean If the economy doesn't get better, I think it's going to make all of the rest of Obama's plans very, very difficult for the next bunch of years. – Bethany McLean On Gun Control The Democrats have a lot to answer for. There's been a spate of shootings, for example, in this country in the last month. And yet, where is this party on gun control? Nowhere. – Bill Maher Most members of the NRA that I know don't think you need an assault rifle to kill a deer. – Dr. Howard Dean The real NRA nut says, 'If the government can take our guns, then after that, they can come and take our freedoms.' But, what happened with the Patriot Act is the government said, 'No, no, no, keep the guns, just give us the freedoms.' – Dana Gould On the Environment How do we solve this [global warming] problem when the response of one-half of the people who should be helping is, 'I like turtles'? – Bill Maher Unlike the financial crisis, we can't avert this [environmental] crisis...all we can do now is ameliorate how bad it gets. – Dr. Howard Dean [Teddy] Roosevelt also showed that you could be pro-nature and still kill a lot of animals. – Randy Cohen Everything has to be presented as "fair and balanced," when really it's sane and insane. – Bill Maher On Health Care We have to have a wellness society instead of an illness model for health. – Dr. Howard Dean People tend to behave pretty much like their neighbors. So, this doesn't eliminate our responsibility. It means we have a responsibility to create good neighborhoods. – Randy Cohen We got our kids smoking, and they just tend not to want to eat as much. They're my 'Merit girls.' – Dana Gould

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Aired - 10 April 2009

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Guests: Filmmaker Ron Howard and novelist Gore Vidal. On Directing I've always tried to find subjects that, thematically, meant something to me, that I thought could also then mean something to an audience. – Ron Howard I was determined to prove to myself and to everybody else that I could work in a lot of different styles and genres and tell all kinds of stories, because I love all kinds of movies. – Ron Howard On Jumping the Shark Even that episode [of Happy Days], as we were doing it, we were kind of going around and going, 'He's jumping the shark?' – Ron Howard Some people would say this country has 'jumped the shark.' – Bill Maher At a certain point, I don't think we will be so consumed with being the preeminent superpower. – Ron Howard I have thought for some time that we were going to find our natural place. Between Argentina and Brazil...but we'd end up with a great soccer team. – Gore Vidal On The Andy Griffith Show Why is it that every man in Mayberry was single? – Bill Maher On Rance Howard [My father] wrote for 'The Flintstones.' I was incredibly proud of that. – Ron Howard On the American Empire The Romans were getting territory. They were getting money. They were getting raw materials. They had a purpose. We didn't have any. – Gore Vidal On Conservatism I think of myself as a conservative. Admittedly, I can read the New York Times without moving my lips, which is a sign of communism. I have to live with that. – Gore Vidal [The Republicans] are not even a party. They're a mindset. They don't like this group and they don't like that group. And it could be sex; it could be race; it could be religion. They're just filled with dislike and discomfort. – Gore Vidal On Being Shocked What shocked me was, one by one, our Bill of Rights was taken away from us. And we all knew it. – Gore Vidal On Small Towns There are some towns where it's kind of a contest between the most churches or the most titty bars. – Bill Maher

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Aired - 03 April 2009

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Guests: Sam Donaldson, journalist and news anchor; David Frum, author; Reihan Salam, journalist; Carol Leifer, writer and comedian; Joe Wurzelbacher (aka Joe The Plumber) On Fame Being famous, it's not all it's cracked up to be. – Joe the Plumber On the President's Trip To Europe This president has changed the tone. Just changing the tone is a great plus for the United States. – Sam Donaldson At the end of the day, it always comes down to a few guys in a room. And if they like you and think you're smart, a lot of things could get done. – Bill Maher The irony is that the President went over there to set the reset button...and he went over there to set the reset button by totally ignoring the needs and situations of our European allies. – David Frum I think that you need to calibrate your language when you're dealing with your enemies. But, when you're dealing with friends, everyone knows we're not going to invade France tomorrow, even if we are consumed with a love of cheese. – David Frum On Republicans [Republicans] have to give up these wedge issues. People don't care as much about homosexuality as about control of the health care system. – Sam Donaldson The problem in the Republican Party is not the conservatives or not conservative; it's just rapidly becoming the party of the white, Southern evangelicals. And that party can't win elections. – Sam Donaldson I don't hear a great clamor in this country to go back to the days when the federal government regulated every railway car, every truck, every airfare. – David Frum The reason why the solutions the Democrats present are warmed over; they'd like a better solution, but they can't get it through because of the Republicans. – Bill Maher I think that President Bush made a lot of miscalculations, and I think that conservatism needs to move beyond President Bush. – Reihan Salam On Staying Young Do you know how I stay feeling young? Bill, I'll share my secret with you. I live in a senior citizen retirement community. – Carol Leifer On Lesbianism Well, I was 40. I was childless. I was single, divorced. And I figured there's got to be one other way to really piss off my mother. – Carol Leifer On Alternative Energy There's one question that is the test of seriousness on this [alternative energy] issue, and that is nuclear power, yes or no. – David Frum We had three big problems with nuclear: Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Jane Fonda, with that movie. – Sam Donaldson Isn't the environmental problem we have now the equivalent of World War II? Isn't that the World War II that's going to pull us out of our current depression? – Bill Maher You have to have an open, rational argument about [the environment]. And you can't talk about panic and alarmism -- that's going to prevent us from thinking. – Reihan Salam This environmental issue is an issue of accounting. The numbers matter. – David Frum

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Aired - 27 March 2009

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Guests: Bill Bradley, former US Senator; Christopher Hitchens, author; Mos Def, actor/artist; Salman Rushdie, novelist On the Economy I think [President Obama] should tell everyone what is their responsibility to get out of this fix. And we all have some responsibilities individually. – Sen. Bill Bradley One of the things that could come out of this is the destruction of the vulgarity, the degraded vulgarity with which bankers have behaved. – Salman Rushdie Already, the world is improved, because investment bankers can't get dates. – Salman Rushdie In this country, poor people never blame rich people. They want to BE rich people. – Bill Maher If something good comes out of this, it might be that we return to a world in which you don't spend more than you have. – Salman Rushdie On an International Currency When a good idea comes from Kazakhstan, you know how deep the problem is. – Salman Rushdie On Finding Osama [Osama bin Laden] is a mythical character at this point. He's like Rasputin or some shit. – Mos Def Could we get New Orleans fixed? I'm sick of Bin Laden. – Mos Def On Education Sometimes the way to fix the educational system is to fire bad teachers and not to keep them. – Bill Maher On Legalizing Drugs One word: prohibition. Remember how brilliantly that worked? – Christopher Hitchens Would anyone here do heroin tomorrow because it was easy to get? I wouldn't. – Bill Maher If you've got a precedent where people smoke cigarettes everyday; they can drink beer at eight o'clock in the morning; they can watch every stripe of pornography known to man, then why not legalize some drug or weed and make some money? – Mos Def You know, in general, I would like [President Obama] to just stop with the bipartisan stuff. – Salman Rushdie On Nukes Oppenheimer was right. We should have never built this shit to begin with. – Mos Def Theocracy plus nuclear weaponry is a terrifying threat. – Christopher Hitchens You can't get on Iran's back and say, 'You can't have nuclear arms, but we can.' – Mos Def War is an environmental issue. Digging uranium and steel out of the ground to create bombs and guns to kill other people is a negative environmental issue. – Mos Def The nuclear club should be disbanded because America has proven that there's no country who is going to really be responsible with this shit. – Mos Def

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Aired - 20 March 2009

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Guests: Madeleine Albright, fmr. US Secretary of State; Keith Olbermann, political commentator; Kerry Washington, actor; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times On the Bailout Bonuses I love what Nancy Pelosi did with this week with the bonuses, because she basically got a bunch of Republicans to vote for a 90% tax. – Kerry Washington This is exactly the kind of punitive taxation that's going to drive good people out of the fraud business. – Bill Maher I can't believe that we, as a country, are going to start abdicating - unilaterally ripping up contracts, effectively. – Andrew Ross Sorkin I worry that maybe now we're too emotional to focus on what the real issues are. – Bill Maher On International Affairs For me, Pakistan has everything that gives you an international migraine. It has nuclear weapons, corruption, poverty, extremism. – Fmr. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright The question now is whether a man can ever be Secretary of State. – Fmr. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright On Fixing the Economy The splurge is working! – Bill Maher Our goal is to rebuild a Wall Street which is not based on greed, irresponsibility and illegal behavior. – Sen. Bernie Sanders You know, when they say "break glass in case of emergency"? We broke the glass. – Bill Maher What I'm worried about is ten years from now after we've spent all this money, we're going to look back and we're not going to know where half of it went. – Andrew Ross Sorkin Maybe I misunderstand what Obama is trying to do, but I think what he's trying to do is make a crisis into an opportunity. – Bill Maher On Filibusters If the Republicans want to filibuster on health care, if they want to give tax breaks to billionaires, let them go before the American people 24 hours a day and explain why they want to do that. – Sen. Bernie Sanders On Gauging Success If we use the Bush barometer on how Barack Obama is doing, the answer is, well, he's doing perfectly. He's kept us safe for 60 days. – Keith Olbermann

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Aired - 13 March 2009

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Guests: comedian Sarah Silverman; professor and author Michael Eric Dyson; Andrew Breitbart, founder of Breitbart.com; Steven Pearlstein, The Washington Post On Politics Barack Obama is providing us a great opportunity to restructure the [Republican] party and figure out what we stand for, unified against big government and all the traditional things that conservatives stand for. – Andrew Breitbart Oklahoma is out of ammo because they're afraid that Obama and his Negro army are going to come and get you. – Bill Maher On Race Issues One black man in public housing in D.C. does not solve the problems of African American culture across the board. – Michael Eric Dyson Calling a person a racist is the worst thing you can call a person in this country. – Andrew Breitbart On Education [In Newark], one out of 3,000 tenured teachers were fired last year. One out of 3,000. I fire one out of six writers every year. – Bill Maher We have a kind of urban terror going on in relationship to our educational system. – Michael Eric Dyson They shuffle teachers around, like the priests do, from parish to parish. If you have a bad teacher, they don't get fired, they go to a different parish - I mean, school. – Bill Maher On Socialism In the last eight years what we have seen has been capitalism run amok … maybe we need some socialism. – Michael Eric Dyson On Stem Cells Life begins when a Baptist you've never met imagines it begins. – Bill Maher Unregulated science is just as bad as unregulated religion. – Michael Eric Dyson On Being Loved by the Jews I could deny the existence of the Holocaust. I could accept Jesus as my savior, and they would still be, like, "You know that Jew for Jesus who says the Holocaust didn't happen? Jewish. – Sarah Silverman On Divas You can't be rude and thoughtless and selfish and - and just label yourself "diva" and that makes that okay. No, you're a c#nt. – Sarah Silverman

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Aired - 06 March 2009

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Guests: financier T. Boone Pickens; professor and author Peter Singer; Myr. Cory Booker (D-Newark); business news anchor Erin Burnett On Green Initiatives Because the only way we're going to have an energy plan in America, it's got to come from us. I'm talking about the grass roots. – T. Boone Pickens There's an urban farming movement going on in America, because a lot of folks don't have access to Whole Foods - or "Whole Paycheck" as some people call it. – Myr. Cory Booker n the Economy I've heard people say, 'You know what? The rich are feeling it, too.' No, their statements are feeling it, too. 'Feeling it,' is when you used to eat three meals a day and now you have two. – Bill Maher The largest number of people who are really struggling to meet their basic physical needs are not in this country, and we are not really doing very much to help them. – Peter Singer If you're looking to TV commentators of any sort to predict or solve our problems, you're looking in the wrong place. – Erin Burnett Is there something wrong with the American psyche that we always feel like it has to be bigger and more and better, that we have to super-size everything? – Bill Maher We don't always have to be number one - we could raise alpacas and just be happy with that. – Bill Maher Nobody even has time to read the hundred-page housing plan, because we have a health care plan that sent health care stocks down 25 percent since it was announced. People can't figure it out. They're confused. – Erin Burnett On Prisons Let's dig in and let's make a declaration in America that we are going to be really the land of the free and the home of the brave, and we're going to work to reduce our prison population and free our people. – Myr. Cory Booker On Obama The reality is I think we've got the best president imaginable in the White House right now. But, if we wait on him to solve all our problems, we're not being American. – Myr. Cory Booker On Rush Limbaugh Rush Limbaugh is not the center part of our country right now and does not deserve the kind of focus we're giving him. And we're making him more powerful than he is. – Myr. Cory Booker

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Aired - 27 February 2009

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Guests: actor Alan Cumming; political satirist and journalist PJ O'Rourke; Mayor. Gavin Newsom (D-San Fran); political correspondent George Stephanopoulos; author Robin Wright On the State of the Union President Obama did go a little far in saying we're going to cure cancer. I mean, if we get halfway there, it wouldn't be so bad. – George Stephanopoulos It seems like we're at a point in our history where we're so fragile that we're very dependent on the president giving a great performance. He is, after all, above all else, a television character. – Bill Maher Republicans have a problem because they seem to just be drawing a line and not really meeting people's needs. – George Stephanopoulos Obama should have a "Writing the New American Dream" Department. – Alan Cumming This country has been crumbling not just for the last ten years, and not just under Bush, but for a long time we've ignored all these problems because we bought big-screen TVs and jet skis. – Bill Maher On Gov. Bobby Jindal's Response Sarah Palin could have done a better job. Seriously. – Bill Maher I thought there was no vision. There was nothing that was being offered that gave us any sense of optimism. It was just the tried and true conservative line for a guy who clearly wants to be president. – Myr. Gavin Newsom On Afghanistan Unfortunately, the Bush Administration for eight years had this totally laissez faire attitude towards Afghanistan, that instead of dealing with that, they invented this war in Iraq. In a way, Obama has been left with no choice. – Tina Brown Do the terrorists really need a training ground? I know we always see the stock footage of them on the monkey bars. If they don't have the monkey bars; if they're not limber, is it really going to change anything? – Bill Maher The lesson that we didn't learn after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan was that we needed to stay around and help, with our allies, build a state that going to be stable, and not allow Bin Laden and others to use it as a haven for training anti-American activists. – Robin Wright On Religion Think about my standing, seriously, with the Catholic Church. Support gay marriage, support stem cell research; I have the California Stem Cell Institute in our city. Pro-choice. Distribute condoms. Pro-birth control...I've been divorced... – Myr. Gavin Newsom I let Obama off easy with Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I thought, well, as a Catholic, I really can't get on somebody about what their clergy has been up to. – PJ O'Rourke

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Aired - 20 February 2009

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Guests: Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of TheDailyBeast.com; Chrystia Freeland, managing editor of the Financial Times; Brigitte Gabriel, journalist; Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) On the Economy Clint Eastwood was right to hang on to that Gran Torino. It's worth more than the home. – Bill Maher Bernie [Madoff] stole $50 billion, mostly from other Jews. For Jews, this was the worst pyramid scheme since the actual pyramids. – Bill Maher I mean, frankly, all we need now to find out is that, you know, Warren Buffett is a crook and Derek Jeter took steroids, and the whole country would collapse. – Tina Brown Well, the real problem is, is that we need to do a lot less. We should be doing hardly anything in Washington. But, politically, that is unacceptable. – Rep. Ron Paul [The free market] is free in the same way a reality show is real. – Bill Maher On the Middle East America went to four wars defending Muslims in Muslim countries. We went into Kuwait to liberate a Muslim nation from Saddam Hussein, who attacked them in the 1990. We went into Bosnia, fighting the Christians to liberate the Muslims. So, you know, we try to do a lot to help the Islamic world. – Brigitte Gabriel You know, it's one thing to win hearts and minds, but you have to remember: it's more important to keep them in bodies. – Bill Maher On Afghanistan Unfortunately, the Bush Administration for eight years had this totally laissez faire attitude towards Afghanistan, that instead of dealing with that, they invented this war in Iraq. In a way, Obama has been left with no choice. – Tina Brown The Democrats haven't been in charge too long yet, but they're going to lose credibility if they expand the war. What about sending 17,000 troops into Afghanistan? I mean, that's not the way to have change. I want the troops all to come home. – Rep. Ron Paul It's easy to say Afghanistan is ungovernable. Look, it's not just how long we've been trying. This is the 20th anniversary of the Russian failure there. I mean, it is obviously very difficult. But, there are also real dangers that it could get worse if there's a total American withdrawal. – Chrystia Freeland

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Aired - 14 November 2008

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Actor Ashton Kutcher, editor Jon Meacham, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). Via satellite: Sean "Diddy" Combs and Dan Savage.

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Aired - 07 November 2008

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Real Time Guests TV host Howie Mandel, political consultant Paul Begala, Mayor Cory Booker, author Joe Queenan, and journalist Farai Chideya.

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Aired - 31 October 2008

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Guests: singer John Legend, award-winning columnist Connie Schultz, Republican strategist Amy Holmes, prominent African American scholar Cornel West, filmmaker Michael Moore On Palin You'd be looking four years down the road, where she has four more years under her belt as governor of Alaska. And we do know that among women, she's been polarizing. But the women who like her, love her. They love Sarah Palin. They identify with her. – Amy Holmes I really think if she has the intellectual heft, if she actually studied, you know, the issues that she could have studied before this, but she wasn't really ready to do, then maybe in four years she could be ready. But, I don't see it. – John Legend American society is wobbling! The financial markets are near collapse, and the precious children's souls are empty more and more. We need leadership. We don't need another Clinton. We need a Lincoln. – Cornel West On Joe The Plumber I think this says it all about the difference between the two parties: McCain is campaigning with Joe the Plumber; Obama is down in Florida campaigning with Al Gore. One guy won the Nobel Prize in climate science; the other guy can get a fork out of a garbage disposal. – Bill Maher I think this is their attempt to show that they know the regular people. And I kind of feel sorry for Joe the Plumber. And here's why. This guy is a hapless individual, had no idea what he was getting himself into. It's like the older woman who said, "But he's an Arab." And - and John McCain said, "No, no, no, he's not." But, then she became, you know, the fodder for comedy shows. These are ordinary people who could be my relatives. – Connie Schultz He's talking about Iraq. He said, "I'm not sorry we're in Iraq. We liberated another country. I mean, freedom. Now they've got it. I don't know if you guys are Christians or not, but that's like somebody coming - coming to Jesus and - and getting saved." So, you know, he goes right to, we're in Iraq; it's just like getting saved by Jesus. I'm just saying religion warps thinking. – Bill Maher On Obama Where the economics of greed, the culture of indifference and the politics of fear have been brought together in such a way that it hides and conceals the plight of poor people and working people. Look what they said about Martin Luther King, Jr. He was "communist." They'd probably say Jesus - Jesus loved the poor - "communist." Amos loved the poor. "Communist." So, in that sense, it's an exciting thing to behold. But, we're in a transitional moment. The real question is, can we generate a commitment to fairness and justice in the face of greed? Can we generate compassion in the face of indifference? And can we generate hope in the face of fear? And that's what Brother Barack is all about. – Cornel West On the Obama Muslim Rumor Look at the Democratic primary. If you want to talk about where did this Muslim thing start, you remember that there was some low-level Hillary campaign staffer who sent that picture of Barack Obama in a headdress or a head-wrap to the "Drudge Report," and it was posted there. That was coming from in the Democratic primary. – Amy Holmes On the Difference Between Socialists and Communists Well, I think the difference is that, really, there isn't any difference. Except, like I said, I've never seen him at any of our central committee meetings. Actually, I did see an angry black preacher there at one time, and a Dixie Chick or two. But, I've never seen Obama at any of our commie meetings. – Michael Moore

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Aired - 24 October 2008

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No Description set.

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Aired - 17 October 2008

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No Description set.

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Aired - 10 October 2008

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No Description set.

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Aired - 03 October 2008

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This week on an all new live edition of Real Time, Bill welcomes actor Alec Baldwin, reporter Christiane Amanpour, and comedian Garry Shandling. Plus via satellite, journalist Bob Woodward.

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Aired - 26 September 2008

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Actor Tim Daly, independent candidate for president Ralph Nader, commentator Lisa Schiffren.Comedy superstar Chris Rock, reporter Ron Suskind. On McCain/Palin Suspending the debate? David Blaine said, "I thought hanging upside down was a lame stunt, but, wow!" No one was buying his excuse not to debate. But it was better than the first one he had, which was, "None of my 13 cars would start." – Bill Maher We were just talking about the "warm and fuzzy" part of the Republican Party. Well, the fuzzy part is John McCain's brain. – Tim Daly On Obama's Chances of Being Elected They'll change the whole rules of everything. You know, sometimes I think Obama actually thinks that having the most votes is going to mean something. You know, they'll change it all. They'll look him dead in the face and go, "Hey, man, you got the most votes. Too bad you lost." – Chris Rock On the Debate Bloated military budget won. Corporate crime won. Bailing out Wall Street crooks won. Peace advocates lost. Huh? Georgia and USA lost, right? So, he wants to rebuild Georgia over there. What about Georgia here? – Ralph Nader On the Financial Crisis I thought that this was grandstanding. And then it actually sank in just how serious a crisis this is. It seems to me that one of these men will be our next president, and they should want to be involved in crafting a response to this crisis, and in understanding this crisis, in a way that almost nobody in Congress or the White House or the other party or whatever party does. This is well beyond the abilities of most of our elected leaders. – Lisa Schiffren On McCain We were just talking about the "warm and fuzzy" part of the Republican Party. Well, the fuzzy part is John McCain's brain. – Tim Daly On Wall Street It was supposed to be a source of capital for factories that produce real things. Now, it's a gambling casino. And, "Socialist Superman" is swooping down on New York City from Washington, D.C., to bail out the casino capitalists on Wall Street, which is spewing forth more and more chunks of kryptonite. How much can the taxpayer take? That's why there's going to be a taxpayer revolt. Call a demonstration. There's an uproar! – Ralph Nader

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Aired - 19 September 2008

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Guests: musician and Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am., journalist Naomi Klein, political blogger Andrew Sullivan, and economist Paul Krugman On the Wall Street Bailout You heard what happened. The federal government - you know them- they announced the plan to spend like a trillion of taxpayer dollars to buy up bad mortgages and debt. Wall Street was surprisingly enthusiastic about the plan to save their asses with other people's money. It was either that or Sarah Palin's idea to sell it all on eBay. – Bill Maher On the Economic Crisis Yeah, anybody who knew what was going on would have been in a bomb shelter by now. I mean, this is - this is panicky. Look, you know, quite seriously, I was looking at the numbers, like, on Wednesday. And I said, "You know, the world is coming to an end." And apparently the people at the Treasury Department thought the same thing. So, this was - boy, this was as - as - this is the worst thing I've ever seen. I've been - I've been in this business for a couple of decades, and this was the worst thing I've ever seen. – Paul Krugman And the disaster is far from over. They've actually just relocated the disaster. The disaster was on Wall Street, and they have moved the disaster to Main Street, by accepting those debts. And, you know, you said they didn't have to bomb, but the bomb has yet to detonate. You know, the bomb is the debt that has now been transferred to the taxpayers. So, it detonates when - if - John McCain becomes president in the midst of an economic crisis, and says, "Look, we're in trouble; we've got a disaster on our hands; we have to privatize Social Security; we can't afford health care; we can't afford food stamps; we - we need more deregulation, more privatization." – Naomi Klein At this point, we have - that's the crisis. And, now, look. Wall Street is to blame for - for giving these people these loans, but no one is ever forced to take out a bad loan they cannot repay. And, to some extent, the American people are responsible for the crisis they're currently in. If you had a sensible capitalist tax system which did not direct people to buy one thing rather than another and allowed the market to take place, this wouldn't have happened. I believe this is a failure of capitalism because capitalism hasn't been properly put into operation. – Andrew Sullivan I don't want to agree with the fact that it's the American people's fault, because the American people are relying on the government to govern them. So, to say that it's the American people's fault... I'm not saying that the government should bail you out. But, the government should put regulations on banks so that the banks have rules on what kind of loans they give to the people. – will.i.am On McCain And, yet, somehow - somehow, he is the - the man of the people. And this - this guy who was brought up on food stamps and earned his own way up the system, managed to make himself president of Harvard Law Review, he's the elitist?! – Andrew Sullivan On Palin But, I mean, the thing - the thing about Palin is - is - you know, the sort of liberal talking point about McCain is it's four more years of Bush - Palin is much closer to four more years of Bush. I mean, you have all of these traits in common. Secrecy and unwillingness to cooperate with inquiries. A belief that foreign policy is dictated by God. I mean, she's basically Bush in drag. And then when add the hunting - you've got Cheney, you know. – Naomi Klein On Religious Beliefs When you have a people that's never been given equal opportunity, and they're living in New Orleans - let's use New Orleans as a real example - when Katrina comes and they're left with no help from American government, the only thing they have to rely on is the Bible and those stories, because the troops did not come to help rebuild the Fifth Ward. So, you cannot fault them for believing in God and angels and all these things, when they can't even believe in their government. – will.i.am

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Aired - 12 September 2008

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Actress Janeane Garofalo, author Salman Rushdie, journalist John Fund, comedian Roseanne Barr, and political consultant Paul Begala. On Lipstick-Gate Obama was talking about McCain's policies. He said, "You cannot put lipstick on a pig. If you do, it's still a pig." This was supposed to describe McCain's policies. McCain said he was actually talking about Sarah Palin. Which is very unfair, because pigs are smart. They don't believe in creationism. – Bill Maher I write on foreign policy. You could not have gotten me to remember exactly what the Bush Doctrine is, because there have been two or three of them. – John Fund On Palin Interview I write on foreign policy. You could not have gotten me to remember exactly what the Bush Doctrine is, because there have been two or three of them. – John Fund I'm a snob because I want to judge the intelligence level of someone who seeks the White House? That makes me a snob? This is not "American Idol"! It's not a beauty pageant, even though her answers sounded like a beauty pageant. – Bill Maher On McCain McCain is just like Bush. He goes with his gut. You know, no facts, no interviews, no background check. He goes with his gut. And that's why we're in this mess. So, if that's how much thought McCain gives to his vice president, how much thought is he going to give to which country to invade next? Will he just stay with the "i's"? Iraq, Iran...maybe Ireland, I don't know, Italy? Could be Indiana? I don't know. – Paul Begala On The Republican Party Well, I think what's extraordinary is for the Republican Party, through its candidates, to present itself as the party of opposition. You know, here's this thing that's been running the country into the ground for eight years, and they say they're the mavericks?! They're the establishment. – Salman Rushdie

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Aired - 05 September 2008

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Actress Kerry Washington, fmr. Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R-MD), Real Time correspondent Dan Savage, journalist Jeffrey Toobin, and fmr. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. On O'Reilly Obama went on the "Bill O'Reilly Show" last night. Anybody catch that? Ooh. I thought O'Reilly was tough... but fair. Cordial, but I didn't like that he was always checking to see if his wallet was still there. – Bill Maher If there was a black teenage male with a MySpace page that was any way comparable to that white kid's MySpace page... and he was Barack Obama's daughter's baby daddy, the election would be over. – Dan Savage On Palin And, how about the other woman at the convention? How about the new star of the Republican Party, Ms. Sarah Palin! Wow! The media loves her! The headlines were all, "Palin Delivered!" I said, "Another baby?!" – Bill Maher Fred Thompson said, "She's from a small town" - Sarah Palin, he was talking about - "with small town values. But, that's not good enough for the people attacking her." Well, excuse me, it's not good enough! To be from a small town with small-town values is supposed to be good enough to be in the second-most important job in the world?! Are you kidding me?! – Bill Maher And you know what else we could talk about? The fact that Sarah Palin opposes abortion, thinks it should be illegal in all cases, including rape and incest. And, yet, praised her own daughter for the decision she made to carry this baby to term. – Dan Savage On Palin's credentials The other point that they're making, which I think we really need to think about is... she has a lot of national security credentials because Alaska is so close to Russia. That's an argument that - that Laura Bush actually made, because it's just across the Bering Straits. I mean, that's the national security credential she brings. – Jeffery Toobin On McCain's RNC speech Yeah, but, at least, you know, at the Democratic Convention, you had problems put out and then you had solutions to fix them. (McCain) was talking about all the kids that he - this autistic kid he's fighting for, this person he's fighting for, that person he's fighting for - but he didn't tell me what that fight looks like. He didn't talk to me about every American having health care. He didn't talk to me about every American having access to real education. He talked about choices, as if that's the problem: people can't choose what salad they want on the menu. That's not the problem. The problem is there's no salad on the menu! – Kerry Washington On McCain's Candidacy McCain said, "I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need." Well, first of all, yes, you are. That's exactly what you think, and isn't that what a presidential candidate should think? – Bill Maher On Obama's Reaction to Palin's Qualifications What you fail to understand about small towns - small towns are where particularly women get their start in politics... A significant number of the women in this country - mayors in this country - are women. My point is, when you come out - the first statements out of your mouth on the Obama campaign is to belittle her service as a mayor of a small town of 9,000, what signal are you sending to all the women you've already ticked off by not picking Hillary and the way you treated Hillary during the campaign? – Michael Steele On the Candidates This goes back to the question that started at the beginning, is how are they going to govern once they get in there. We know how they're going to campaign, but are they going to stand up to the hard-line ideologues in their party? – Scott McClellan On Levi Johnston If there was a black teenage male with a MySpace page that was any way comparable to that white kid's MySpace page... and he was Barack Obama's daughter's baby daddy, the election would be over. – Dan Savage

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Aired - 29 August 2008

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Gov. Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA), TV host Craig Ferguson, journalist Michel Martin, Real Time Correspondent Matt Taibbi. On Obama's DNC Speech What a historic night. The first time an actual black person is leading the charge for a major - major American political party. I think that says something pretty great about America. We will accept a black man to lead us if the only other choice is a woman. – Bill Maher I've met Governor Palin just once or twice. Don't know her well. But, you know, congratulate her on getting picked. I think the choice says interesting things about Senator McCain. What I saw today was that he had only talked to her once last February in person. Called her on the cell phone during the Alaska State Fair last week and decided to offer her the job. I mean, it's only to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, so that struck me as a little impulsive. But, you know, you make a statement about yourself when you make a pick like that. – Gov. Tim Kaine So, to me, this is a very cynical pick, from the guy who says he's always thinking about "Country First," and who's 70 years old and has had cancer. I mean, let's be honest. He could croak, which would mean...that this lady who was the mayor of a town of 7,000 people a few years ago, and has a couple of years on the job as the governor of Alaska, population 600,000 - a fifth of Chicago - would be the leader of the free world? Yeah, "Country First," John. – Bill Maher On the Democrats I've always thought about the Democrats the way I think about the Dave Matthews Band. I like the Dave Matthews Band, but people who are too into the Dave Matthews Band, I'm like, "Oh, behave yourself." But, even Dave Matthews isn't into the Dave Matthews Band that much. – Craig Ferguson On Obama's DNC speech I think you're missing one big thing about that speech is, there's ways to win without fighting with people. It's not the only thing that he has to do. And one of the things I think he did very effectively was have a conversation. He had a conversation about who he is. He had a conversation not just about - to me, the pivotal line of the speech was, "This isn't about me. It's about you." – Michel Martin

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Aired - 25 April 2008

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Aired - 18 April 2008

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Aired - 11 April 2008

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Aired - 04 April 2008

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Aired - 28 March 2008

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Aired - 21 March 2008

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Aired - 07 March 2008

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Aired - 29 February 2008

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Aired - 22 February 2008

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Aired - 15 February 2008

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Aired - 08 February 2008

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Panel members are: *Bob Costas, NBC sportscaster and anchor for the Olympics coverage. * Jonah Goldberg, editor of "National Review Online" and author of "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning." * Matt Dowd, former Bush strategist, author of "Applebee's America." Also appearing: * Amy Holmes, political analyst for CNN, who formerly worked for Bill Frist. * P.J. O'Rourke, political satirist/writer, author of "On The Wealth of Nations."

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Aired - 01 February 2008

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Panel members are: * Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist from the Chicago Tribune. * Kim Gandy, President of N.O.W. and a supporter Hillary Clinton. * Rep.Darrell Issa (R-CA), known for his support of anti-marijuana laws and the Patriot Act. Also appearing: * Frank Luntz, pollster and author of "Words that Work." * Matt Taibbi, journalist for Rollingstone and author of "Smells Like Dead Elephants."

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Aired - 25 January 2008

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Panel members are: * Herbie Hancock, Grammy-winning musician. * Richard Belzer, comedian/actor, famous for his role on "Law & Order: SVU." * Martha Raddatz, senior White House correspondent for ABC news, just back from a trip to Afghanistan. Guest by satellite: * Merle Haggard, Country music legend. Also appearing: * Amy Holmes, election correspondent and former employee of Bill Frist.

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Aired - 18 January 2008

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Panel members are: * D.L. Hughley, actor/comedian, host of HBO's "Def Comedy Jam." * John Fund, columnist from the Wall Street Journal and author of "Stealing Elections." * Trace Adkins, musician/author, recently seen on Celebrity Apprentice. Guest by satellite: * Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, who has just returned from a trip to Pakistan. Also appearing: * Dan Savage, columnist and gay rights activist. Dan interviews voters in South Carolina.

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Aired - 11 January 2008

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Aired - 02 November 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Martin Short, comedian/actor. * Alison Stewart, NBC/NPR journalist. * Bill's guest via Satellite: * Valerie Plame, outed spy, and Joseph Wilson, ex-Ambassador. * Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, founder of blog site "Daily Kos."

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Aired - 26 October 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Martina Navratilova, openly gay Tennis legend. * Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark, affiliated with the Democrats. * Andrew Sullivan, openly gay Libertarian conservative. Bill's guest via Satellite: * David Frost, contributor to Al Jazeera English. * Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the senior-most Republican woman in the Senate.

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Aired - 19 October 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Chris Matthews, host of "Hardball" on MSNBC. * Joel Stein, journalist from the LA Times and Time magazine. * Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) Bill's guest via Satellite: * John Edwards, Democratic Presidential candidate. * Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion.

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Aired - 12 October 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Joy Behar, co-host of "The View." * Tucker Carlson, host of MSNBC's "Tucker." * Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist. Bill's guests via satellite: * Vincente Fox, ex-President of Mexico. * Naomi Klein, author of the book "The Shock Doctrine."

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Aired - 28 September 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Michael Eric Dyson, scholar. * Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), one of the engineers of the Democratic victory in the 2006 elections. * Pete Hamill, author/journalist from "The New Yorker." Bill's guest via Satellite: * Ken Burns, PBS documentarian, whose current show is "The War." * Maria Bartiromo, CNBC hostess of "Closing Bell"

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Aired - 21 September 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Rob Thomas, musician, lead-singer of Matchbox Twenty. * Sir Salman Rushdie, controversial author, and newest target of Al Qaeda. * Janeane Garofalo, actress/comedian/activist. Bill's guest via satellite: * Michael Scheuer, author and former CIA agent, who was referenced in the recent Bin Laden video. * Bjorn Lomborg, environmentalist/author, whose famous book is "The Skeptical Environmentalist."

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Aired - 14 September 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Drew Carey, comic/actor, new host of "The Price is Right." * Carl Bernstein, writer/journalist, who famously broke the Watergate scandal. * Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), who serves on the Energy and Commerce committee. And Bill's guests via satellite: * Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), who recently announced his retirement. * Robert Draper, author of the Bush bio "Dead Certain."

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Aired - 07 September 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * Cornel West, Professor of Religion at Princeton * Mos Def, rapper/actor, critic of the Katrina relief effort And Bill's guests via satellite: * Col. Larry Wilkerson (ret.), former Chief-of-Staff of Colin Powell. * Ralph Nader, consumer activist and some-time third-party candidate for President.

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Aired - 31 August 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This week, Bill welcomes: * John Mellencamp, Rock-star and co-founder of Farm-Aid. * fmr. Sen. Mike Gravel (D-AK), Democratic Presidential candidate. * fmr. U.S. Ambassador Barbara Bodine, writer. Plus via satellite, actor/blogger Harry Shearer and animal activist Ingrid Newkirk.

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Aired - 24 August 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is Live from L.A. This Friday, Bill welcomes: * Tim Robbins, actor/director, outspoken for his liberal views. * Stephen F. Hayes, columnist for the neo-con magazine The Weekly Standard, who famously postulated a pre-war link between Al Qaeda and Iraq. * Michel Martin, Emmy-winning journalist for ABC/NPR. Bill's guests via satellite: * Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR), Presidential candidate. * Damien Cave, reporter for the NY Times.

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Aired - Air date unknown.

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Ben Affleck, PJ O'Rourke, Rep. Ron Paul, Michael Moore

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Aired - Air date unknown.

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Aired - Air date unknown.

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Aired - Air date unknown.

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Aired - Air date unknown.

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Aired - Air date unknown.

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Aired - Air date unknown.

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Fmr Sen Bill Bradley, comedian Dana Carvey, Fmr White House Press Sec'y Scott McClellan; via satellite, Rev. Al Sharpton, activist Laurie David, musician Sheryl Crow

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Aired - 30 March 2007

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Funding of Iraq War, Clinton vs. Obama, privatization of government, still more on U.S. attorney firings, death of Pat Tillman

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Aired - 28 March 2007

Episode summary:

Iraq War anniversary, more on U.S. attorney firings, energy independence, campaign finance, "purity balls"

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Aired - 16 March 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL)Tonight's episode is Live from L.A.Tonight, Bill welcomes:* Jason Alexander, actor on TV's "Seinfeld" and regular guest on Real Time. * Dan Rather, former CBS news anchor and respected journalist. * Martha Raddatz, chief White House correspondent for ABC and formerly of NPR.Bills guests via satellite:* Chris Rock, actor, formerly of SNL, known for his outspoken comedic routines. * Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), possible 2008 presidential candidate who is known to espouse personal fitness and creationism.

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Aired - 09 March 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL)Tonight's episode is Live from L.A.Bill's panel members are:* Roseanne Barr, Comedienne/Actress most famous for ABC's Roseanne is an outspoken critic of the current administration.* Dana Milbank, political reporter for the Washington Post and analyst on MSNBC. He has covered the last two presidential elections extensively.* David Kuo, former Special Assistant to George W. Bush, whose book "Tempting Faith" asserts that Bush used the religious right for political purposes.Also appearing:* Deepak Chopra, author of more than 40 books on spirituality and health. His new book is entitled "Life After Death."Bill's guest by satellite:* Paul Eaton, a retired Army Major General, who was in charge of training the Iraqi military circa 2003-2004. He has since been highly critical of the handling of the war, with a pointed finger at Donald Rumsfeld.

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Aired - 02 March 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL)Tonight's episode is Live from L.A.Bill's panel members are:* John Ridley, writer/creator of Undercover Brother and stories that formed the basis of U-Turn and 3 Kings. He is also a film director and a regular contributor to public radio.* Rep Barney Frank (D-MA), Congressman since 1981 and is an openly gay liberal. He is currently the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.* Joe Scarborough, host of Scarborough Country on MSNBC and former Rep R-FL. A conservative who has been critical of the current leadership.Bill's guests by satellite are:* Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative reporter currently writing for The New Yorker. He recently wrote that the US was developing plans to bomb Iran.* Mia Farrow, Actress in such films as Rosemary's Baby and Hannah and her Sisters. She is a UNICEF ambassador who is currently drawing attention to the Darfur crisis.

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Aired - 23 February 2007

Episode summary:

In this Episode, Bill welcomes David Mamet, Steven Weber, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and via satellite Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE). Tune-in Friday night at 11pm ET/PT and stay around after the show for Overtime our exclusive live web program.

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Aired - 16 February 2007

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL)Tonight's episode is Live from L.A.Bill's panel members are:* Carly Fiorina is former CEO (1999–2005) and Chairman of the Board (2000–2005) of Hewlett-Packard (HP).*Craig Ferguson is the host of the CBS 'The Late Late Show.' He is from Scotland and is an Emmy-nominated actor, film director, screenwriter, comedian, composer, and novelist.*Michael Steele is a former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland (Republican). Presently, he is a political pundit on the CNN series 'The Situation Room.'Bill's guests by satellite are:*John Edwards is a one term former U.S. Senator for N.C. He was the 2004 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee and is presently running for the Democratic 2008 Presidential nomination.*John Amaechi is a former NBA basketball player. He is working a broadcaster in the United Kingdom. In February 2007, Amaechi publicly announced that he is gay and became the first player associated with the NBA to come out.This is the first episode of season nine.

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Aired - 17 November 2006

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Guitarist Tom Morello of Audioslave, journalist Dana Priest, actor Richard Dreyfuss; via satellite, journalist Dan Rather and television's Norman Lear

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Aired - 10 November 2006

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is live from L.A. Bill's guests are:

• Literary Legen Ahmed Salman Rushdie (Essayist,author of fiction mostly set on the Indian subcontinent, and author of The Satanic Verses)
• CNN's Candy Crowley (CNN political correspondent who specializes in U.S. Presidential, Gubernatorial, and Senate elections)
• "The Office" Rainn Wilson (Character actor)

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Aired - 03 November 2006

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is live from L.A. Bill's guests are:

• Roseanne Barr (actress, writer, talk-show host, and comedienne)
• "30 Rock's" Alec Baldwin ( Oscar-nominated actor and eldest of the "Baldwin brothers")
• U.S. Rep Jack Kingston (R-GA)
• "Iraq for Sale" Director Robert Greenwald (film director and producer)
• Journalist A. B. Stoddard (Associate editor of the Hill, a newspaper about Congress)

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Aired - 27 October 2006

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is live from L.A. Bill's guests are:

• Harry Belafonte (musician, actor and social activist)
• U.S. Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN)
• Former NJ Gov. Christine Todd "Christie" Whitman(R-NJ, politician and author, who served as the 50th Governor of New Jersey and was the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency)
• Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington (author and nationally syndicated columnist)
• "Daily Dish" Andrew Sullivan (author, blogger and former editor of The New Republic)

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Aired - 20 October 2006

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is live from L.A. Bill Maher's panel members are:

• Jason Alexander (television, cinema and musical theatre actor)
• U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
• Stephen Moore (economist and policy analyst, founder and president of the Club for Growth from 1999 to 2004, member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, and contributing editor for National Review)

Special guests are:

• Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM, former Congressman, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and former U.S. Secretary of Energy) is in person.
• David Kuo (author ( Tempting Faith) and former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and Deputy Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives) is live via satellite.

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Aired - 13 October 2006

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight Bill Maher's guests are "Hollywoodland" Ben Afflect, CNN's Lou Dobbs, Virgin's Sir Richard Branson, former U.S. Senator John Danforth (R-MO), and American Enterprise Institute's Danielle Pletka. Tonight's episode is again live from LA. Bill is back from Washington D.C. where he was last week (on a tape delay).

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Aired - 06 October 2006

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is from Washington, D.C. and inside the beltway! It is on a tape delay, instead of live. Tonight Bill Maher's panel guests are actor/comedian Robin Williams, terrorism expert Richard Clarke, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). Additional guests are talk-show host Chris Matthews, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI).

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Aired - 22 September 2006

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is live from L.A. Bill Maher's guests tonight are actor Bradley Whitford (The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), theologist Reza Aslan, conservative activist Sandy Rios, columnist Frank Rich, and filmmaker CC Goldwater. Next week's episode will be from Washington, D.C. and will be on a tape delay, instead of live.

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Aired - 15 September 2006

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is live from L.A. Bills guests tonight are Michael McKean (actor, comedian, composer and musician), Clark Kent Ervin (head of Homeland Security Program at the Aspen Institute), Gloria Steinem (feminist icon, journalist, and women's rights advocate), Pat Buchanan (politician, author, syndicated columnist, and broadcaster), and CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

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Aired - 08 September 2006

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is live from L.A. Bill Maher's guests tonight are author P. J. O'Rourke, Salon.com editor Joan Walsh, singer Rob Thomas; via satellite, former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and NBC News correspondent David Gregory

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Aired - 01 September 2006

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight's episode is from Washington, D.C. and inside the beltway! It is on a tape delay, instead of live. Tonight Bill Maher's panel guests are magician Penn Jillette, Rep. Darrell Issa, scholar Mary Frances Berry; via satellite, intellectual Fouad Ajami and actor Harry Anderson

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Aired - 25 August 2006

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Rated: TV-MA for Adult Content (AC) and Adult Language (AL) Tonight Bill Maher's guests are filmmaker Spike Lee, music legend Elvis Costello, blogger Markos Moulitsas, fmr. Sen. Max Cleland, author/scholar Vali Nasr, and columnist Christopher Hitchens

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Aired - 12 May 2006

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Tonight, Bill Maher is joined by TV news show host John Gibson, musician John Legend, national security expert Richard Clarke, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and academic Cornel West.

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Aired - 05 May 2006

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Actor Bradley Whitford, fmr. Canadian PM Kim Campbell, Gen. Wesley Clark, fmr. Gov. James Gilmore, and Sen. Mel Martinez join Bill Maher for a discussion on this past week's news events.

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Aired - 28 April 2006

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Sir Ian McKellen, Rep. Barney Frank, correspondent Michel Martin, George Clooney, and historian Victor Davis Hanson join Bill Maher for a discussion on this week's news.

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Aired - 21 April 2006

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Commentator Heather Higgins, Gen. Anthony Zinni, editor/publisher Mortimer Zuckerman, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith, and Rep. Rahm Emanuel join Bill Maher for a discussion on this past week's news.

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Aired - 07 April 2006

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Actor Ben Affleck, Sen. Joe Biden, correspondent Bill Sammon, and author/former Republican strategist Kevin Phillips join Bill Maher for a discussion on this week's news.

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Aired - 31 March 2006

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Actor/comedian Robert Wuhl, actor Seth Green, author Erica Jong, Univision anchorman Jorge Ramos, and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher join Bill for a discussion of this week's events.

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Aired - 24 March 2006

Episode summary:

Actor Jason Alexander, author/theologian Reza Aslan, Rep. Jack Kingston, author Tavis Smiley, and reporter Michael Ware join Bill Maher for a discussion on this week's events.

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Aired - 17 March 2006

Episode summary:

Bill Maher talks with actor/comedian Richard Belzer, writer Michele Mitchell, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Michael Stipe, and television anchor Lou Dobbs.

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Aired - 10 March 2006

Episode summary:

Feminist Gloria Steinem, actor Larry Miller, editor Ramesh Ponnuru, baseball great Pete Rose and reporter John Burns join Bill Maher for a discussion on this week's news.

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Aired - 03 March 2006

Episode summary:

Comedian DL Hughley, editor Graydon Carter and correspondent Dana Priest join Bill for a discussion of this past week's events. Also, Bill interviews former Director of FEMA Michael Brown, former CIA case officer/author Bob Baer, and actor Harry Anderson via Satellite.

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Aired - 24 February 2006

Episode summary:

Join Bill for his second week of the new season, which will feature guests actor Danny Glover, former Sen. Gary Hart, author Irshad Manji, Rep. Heather Wilson, and columnist Nicholas Kristof.

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Aired - 17 February 2006

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Tonight's guests: Eddie Griffin, Dan Senor, Helen Thomas, and Sen. Russ Feingold. Bill Maher returns with an all-new 7th season of his unpredictable but always controversial talk show!

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Aired - 04 November 2005

Episode summary:

For the 2005 season finale Bill Maher welcomed guests fmr. President of Ireland Mary Robinson, talk show host Joe Scarborough, filmmaker John Waters, fmr. Sen. Tom Daschle, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

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Aired - 28 October 2005

Episode summary:

Bill Maher welcomes guests terrorism expert Richard Clarke, reporter Helen Thomas, comedian Billy Connolly, talk show host Tony Snow and reporter Nadira Hira.

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Aired - 21 October 2005

Episode summary:

Bill Maher welcomes guests filmmaker Spike Lee, TV talk show host Tucker Carlson and correspondent Michel Martin. Plus, columnist Arianna Huffington, and NBA star Chris Webber.

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Aired - 14 October 2005

Episode summary:

Bill Maher welcomes guests fmr. Sen. Max Cleland, editor Tina Brown, and comedian Larry Miller. Plus, via satellite, fmr. Sen. John Edwards, Chief Richard Pennington, and author Tom Wolfe.

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Aired - 07 October 2005

Episode summary:

Bill Maher's guests include actor Ben Affleck, author Salman Rushdie and blogger Andrew Sullivan. Plus, via satellite, commentator Ann Coulter and author/fmr. US Army soldier Kayla Williams.

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Aired - 23 September 2005

Episode summary:

Bill Maher's guest will include correspondent Andrea Mitchell, UK MP George Galloway, correspondent Katty Kay, writer Christopher Hitchens, and congressman David Dreier (R-CA).

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Aired - 16 September 2005

Episode summary:

Bill Maher's welcomes comedian/talk show host Joy Behar, fmr. Mayor Willie Brown, and satirist PJ O'Rourke. Plus, via satellite, Sen. Charles Schumer, and fmr adviser to Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority Dan Senor.

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Aired - 09 September 2005

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Bill Maher talks with author Kurt Vonnegut, Fmr. Rep. Joe Scarborough, and emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, La. Walter Maestri via satellite. Plus, roundtable guests comedian George Carlin, columnist James Glassman and editor Cynthia Tucker.

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Aired - 02 September 2005

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This week, Bill welcomes Anderson Cooper, Stephen Schneider, Michael Eric Dyson, Bradley Whitford, Marry Frances Berry, Fareed Zakaria.

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Aired - 26 August 2005

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This week Bill welcomes guests columnist Dan Savage, Gov. Mike Huckabee and playwright/actor Eve Ensler. Plus, via satellite, Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, TX and author/musician Kinky Friedman.

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Aired - 19 August 2005

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Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly; Iraq war veteran, Paul Hackett; former Homeland Security Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson; political consultant Kellyanne Conway; actor/comic Chris Rock.

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Aired - 13 May 2005

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Guests: Sen. Norm Coleman, talk radio's Al Franken, reporter Liz Marlantes, author Gore Vidal, and basketball's Charles Barkley.

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Aired - 06 May 2005

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Guests: Former Sec. of State Madeleine Albright, blogger Andrew Sullivan, former Canadian PM Kim Campbell, actor Michael McKean, and Rep. Bernie Sanders.

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Aired - 29 April 2005

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Guests: Senator Charles Schumer (D) New York, Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R) Maryland, Farai Chideya, Martin Short, and Jeff Gannon.

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Aired - 22 April 2005

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Guests: Actress Jane Fonda, talk show host Joe Scarborough, columnist Maureen Dowd, former Sen. Alan Simpson, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

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Aired - 15 April 2005

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Guests: Columnist Thomas Friedman, writer David Frum, singer Natalie Mames, Gen. Wesley Clark and Sen. Barbara Boxer.

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Aired - 08 April 2005

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Guests: former Gov. Mario Cuomo, actor Ian McShane, writer Arianna Huffington, TV host Rev. Joe Watkins, and conservative Richard Perle.

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Aired - 01 April 2005

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Guests: TV host Bill O'Reilly, academic Cornel West, actor Alec Baldwin, actor/comedienne Whoopi Goldberg, and Rev. Jesse Jackson.

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Aired - 18 March 2005

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Guests: Gov. Frank Murkowski, actor Jason Alexander, Gov. Christie Whitman, Rep. Ileana Ross-Lehtinen, and author Thomas Frank.

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Aired - 11 March 2005

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Guests: Rep. Barney Frank, comedian Richard Belzer, writer Andrew Breitbart, writer Irshad Manji, and writer Camille Pagila.

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Aired - 04 March 2005

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Guests: Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, former NIH administrator Bernadine Healy, actor Dave Foley, Ward Churchill and Michael Faughnan, and comic Whoopi Goldberg via satellite.

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Aired - 25 February 2005

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Guests: Former baseball slugger Jose Canseco, actor Tim Robins, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, talk show host Tucker Clarson, and Gov. Mike Huckabee.

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Aired - 18 February 2005

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Guests: Correspondent Lesley Stahl, actor Robin Williams, former H&HS Sec. Tommy Thompson, Senator Joe Biden, and actor Don Cheadle.

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Aired - 05 November 2004

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Guests: former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson, actress Susan Sarandon, linguist and political analyst Noam Chomsky, comedian D.L. Hughley, columnist Andrew Sullivan, and former U.S. Representative Pat Schroeder.

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Aired - 29 October 2004

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Guests: columnist Thomas Friedman, comedian Richard Belzer, General Wesley Clark, actor Kevin Costner, and commentator Ann Coulter.

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Aired - 22 October 2004

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Guests: Environmentalist Robert Kennedy, Jr., former CIA director James Woolsey, former Asst. Sec. of State James Rubin, actor Bradley Whitford, and White House advisor Dr. Bernadine Healy.

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Aired - 15 October 2004

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Guests: Dr. Howard Dean, singer Alanis Morissette, former Rep. Jim Rogan, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and radio show host Garrison Keillor.

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Aired - 08 October 2004

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Guests: filmmaker Michael Moore, columnist Frank Rich, comedian David Cross, Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, and commentator Tony Snow.

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Aired - 01 October 2004

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Guests: The Dixie Chicks, talk show host Tucker Carlson, comedian George Carlin, correspondent Katty Kay, and author Steve Moore.

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Aired - 24 September 2004

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Guests: Rep. Charles Rangel, comic strip artist Aaron McGruder, columnist Maureen Dowd, screenwriter Larry Gelbart, and actress Drew Barrymore

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Aired - 17 September 2004

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Guests: Kitty Kelley, Julie Delpy, Cornel West, Christiane Amanpour and P.J. O'Rourke

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Aired - 03 September 2004

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Guests: Howard Dean, Jason Alexander, Andrew Sullivan, Arianna Huffington, and Pat Buchanan.

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Aired - 27 August 2004

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Guests: author and Vietnam veteran John E. O'Neil, talk show host Chris Matthews, reporter Ashleigh Banfield, Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, and author Michael Eric Dyson.

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Aired - 13 August 2004

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Guests: comedian D.L. Hughley, former Sen. Gary Hart, writer Michelle Malkin, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, and columnist Maureen Dowd.

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Aired - 06 August 2004

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Guests: Comedian Steve Harvey, Rep. Kay Granger, former Rep. Bob Barr, and reporter Cokie Roberts.

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Aired - 30 July 2004

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Guests: filmmaker Michael Moore, Ralph Nader, Gov. Bill Owens, Rep. David Dreir, and former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell. Plus, Andre 3000 from Outkast.

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Aired - 19 March 2004

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This week's Real Time with Bill Maher opened with a "Bush-Cheney '04" campaign ad featuring world leaders singing the praises of George Bush. From Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland: "Weapons-shmeapons, he's good people." And from former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide: "I couldn't have been overthrown by a nicer guy." Bill kicked off the evening's discussions with former governor of Vermont Howard Dean. The former candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nominee focused on what's become of the democratic process. "We have a Supreme Court that's results-oriented, not law-oriented. We have the guy who makes voting machines saying he's going to do everything he can to get George Bush elected. I think our democracy is in a lot of trouble, and it's because this president believes the means is justified by the ends. And I think you cannot go down that road." Asked what Dean planned for his supporter's list, he said, "We've got a great grassroots organization... And what we built was a community in this country who really wanted some politicians who would tell the truth." As to whether he might run for president again, he said his primary interest was "sending George Bush back to Crawford, Texas, permanently, because we can't afford another four years." Bill then moved on to the one-year anniversary of the war in Iraq and his Round Table guests stating that the Iraqi people all say the same thing: "Thank you. Don't go. Oh, and one other thing...FUCK YOU!" "So," he asked, "how do we, as Americans, make sense of that?" Author, and former speechwriter for President Bush, David Frum responded "People are complicated... Gratitude is a hard thing for human beings to bear." Then Bill asked if despite how bad the United States might be, if there was anyone better to be in charge of the world? Emmy® Award-winning and Tony-nominated cross-Atlantic comedian, Eddie Izzard countered, "We never voted on that in Europe. We get no vote -we in R.O.W - which is Rest of the World." Adding "And if you want to be policeman for the world, that's great, but take them all out. Not just one that your dad had unfinished business with." On the administration's response to the Madrid bombings Bill's guest "living legend and literary lion" Gore Vidal quipped, "I enjoyed the Bush Administration attacking for cowardice the Spanish people for turning out a government that 90% of them opposed the government's joining us in the conquest of Iraq. And proving that Spain has something that we do not have: a democracy -- they voted it out." Moving to the renewal of the Patriot Act of which Frum lauded as "American democracy at its best." He also positioned lawmakers as "saying this is an emotional moment and we could make mistakes, so if we - we are going to make sure that we are not stuck with this, and if no one does anything, it just expires." Bill then welcomed Russell Simmons hip-hop pioneer of HBO's "Def Comedy Jam," and chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. To Bill's question on whether Simmons efforts dedicated toward registering young voters might be: "pushing a lot of people into the voting booth who are not informed?" Simmons responded, "Some are educated. Some are not as educated about the process or about the candidates. But the first step, of course, is to register, get a card and feel like you're part of the team." And on his group's effort to repeal the state of New York's Rockefeller drug laws "After 30 years of unjust and unfair laws... there'll be a dramatic change in those laws. It's going to happen now." Bill offered a Hollywood solution to encouraging people to participate in the elections - goody bags for voters coming to the polls. The "red state" swag will include: pork rinds, Bullets, an audio version of the Holy Bible, read by Mel Gibson's dad, and "my favorite: an actual vial of Sean Hannity's bile." For the "blue state" voter: The Joy of Gay Sex. A dildo. Clean needles and heroin. A certificate for Botox, and one for a "visit for one abortion at a Planned Parenthood." Bill than brought to his Round Table guests the problematic use of electronic voting machines. "It looks like it would be easy to fix an election that way, but they wouldn't dare. No, they would dare, wouldn't they?" "They are daring as we speak," concurred Vidal. Bill brought up Walden O'Dell, president of the voting machines company Diebold and a fundraiser for Bush: "if you're the guy who makes the voting machines, you stay out of partisan politics" Frum threw out, "if the machines don't work, get rid of them. If they do work, fix them." Izzard asked "Well, the difficulty is how do you prove it?" "Well, you need a way of tracing whether the vote was ever recorded," said Vidal. He concluded with the opinion: "What we have done is privatize our electoral system. Our democracy is privatized." Bill then passed on his last "New Rules" before his hiatus ends in July.

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Aired - 12 March 2004

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This week's Real Time with Bill Maher began with a political ad campaign from Bush/Cheney '04. "Jesus calls him every night around 8:30 - just before he goes to bed. This November, vote for George W. Bush." Bill first chewed "the fat about fat" with Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson. "Chunky is good, but slim is better," Thompson quipped. Bill suggested that we reduce high-fructose corn syrup from our foods. "It's in just about everything. The per capita consumption -- over 62 pounds a year. Mister Secretary, I think that's too much syrup." Bill wrapped up on question of whether America's ban on cheaper drugs from Canada was a way to protect the pharmaceutical industry. Thompson replied the standard of safety set by the U.S. was just too high for anyone to meet. Bill, then, posed this question to the evening's roundtable: "If George Bush had been honest about this war, would you have supported it?" Author/linguist John McWhorter said yes, because the administration wanted to "show that an Arab country can be run on a democratic plan." He added, "I would have gone with it, but I doubt if a lot of other people would have." Canada's first female prime minister, Kim Campbell stated, "I'm actually amazed that you think you know why he did it, because, I mean, to me, it's still a mystery." As the conversation moved to religion, comedian George Carlin stated: "It is my opinion that at the base of most of the evil in the world is religion of any kind." Campbell noted, "I don't think in Canada you could be prime minister if you were ever quoted as saying that you thought God wanted you to run, and you thought the jury was still out on evolution." Next, Bill talked about indecency with ousted NPR commentator Sandra Tsing Loh. Loh was fired when the 'F-word' didn't get bleeped for a report she did. Bill, incensed her boss at KCRW told her she needed help, exclaimed, "How dumb is this fucking country?" Campbell added, "if you never encounter anything in your community that offends you, you're not living in a free society." The Madrid terrorist attack had Bill asking, "Do you think every country would make a memorial the way we're making a memorial?" McWhorter responded, "Frankly, yeah. It's natural." Carlin rejoined, "It's obscene! There is an unhealthy fascination with death and remembering the dead." Concluding, "if you have grief, fine, good inside. Same with religion: keep it inside. Keep it to yourself. If you want to share it a little bit with friends and family, fine. But don't be coming and taking over things that are kind of public, and thrusting your 'GRIEF' on me." With that off Carlin's chest, Bill launched into his "New Rules."

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Aired - 05 March 2004

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This week's Real Time with Bill Maher began with a tourism ad from the Haiti Convention and Visitors Authority. "What happens in Haiti, stays in Haiti." In Bill's wrap up of the week's news: the general election is on with Sen. John Kerry facing President George Bush in November and Bush launching his controversial re-election ad campaign featuring footage from 911. Teetotaler John Ashcroft mysteriously comes down with a pancreatic ailment often associated with excessive alcohol consumption. Haiti rebels promise to lay down their arms. Pottery Barns fly their flags at half-staff over Martha Stewart's guilty verdict and another Catholic priest is in trouble for sexual coercion. Discussing events were guests Sen. Barbara Boxer and sportscaster Bob Costas via satellite; comedian Martin Short, PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley and anti-tax advocate Steve Moore at the round table. Via satellite, Boxer believes Kerry's chances of defeating Bush are good, with swing votes and a few Republican defections being the difference. The round table guests argued the credibility of Bush's new ads. From the right, Moore claimed people needed reminding that the world was not safe, and that Bush led the country well after 911 and removed Saddam Hussein. Smiley countered that because of the lack of job growth, the deterioration of the environment and the unsolved problems in post-war Iraq, the White House had nothing to run on but fear. Moving to Kerry, Bill wondered why Kerry runs away from the label "liberal". Smiley answered that people left of center had let the conservatives define who they were and according to Moore, Kerry was making Kennedy look like a moderate. On Haiti, Bill asked why does Haiti not work? Smiley felt that this -- and past --administrations have undermined the island nation by claiming to want democracy but failing to support the democratically elected Aristide. "There's no oil in Haiti," Short pointed out, while Moore posited that free market capitalism would turn the tiny republic into the Singapore of the Caribbean region. Bill then revealed a "letter from Saddam Hussein". Accommodations were good, the letter said, compared to a hole; Saddam likes Donald Trump's new show; and the one lesson he'd add to the Koran would be - "don't [mess] with the Bush family over oil." HBO's Bob Costas and Bill discussed the growing steroid scandal in baseball, with Costas estimating that 30 to 40 percent of baseball players use some form of performance enhancer. Costas felt that if allegations of illegal steroid use were conclusively proven, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig would have to suspend the guilty for a large portion of the coming season. The question of whether the fans really care remains unanswered. The round table went onto discuss: Morgan Spurlock's documentary "Super Size Me" (chronicling the director's month long all-McDonald's diet) and the film's possible impact on McD's decision to simplify its menu by dropping the super sized options; tax breaks for the obese choosing to surgically downsize their stomachs; and the privatization of social security. Friday, Martha Stewart was found guilty raising the issue of prosecutorial discretion and whether insider trading should even be considered illegal. The debate centered on this question -- Is it unfair that Stewart could face twenty years in jail, while many white-collar criminals have committed far greater crimes, such as bilking the government of millions, and avoided punishment altogether. "If you do the crime, you do the time," Smiley added, as Short and Maher advocated going after the guys from Halliburton. Bill wrapped up with his "New Rules."

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Aired - 27 February 2004

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Bill opened with a spoof lampooning Mel Gibson and his movie, "Passion of Christ," with "Mel" giving an Oscar® acceptance speech for Best Picture. He then launched into his monologue covering the week's news topics, including, Allen Greenspan's report to Congress, the "Passion of Christ", Haiti, and gay marriage. He also skewered Smith & Wesson for having to fire their president after finding out he did time for armed robbery. Bill then interviewed Ralph Nader in the studio, starting things off by asking him to respond to Rev. Sharpton's charge that he and Kucinich are campaigning on the same issues as Nader, and he should support one of them. The overall thrust of Nader's argument was that all the candidates are beholden to corporate interests, and the only way to bring about significant change would be to elect him, who isn't controlled by those interests. Nader then put forth that social security is sound, and that it is the corporate pension system that is in serious trouble. Bill then wished Nader a happy birthday and presented him with a cake in the shape of a pinto with burning candles on the back bumper. Bill then welcomed Kwame Kilpatrick, Christie Todd Whitman, and Sir Ian McKellen to this week's roundtable. He started things off by bring up how Howard Stern was taken off the air by a broadcast group, largely in response to pressure from the Congress. Bill then switched to a discussion on how a woman portrayed the devil in the "Passion of Christ". Surprisingly, Bill was very supportive of movie because it made him think about (but not necessarily agree with) the issues raised in the movie. Bill then welcomed Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America, a group supporting the movement for a Constitutional amendment to limit marriage to between men and women. Most of what she had to say was met with jeers by the audience. Sir Ian then launched right in on the issue, noting the first sanctified unions by the church were between same sexes and quoting Thomas Jefferson. Knowing he claims to not read the papers, Bill introduced an article he felt was worth the President's time. This week's article focused on a Pentagon study that found greenhouse gases are destroying the atmosphere. Christie Whitman strongly defended the White House's environmental policy positions. Bill then closed out the show with this week's "New Rules"

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Aired - 20 February 2004

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The show opened Ken burns Vietnam spoof with a letter to home from W. Bill then went straight into his monologue, lampooning Bush's position on gay marriages, and Tom Delay's poorly chosen remarks on the subject. Bill also bravely tossed out a few jokes on the Colorado University football rape scandal and a train wreck in Iran, and then moved on to safer ground by poking a few jabs at Mel Gibson and his movie, "Passion Of Christ". After the monologue, Bill sat with Virginia Senator, George Allen, for an in-studio interview and spoke with the Senator his father, a pro-football coach, the Yankees, baseball, and professional sports in general. They then talked about Allen's position on gay marriages and if it's a state's rights issue, and how to reconcile his position with his support of the movement for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages. Bill also questioned Bush's "basking in being a wartime President" and encouraging the public to go about their everyday lives, rather than asking them to make sacrifices. They also talked about energy policy, and whether or not American society has become decadent. Bill then introduced Jon Favrau, Debra Dickerson, and D.L. Hugley, the evening's roundtable guests. They started off talking about the Democratic candidates and what the American people want in a President and what is motivating them; many just want to get rid of President Bush. Bill then showed a few compromising "photos" of Kerry, making light of the doctored photo showing Kerry with Jane Fonda. John Favrau and Bill then traded a few jabs. Things then got back on track with a discussion on outsourcing, not only manufacturing jobs, but white collar jobs as well. Outsourcing flowed into a discussion on education in America. Bill then welcomed Dennis Kucinich to the show via satellite. Bill started right off by asking Kucinich if he is polling so low, why not go after the "third rail" issues in politics, issues like the Cuban embargo and decriminalizing marijuana. Kucinich responded by he is going after third rail issues, like the War in Iraq and health care policy. He then spoke about how he would get the US out of Iraq if elected. Bill then read his weekly article for the President. But there was a discussion first as to why Bush brought up his military record when he visited the Dayton 500, block voting by races in America, and the portrayal of blacks. Bill then turned to this week's article on multi-racial births in California; there were more multi-racial births than black-births last year. This then led to a talk about Colorado and the recent rash of sex based incidents. Bill then launched into the new rules.

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Aired - 13 February 2004

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The show opened with a "moment of serenity" spoof brought by Haliburton. Bill then launched into his monologue, ridiculing Bush's doubling the funding for programs promoting sexual abstinence, his National Guard service, Kerry's rumored indiscretions with an intern, and elections in Iraq. Bill then had a satellite interview with Rep. Heather Wilson of NM, discussing obscenity hearings she participated in growing out of Janet Jackson Super Bowl breast, the cozy relationships between FCC regulators and the people they are supposed to regulate, and Bush's service in the National Guard. Then, despite some technical difficulties, Bill interviewed author James Moore and Bill Burkett, retired colonel from the Texas National Guard. Moore has written a book on Bush and the agenda to overthrow Hussein, while Burkett claims to have being present at the "cleaning" of Bush's National Guard files. After the satellite interviews, Bill introduced the evening's guests, actor Billy Baldwin, Washington Times columnist Deborah Simmons, and actor Jason Alexander. The discussion began with Bush and his record of service in the National Guard. While there was some debate, the group netted out is that the issue is not the nature of his service, but his credibility in how he has addressed the issue. Bill then took some time out to introduce this week's article for Bush, which was on the First Lady and her claim that she reads the papers everyday with her husband. The discussion then turned to the controversial film, The Passion Of Christ, and the removal of a line because of focus group reactions. They then spoke briefly on the Christian Right's supporting Israel in order to bring about the rapture. Conversation then turned to Martha Stewart prosecution witness, Douglas Faneuil, and the defense's attack on his credibility based on his recreational drug use. They then spoke about pornography and the impact it has on relationships between men and women. Bill then wrapped the show up with this week's "New Rules".

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Aired - 06 February 2004

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Kobe Teeth made another memorable appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher in the opening segment. After the Kobe video, Bill opened with his monologue where he made note of Bush's declining numbers, Dean's declining campaign, the bringing together of the Intelligence Failure Panel, Bush's vague National Guard service record, Janet Jackson's Super Bowl performance. Bill then conducted an interview with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. While things got off to awkward start, the recovery was well handled, with Bill and Gov. Granholm having an interesting discussion on things like electronic voting, obesity and healthcare in America, and gay marriages. Bill then introduced this week's roundtable that included New Republic editor Andrew Sullivan, frm. Ambassador Carol Mosely Braun, and comedian Rob Schnider. Discussion started off on Janet Jackson's Super Bowl stunt, which Bill summed up as being neither appropriate nor in good taste, but not worth more than 5 minutes of anyone's ire. They then talked about Martha Stewart and questioned if she was being targeted because she is a successful woman, and if not, why haven't companies like Haliburton been more closely scrutinized for their questionable practices. Bill then interviewed Ron Suskind, co-author with Paul O'Niell of Price Of Loyalty. They talked about the White House claim that documents used were classified and where Suskind thought things maybe going on the issue of Bush's National Guard service record. The Suskind interview led to a discussion on Bush's "honor and integrity," something Bush made a point of during his campaign. In Bill's estimation, this is something coming back to haunt him as attention is being focused on his National Guard service record, as well as, to a lesser extent, his brother Neil's alleged peccadilloes with Asian prostitutes and consulting contracts with the Chinese. The conversation then moved on to the influence of special interests' have over politicians through their access to them, especially with respect to John Kerry. The group then spoke about gay marriages. Bill then finished out the show with the "New Rules".

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Aired - 30 January 2004

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The show opened with a spoof video from country music artist, "Kobe Teeth" with a song satirizing Bush's back peddling on WMDs in Iraq. In his monologue immediately following the spoof, Bill poked fun at John Kerry and some of the other Democratic candidates, the White House finger pointing going on over the absence of WMD in Iraq, and Michael Jackson. Bill then had a satellite interview with documentarian Michael Moore, where they discussed his support for Wesley Clark's, who challenged Bush on his record of service in the National Guard, and why the media has not done more to uncover Bush's past on this issue. Bill then conducted another satellite interview with Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, and his views on how the National Guard is being misused in the Iraq war, that Bush is soft on national security, and why Southerners don't vote for Northerners. Bill then welcomed the evening's roundtable guests, Actor Sean Astin, comedian Larry Miller, and former Bush-Cheney 2000 press secretary Mindy Tucker-Fletcher. The panel briefly talked about the latest campaign rumor-that Kerry has received botox injections. They then talked about how Iraq became an "emergency" right after 9/11, despite the fact that it now seems fairly obvious the administration had Iraq in their sights long before 9/11. Bill then read some excerpts from the "Republican Guide To Marriage" (a spoof), which led to a debate on gay marriages. In the article of the week for President Bush, Bill shared an article from the New York Times on how technology has allowed us to isolate ourselves from other people in our daily interactions. The conversation then moved to the difficult subject of Israel and historical precedents and justification separating different people who cannot live in peace together. Bill then wrapped the show up with this week's "New Rules".

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Aired - 23 January 2004

Episode summary:

TBA

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Aired - 16 January 2004

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The show opened with an "ad" for "Villa De Luna," spoofing President Bush's space initiative. Bill then launched into his monologue, with barbs aimed at Michael Jackson, Bush's visit to Martin Luther King's grave on the anniversary of his assassination, more fun at Bush's expense and his Mars initiative, and the Democratic Presidential candidates. He then introduced the evening's guests-Presidential candidate Rev. Al Sharpton, US Congressman Darrell Issa, and actor Ron Silver. Before starting things off, he spoke with Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret.) via satellite about how the public's perception of him and how the press made a bit of an issue of his wearing sweaters to soften his image. Being a good sport, Clark showed the famous argyle sweater and announced that it would be auctioned off on Ebay for charity. Things got a bit more serious when Bill asked him how he thought the military treated soldiers and what he thought of American values. The season premiere got off to a somewhat inauspicious start when Ron Silver started mixing it up with Rev. Sharpton, challenging him on his positions on Iraq and the defense of the US. This led to a rambling, contentious debate on the questionable, underlying premises justifying the invasion of Iraq. Bill then called a time out by showing a spoof anti-Dean ad, purportedly run by the Republican Party in Iowa. Bill then spoke briefly with Moby about MoveOn.org and the banning of the organization's anti-Bush ad they wanted to run during the Super Bowl. He then introduced a new segment where he points out an article he thinks Bush should read (who claims not to read papers). For the inaugural article, he chose one on the impact pollution is having on Inuits in Alaska. This then led to a debate on the environment. Finally, Bill closed the show out with his "New Rules."

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Aired - 26 September 2003

Episode summary:

TBA

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Aired - 19 September 2003

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TBA

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Aired - 19 September 2003

Episode summary:

Special guest Terry McAuliffe joined Bill via satellite to talk about the Democratic Party, when Bill dove right in. With a poll showing that 70% of Americans believe Saddam Hussein had something to do with the 9/11 attack, he wanted to know what's wrong with the Democrats and why aren't they getting the message out that it is now fairly clear that he did not have anything to do with 9/11. Bill then wanted to know what would happen to current Democratic front-runner and Iraq war opponent Howard Dean if Hussein, Bin Laden or weapons of mass destruction were found. Bill also wanted to know if, all things being equal, Kerry deserved the Party's nod because of his military service. Finally, he asked if McAuliffe if Dean's low appeal to minority voters would present a problem for the Party if he were nominated. Bill then introduced his roundtable guests, Betsy Hart, Paul Krugman, and Jesse Ventura. Bill started things off by noting the passing of the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the changed mood from the previous anniversary. He then asked Krugman what he thought of the Bush Presidency given his critique of the decision to attack Iraq and the subsequent impact on the economy. There then followed a free wheeling discussion on the subject by the roundtable. The discussion then moved to the question of if the attacks have made the public passive and accepting of what our government tells us. The conversation then shifted to the Governor of Alabama's failed attempt to sell a tax increase to the state's voters as being the Christian thing to do. Krugman then argued with Ventura about Ventura's call for reliance on a sales tax mechanism, and how it is highly regressive and unfair to the poor. The two of them then argued about farm subsidies, where Krugman futilely pointed out the government sets a floor on crop prices, not a ceiling as argued by Ventura. Bill then introduced his special guest musician Liz Phair to talk about Internet enable music piracy. After talking with Phair, Bill spoke about his dismay that Tommy Chong was sentenced to nine months in prison for a venture he ran that sold bongs over the Internet. Bill then gave this week's New Rules.

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Aired - 05 September 2003

Episode summary:

Special guest, Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret.) discussed Iraq and the need for the Bush administration to clearly communicate to the American people who the enemy is and what their strategy is for resolving Middle Eastern conflicts. He also identified that part of the problem the current administration is having is that there was not a sufficient amount of post war planning. The General also identified himself as a liberal, but in the classic sense of the word, where issues are resolved through reason and dialog, not towing party lines and stricture. Bill then introduced his roundtable guests for the week, Wolf Blitzer, D.L. Hughley, and William Kristol. Bill started things off by noting this week was the first all male panel in the show's history, and seeking the panel's impression on John Kerry's crying at the difficulties described by an unemployed mother. Bill then took the opportunity to ask hard-line conservative Bill Kristol if he felt the war in Iraq was going to plan. Kristol said his magazine, The Weekly Standard, was publishing an editorial urging the President to do what was necessary to not only win the war, but also win the post-war in Iraq as well. Bill then questioned why two Newsweek reporters could locate the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden, while the US military cannot. Bill then introduced another special guest, Al Franken, who spoke about his tangling with Fox News and the use of the words "fair and balanced" in the title of his book. They also talked briefly about Franken's comparison of conservative love of country to how a child loves his mother, as opposed to an adults' love for a spouse and that person's imperfections. After more talk about Iraq, Bill asked the panel if they felt the seriousness and importance of the news was being diminished by reporting on things like Madonna's kissing Britney Spears and the VMA awards. And, what the effect is on the youth when Britney Spears says things like we should trust our President in every decision he makes. There was also some discussion on why the press has been so forgiving towards the President on his, some would argue, frequent gaffs. Blitzer in particular argued that 9/11 redefined the public's relationship with the President. Finally, Bill questioned the reasoning behind granting condemned abortion doctor murderer Paul Hill a press conference, suggesting it was a gesture to the pro-life movement by Gov. Jeb Bush. Bill then gave this week's New Rules.

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Aired - 29 August 2003

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Special guest, Senator Joe Biden discussed the current problems in Iraq and North Korea, arguing the Administration needs to be forthright with the American people about both the scope of commitment and importance in resolving these conflicts favorably. The roundtable guests, Bay Buchanan, Dennis Miller and Larry Miller briefly discussed the President's recent assertion in a speech that one reason we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is to keep the battle away from American soil. Bill then questioned to Republican Party's decision to delay the convention to coincide with the anniversary of September 11 and hold a ceremony at the World Trade Center site. The group then briefly discussed the influence of MTV and rap music on America's youth. Bill then briefly spoke with California State Senator Tom McClintock about his thoughts on Arnold Schwarzenegger's and his own run for the California governorship. The roundtable then debated whether candidates should be held accountable for "youthful indiscretions" when running for office. Bill then directed the conversation towards what the influence, if any, Christian Fundamentalism plays in Middle East and Israeli Policy.

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Aired - 22 August 2003

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Special guests former CIA director R. James Woolsey and Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. joined Bill via satellite, discussing the situation on the ground in post-war Iraq. Ford, who recently returned from touring Iraq, called for more international involvement in the rebuilding effort, and Bill wondered aloud whether the U.S. has a reputation for poor follow-through--"a country that has its fun, then leaves you on the side of the road with a torn dress and smeared lipstick." But Woolsey warned against a U.N.-run effort, unless "you like the way the United Nations defended the Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, in 1995." With roundtable guests comedian Margaret Cho, former Georgia congressman Bob Barr and Mayor Willie Brown, Bill trotted out his desktop Ten Commandments statue, and asked the panel how many of them had to do with law. It was a short philosophical hop to religion as a "neurological disease," and a look at gay rights, the Bible and why sodomy definitions often include all the fun stuff. The group sparred over the need for a gay high school and raised the possibility of segregating bullies into their own school instead. Bill wondered: Is the California recall a right-wing power grab? And could internet sperm transactions from mannotincluded.com make men mostly obsolete? Finally, this week's set of New Rules offered some crowd-pleasers regulating the blackout, cell phones and summer movies.

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Aired - 15 August 2003

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Special guests former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and California gubernatorial candidate Arianna Huffington discussed the California recall election. Roundtable guests, conservative commentator Ann Coulter, talk show host Orlando Jones, and California congressman Dana Rohrabacher, dove into the issue of the big blackout and if Republicans or Democrats were to blame. Bill then steered the discussion towards the war in Iraq and the often-violent reception troops are receiving there, as compared to the warm reception being given by the people of Liberia. Bill then asked for opinions on the President's assertion that the media's heavy war coverage has contributed to the nation's weak economy. The issue of airline security was revisited when Bill brought up the administration's assertion that equipping commercial carriers with missile defense systems for $10 billion was "not fiscally viable." Finally, Bill posed the question to the roundtable if the introduction of the George Bush action figure was ironic given his own questionable record of military service, and, more generally, whether he has the qualities and deportment of a military leader. Bill then closed the show with the New Rules.

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Aired - 08 August 2003

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Special guest, California Governor Gray Davis spoke about the recall vote, the state's budget and the challenge from Arnold Schwarzenegger. The roundtable guests, Donna Brazile, Rep. David Dreier, and Janeane Garofalo, then took up the issue, focusing on whether Schwarzenegger brings an appropriate air of gravitas to the campaign. Bill then steered the discussion towards airport security, specifically, the airline industry's practice of using excess storage capacity for air cargo, which is not screened. The roundtable then discussed the adequacy of the Homeland Security Budget. Finally, discussion moved to Kobe Bryant and his quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, and if it was the best choice to describe his current plight. Bill then closed the show with the New Rules, where he focused on slogans and people's gullibility.

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Aired - 01 August 2003

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Special guests Ray Flynn and Representative Barney Frank mixed it up on the issue of gay marriages. The roundtable guests, Alec Baldwin, Christopher Hitchens and Tara Setmayer, then took up the issue, with those on the right arguing, among other things, gay marriages ultimately weaken the fabric of our society. Bill then steered the discussion towards the Middle East and the Saudi government's role in terrorism and why they have not been taken to task for their complicity. Texas state senator Leticia Van de Putte then joined in via satellite to talk about why Democratic members of the state legislature keep fleeing the state. Finally, the group discussed the impending recall vote of Governor Gray Davis. Bill then closed the show with the New Rules, where he focused on terrorist organizations that also claim to be charities.

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Aired - 25 July 2003

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Senator Bob Graham spoke with Bill via satellite about the classified section of the congressional report on 9/11, (Sen. Graham was a member of the committee that issued the report). The roundtable guests, Angela "Bay" Buchanan, D.L. Hughley and Aaron McGruder, then discussed the reference to Iraq in President Bush's now infamous State of the Union speech. Rev. Al Sharpton then "dropped in" via satellite to talk about Liberia, which piqued further debate on the issue with the roundtable. Conversation then moved to Kobe Bryant, and the issue of rape and consensual sex. Finally, the group touched upon the movement to ban ephedra. Bill then closed the show with the New Rules, where he focused on the movement to recall California Governor, Gray Davis.

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Aired - 25 April 2003

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Roundtable guests, Clive Barker, D.L. Hughley and Ann Coulter discussed a few topics including whether or not an unborn child has rights and should be considered as such by our legal courts system. Guest performer, Naked Trucker and his band performed a song that redefined American patriotism.

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Aired - 18 April 2003

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Roundtable guests Ann Coulter, Michael Eric Dyson, Dennis Miller. Guest performer: Earthquake.

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Aired - 11 April 2003

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Roundtable guests Doug McIntyre, Arianna Huffington and Michael Eric Dyson brought the heat factor up several notches as they discussed the latest developments in the Iraq war and the Supreme Court case challenging current Texas law outlawing sodomy between two consenting adults. Paul F. Tompkins pondered the validity of Martha Burk's protest against the Augusta National Golf Club's policy of not admitting women. Jerry Minor's comedic performance of a soul singer discovering his woman's infidelity closed the show.

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Aired - 04 April 2003

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Roundtable guests Michael Graham, Arianna Huffington and Aaron McGruder gave their spins on racism and other topics. Jeff Ross closed the show with a comedic performance.

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Aired - 28 March 2003

Episode summary:

Roundtable Guests Janeane Garofalo, Michael Graham, Larry Miller gave their spins on how being anti-war is not being anti-American. Paul F. Tompkins comedically commented on our Southern states grappling with the confederate flag and other political issues. Special guest Michael Moore discussed his fiery Academy Award ® acceptance speech. Bob Odenkirk closed the show with a witty performance.

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Aired - 21 March 2003

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Bill's guests were veterans Shad Meshad, Delphine Metcalf-Foster and Ward Tayne of past US wars who discussed how their experiences shaped their views of the Iraq war. Paul F. Tompkins chimed in on the Academy Awards and roundtable guests Connie Rice, Larry Miller and Tim Robbins discussed the war, veterans rights and whether or not support for the troops means supporting the war. Musicians Grant Lee Phillips and Jon Brion closed the show with their guitar stylings.

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Aired - 14 March 2003

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Civil Rights Activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson stopped by for lively discussion. Roundtable topics for guests Arianna Huffington, Monica Crowley and Dennis Miller included the impending Iraq war and the tumbling stock market. Comedian Nick Swardson provided his stand up performance to close the show.

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Aired - 07 March 2003

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Roundtable guests discussed President Bush's press conference, reality TV and terrorism while Paul F. Tompkins waxed poetic on the seemingly infinite number of Democrats lining up for the presidency. Guest performance by comedy group "Marijuanalogues".

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Aired - 28 February 2003

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Satellite Guests Dave Matthews and Dave Horowitz gave their views on the possibility of war with Iraq. Roundtable Guests Ted Rall, Monica Crowley, Larry Miller chimed in on the week's events including the selection of the new World Trade Center designs. Special Performance by Monty Python comedian Eric Idle.

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Aired - 21 February 2003

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Surprise appearance by comedian and former "Politically Incorrect" Correspondant Chris Rock who mixed it up with roundtable guest Ann Coulter on the topic of Affirmative Action. Comedian Sarah Silverman ended the show with her acid-wit comedy.

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Aired - 05 June 2009

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Comic/Actor D.L. Hughley Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass Novelist Paula Froelich Journalist Jeremy Scahill Fortune Editor Matt Miller

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Aired - 29 May 2009

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"CSI: NY" Actor Hill Harper Ex-U.N. Ambassador John Bolton Ex-U.S Representative Heather Wilson (R-NM) Food Industry Critic Michael Pollan

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Aired - 22 May 2009

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Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank Simon Johnson, economist Jon Meacham, author M.I.A, singer

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Aired - 15 May 2009

Episode summary:

Guests: Elizabeth Warren, Richard Brookhiser, Amy Holmes, Dan Savage, David Simon. HBO presents an all-new episode of this acclaimed weekly series hosted by politically incorrect muse Bill Maher. (TVMA) (AC,AL)

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Aired - 08 May 2009

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No Description set.

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Aired - 01 May 2009

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Former FDA commissioner David Kessler, foreign correspondent Richard Engel, editor Fareed Zakaria, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). (TVMA) (AC,AL)

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Aired - 24 April 2009

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No Description set.

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Aired - 10 April 2009

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Bill Maher has a special one-on-one interview with Ron Howard (acclaimed actor, director, producer), then Gore Vidal (writer, essayist, "THE Real Most Interesting Man in the World.")

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Aired - 27 March 2009

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Bill Bradley, former US Senator; Christopher Hitchens, author; Mos Def, actor/artist; Salman Rushdie, novelist

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Aired - 20 March 2009

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Madeleine Albright, fmr. US Secretary of State; Keith Olbermann, political commentator; Kerry Washington, actor; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times

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Aired - 13 March 2009

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Bill and his guests talk about Politics, Racism in America and Politics, Education, Socialism, Stem Cell research, Being Loved by the Jews and Divas.

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Aired - 06 March 2009

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Bill and his guests talk about Green Initiatives, the economy, prisons, President Obama, and make fun of Rush Limbaugh

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Aired - 27 February 2009

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Guests: actor Alan Cumming; political satirist and journalist PJ O'Rourke; Mayor. Gavin Newsom (D-San Fran); political correspondent George Stephanopoulos; author Robin Wright On the State of the Union President Obama did go a little far in saying we're going to cure cancer. I mean, if we get halfway there, it wouldn't be so bad. – George Stephanopoulos It seems like we're at a point in our history where we're so fragile that we're very dependent on the president giving a great performance. He is, after all, above all else, a television character. – Bill Maher Republicans have a problem because they seem to just be drawing a line and not really meeting people's needs. – George Stephanopoulos Obama should have a "Writing the New American Dream" Department. – Alan Cumming This country has been crumbling not just for the last ten years, and not just under Bush, but for a long time we've ignored all these problems because we bought big-screen TVs and jet skis. – Bill Maher On Gov. Bobby Jindal's Response Sarah Palin could have done a better job. Seriously. – Bill Maher I thought there was no vision. There was nothing that was being offered that gave us any sense of optimism. It was just the tried and true conservative line for a guy who clearly wants to be president. – Myr. Gavin Newsom On Afghanistan Unfortunately, the Bush Administration for eight years had this totally laissez faire attitude towards Afghanistan, that instead of dealing with that, they invented this war in Iraq. In a way, Obama has been left with no choice. – Tina Brown Do the terrorists really need a training ground? I know we always see the stock footage of them on the monkey bars. If they don't have the monkey bars; if they're not limber, is it really going to change anything? – Bill Maher The lesson that we didn't learn after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan was that we needed to stay around and help, with our allies, build a state that going to be stable, and not allow Bin Laden and others to use it as a haven for training anti-American activists. – Robin Wright On Religion Think about my standing, seriously, with the Catholic Church. Support gay marriage, support stem cell research; I have the California Stem Cell Institute in our city. Pro-choice. Distribute condoms. Pro-birth control...I've been divorced... – Myr. Gavin Newsom I let Obama off easy with Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I thought, well, as a Catholic, I really can't get on somebody about what their clergy has been up to. – PJ O'Rourke

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Aired - 20 February 2009

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Guests: Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of TheDailyBeast.com; Chrystia Freeland, managing editor of the Financial Times; Brigitte Gabriel, journalist; Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) On the Economy Clint Eastwood was right to hang on to that Gran Torino. It's worth more than the home. – Bill Maher Bernie [Madoff] stole $50 billion, mostly from other Jews. For Jews, this was the worst pyramid scheme since the actual pyramids. – Bill Maher I mean, frankly, all we need now to find out is that, you know, Warren Buffett is a crook and Derek Jeter took steroids, and the whole country would collapse. – Tina Brown Well, the real problem is, is that we need to do a lot less. We should be doing hardly anything in Washington. But, politically, that is unacceptable. – Rep. Ron Paul [The free market] is free in the same way a reality show is real. – Bill Maher On the Middle East America went to four wars defending Muslims in Muslim countries. We went into Kuwait to liberate a Muslim nation from Saddam Hussein, who attacked them in the 1990. We went into Bosnia, fighting the Christians to liberate the Muslims. So, you know, we try to do a lot to help the Islamic world. – Brigitte Gabriel You know, it's one thing to win hearts and minds, but you have to remember: it's more important to keep them in bodies. – Bill Maher On Afghanistan Unfortunately, the Bush Administration for eight years had this totally laissez faire attitude towards Afghanistan, that instead of dealing with that, they invented this war in Iraq. In a way, Obama has been left with no choice. – Tina Brown The Democrats haven't been in charge too long yet, but they're going to lose credibility if they expand the war. What about sending 17,000 troops into Afghanistan? I mean, that's not the way to have change. I want the troops all to come home. – Rep. Ron Paul It's easy to say Afghanistan is ungovernable. Look, it's not just how long we've been trying. This is the 20th anniversary of the Russian failure there. I mean, it is obviously very difficult. But, there are also real dangers that it could get worse if there's a total American withdrawal. – Chrystia Freeland

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