After his guests thoroughly slammed Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) over his comments on the importance of changing the culture of “inner cities” to emphasize the value of “work,” HBO’s Bill Maher pulled a fast one.
He read another similar quote from Ryan… except it was actually said by first lady Michelle Obama.
“When it comes to getting an education, too many of our young people just can’t be bothered. They’re sitting on couches for hours playing video games, watching TV. Instead of dreaming of being a teacher or a lawyer or a business leader, they’re fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper,” Maher said, quoting the first lady.
When Maher revealed what he had done, comedian W. Kamau Bell was visibly surprised. It took a moment for him to come up with a reply.
The audience was noticeably silent as well.
“Is something less true if a white person says it?” Maher asked the panel.
“I don’t think this a Republican or Democrat issue, this is a people issue,” Bell replied.
“Well, yeah suddenly,” Maher joked. He also said the first lady’s comments sound even more like telling black people not to be “lazy.”
Bell then defended Michelle Obama’s comments, saying “she was talking to black people — we talk to each other differently than we talk in front of you.”
Bill Maher used his Friday night HBO show Real Time to point out a blatant hypocrisy when it comes to racism in the United States. But in order to make his point, Maher had to mislead his panel of guests.
Maher read a recent quote from Paul Ryan about inner city men not valuing work that got Ryan accused of being racist, and two out of three of Maher's panelists agreed with the criticism. Maher then read another quote he said was by Ryan, which stated that most young black men are just sitting around dreaming of becoming a "baller" or "rapper." Again, a majority of panelists cringed at its racist overtones. But then Maher revealed that in fact first lady Michelle Obama said the last quote -- and an uncomfortable hush fell across the entire studio.
At the start of the segment, Maher read the real Paul Ryan quote:
We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work…
Maher asked his panel, "Is this a case where he's just being honest and it's not about race, or are we seeing race here where it shouldn't be? Because that was the criticism -- is that he was talking in code."
Guest comedian W. Kamau Bell, who hosts a show on FX called Totally Biased, responded:
I'm going to go ahead and say that there was race there -- that he was talking about black people when he said that. He was talking about blacks and Latinos when he said that, absolutely. Because you can't blame the people in the inner city -- blacks and Latinos -- for not having jobs when there's no jobs to get in the inner cities. And you can't blame them when the schools suck, the hospital sucks, there's no grocery store, all their fathers are in jail -- you can't blame them for not doing better when that's the case.
Another panelist, Neera Tanden, president of Center for American Progress, agreed:
What I think is really abominable about what he said is that he is really blaming people because there are no jobs in these communities and when you look at [Ryan's] budget -- what does his budget do? Cuts all the programs in these communities -- programs that have helped create jobs and takes it, and actually his budget every year until now, has given massive tax cuts to the wealthy.
The only voice of reason came form Rick Lazio, a former Republican congressman from New York, who retorted:
In fairness, most of these inner cities are run by Democratic mayors, you've got a democratic president, and at one point you had a democratic Congress -- Senate and House -- and I don't see that they did a single thing effectively to help people in inner cities.
Maher continues by reading another quote that he attributes to Ryan only to reveals it is actually from Mrs. Obama:
'When it comes to getting an education, too many of our young people just can’t be bothered. They’re sitting on couches for hours playing video games, watching TV. Instead of dreaming of being a teacher or a lawyer or a business leader, they’re fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper.'
Oh, wait! That wasn't him, that was Michelle Obama.
Maher points out the "hushed silence."
Then Bell proves Maher's point. Here is the rest of the conversation:
Bell: I don't think this is a Republican or Democrat issue, this is a people issue.
Lazio: But you just called Ryan a racist.
Bell: Did I actually say he was a racist?
Lazio: Basically.
Bell: There's no basically calling somebody a racist. You're either a racist or you're not a racist.
Maher: C'mon! I just read this and you thought it was from Paul Ryan.
Bell: Because you told me it was. [laughs]
Maher: For a reason -- I'm just asking, is something less true if a white person says it about black people?
Bell: [stuttering] The truth is the truth and a lie is a lie. I'm not here to represent the side of like, 'If black people say it, it's more true because black people said it.'
Maher: No, but it does sound like Michelle Obama is agreeing with Paul Ryan. This sounds even more like, 'Hey, black people don't be lazy.'
Bell: First of all, where did she say it? Did she say it in front of black people with no cameras...
Maher: She said it at Bowie State commencement speech.
Bell: See, that's black people. She was talking to black people. We talk to each other differently than we talk when we are in front of you.
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/racist-bill-maher-makes-fool-his-black-guest
