Hate-ball

Hate-ball

Steve Malzberg
Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004

Hate speech from the left is nothing new. Did someone say Whoopie Goldberg? (check out my previous Newsmax column, "Radio City Raunchy") And who can forget Alec Baldwin on Bill Maher's old ABC show Politically Incorrect, where he talked about stoning Congressman Henry Hyde to death? Just a joke we were told. Funny, that's the same excuse that Maher used last night to defend his crack against President George W. Bush.

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Maher was a guest on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. He was referring the 32-page debate agreement reached between the Bush and Kerry camps. He likened it to riders attached to the contracts of entertainers who perform on the road. Those are usually worked out with the individual venues. He then said, "This is where you get the famous, 'Van Halen didn't want the brown M&M's,' and so forth. That's what it reminds me of - Bush said no M&M's because he might choke on them when he gets drunk."

Funny? Matthews may have thought so, but here's how the next few minutes of the show went:

Matthews: Oh no don't say that.

Maher: And Kerry wanted two dressing rooms. One for each of his positions.

(After briefly going to another question) Matthews: What did you say? The President hasn't drank in years. What are you talking about?

Maher: It was a joke Chris.

Matthews: Okay, good. I know sometimes on our show we say serious things, and I just wanted to make sure what that was.

Maher: Oh boy, Zel Miller has really gotten to you....What were you afraid Dick Cheney was going to challenge you to a duel tomorrow?

Matthews: No, I have to be no comment on that.

Later, Matthews expressed his displeasure with the fact that Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards agreed to debate Vice President Dick Cheney while the two will be sitting down, as opposed to standing up. Here's how that segment went:

Maher: Why? You think it would look better if they made Dick Cheney stand more like....

Chris Matthews: You got it....sweat it out for 90 minutes while the young guy beat him up. I mean, that would be a good show to watch. Maybe it's me. Maybe I've just lost my sense of humor. Maybe I should find these "jokes" funny, but I don't. And I know that I will have the satisfaction come November 2nd, of seeing that I am not alone.

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