Author Topic: CENSORED BY CNN: BILL MAHER SUGGESTS RNC CHAIR MEHLMAN IS GAY....  (Read 3024 times)

Offline JennyC

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It's on huffingtonpost http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/11/08/censored-by-cnn-bill-mah_n_33701.html .  Fan fact, Arianna huffington is Bill Maher's ex-wife.

I actually watched yesterday's Larry King Live, but of course it's the edited version since I am on the west coast.  I am generally against publicly outing anyone if it's against their will, with the exception to expose the hypocrisy if the person in question is doing the gay bashing in public.  The news is on a lot of blogs, but the videos on youtube all have been removed.


From CNN:

During the live broadcast of CNN's Larry King Live, Bill Maher suggested to Larry King that Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman is gay. Watch the clip from the live broadcast and read the transcript:

Partial transcript of Bill Maher's Live appearance on Larry King Live:

BM: A lot of the chiefs of staff, the people who really run the underpinnings of the Republican Party, are gay. I don't want to mention names, but I will Friday night...

LK:You will Friday night?

BM: Well, there's a couple of big people who I think everyone in Washington knows who run the Republican...

LK: You will name them?

BM: Well, I wouldn't be the first. I'd get sued if I was the first. Ken Mehlman. Ok, there's one I think people have talked about. I don't think he's denied it when he's been, people have suggested, he doesn't say...

LK: I never heard that. I'm walking around in a fog. I never...Ken Mehlman? I never heard that. But the question is...

BM: Maybe you don't go to the same bathhouse I do, Larry.


When CNN re-aired the interview later that night, they edited out Larry King and Bill Maher's discussion of Mehlman's potential homosexuality.


Partial transcript of Bill Maher's re-aired appearance on Larry King Live:

BM: A lot of the chiefs of staff, the people who really run the underpinnings of the Republican Party, are gay. I don't want to mention names, but I will Friday night...

LK:You will Friday night?

BM: Well, there's a couple of big people who I think everyone in Washington knows who run the Republican...

LK: You will name them?

BM: Well, I wouldn't be the first. I'd get sued if I was the first.

LKL: But the question is...

BM: Maybe you don't go to the same bathhouse I do, Larry.


Offline Kd5000

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Re: CENSORED BY CNN: BILL MAHER SUGGESTS RNC CHAIR MEHLMAN IS GAY....
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2006, 09:55:29 pm »
Ken Mehlman. It's been all over the internet for some time. Just type Ken Mehlman on yahoo and see what comes up.  Personally, he doesn't do a thing for me, though I've noted when he's been photographed at work, he's always surronded by handsome clean cut young men. No women around.   ;D Shades of a younger Malcom Forbes. 

Ken Melhman denied he was gay a few months back.  Of course, he must have played a role in orchestrating gay baiting rhetoric in the 2004 presidential race. Scare the heck out of those fundamentalists of what's going to happen if Kerry gets elected. The gays are going to take over. I guess it's no revelation to say that some of worst enemies of the gay community are gay themselves. Roy Cohn all over again.

Yep, I read Huffingtonpost.com everyday myself. 

Offline ednbarby

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Re: CENSORED BY CNN: BILL MAHER SUGGESTS RNC CHAIR MEHLMAN IS GAY....
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2006, 01:53:06 pm »
I'm gathering Maher is attacking Mehlman's hypocrisy primarily, here, and I think attacking that in and of itself is appropriate to the extent that he was largely behind the 2004 win that was ultimately all about homophobia-mongering, as you said, KD.  But I've also gotten the vague impression before that Maher is a bit of a homophobe himself.  He just brings it up on his show a little too often for my liking, you know?  Not just in context with the Foley thing or other such scandals, but seemingly at every opportunity.  I get the same impression about Jon Stewart and for the same reason.  And you know me - because I've become so militant in my anti- anti-gay sentiments in the last several months, it's affected the way I think about both of them, and consequently I don't watch their otherwise very good shows anymore.
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Offline JennyC

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Re: CENSORED BY CNN: BILL MAHER SUGGESTS RNC CHAIR MEHLMAN IS GAY....
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2006, 08:01:56 pm »
First of all, Barb, you know I hate to disagree with you.   :)

In regards to Bill Maher and Jon Stewart I understand where you are coming from, but I don’t think they are homophobic.  They are first and foremost comedians even though their show is more politically oriented.  Mocking fun of people to demonstrate a point is what they do.  Are all their jokes related to gay sensitive?  No.  That’s the nature of that business, pushing the envelope, being provocative, and being politically incorrect sometimes.   Granted I didn’t watch all their shows to make an assessment, but general speaking regardless whatever the jokes they crack, I never get the feeling that the underlining message is homophobic.  It’s mostly about attacking the hypocrisy and people’s stereotypes.  Sometimes they make fun of certain elements of gay culture/behaviors (if there is even a word for that), but don’t they make tons of jokes about heterosexual culture/behaviors?  We don’t call them heterophobia because they are straight.  In the wave of the recent scandals involving some gay people in the public eyes, being a comedian it’s almost impossible to let that pass and not crack a few jokes.  Their approach to the scandals is understandably different from more serious and analytical type of shows.   

Is gay rights near and dear to their hearts?  Maybe not.  Are they homophobic because of that, or crack gay jokes?  At least I don’t think so.  As a matter of fact, I think both of them have been defending gay rights from religious right and engaged in various debates on the subject.

I find that the definition of homophobia is really subject to who use it. What a hard-line gay activist considers to be homophobia is quite different from what I understand to be the convention wisdom that defines homophobia.  I remembered that we used to have a thread to discuss what made people not homophobic.  FuzzyChanny posted saying her best friend (who is gay) accused her to be homophobic, which she understandably was very upset about.  I would have a hard time to believe anyone who regularly posts here to be homophobic, but by her friend’s standard maybe we are.  It all depends on who you ask. 

Offline ednbarby

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Re: CENSORED BY CNN: BILL MAHER SUGGESTS RNC CHAIR MEHLMAN IS GAY....
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2006, 08:01:02 pm »
Good points, Jenny.  And no worries.  I welcome disagreement, especially from my best friends, because it's the main thing that helps me to learn.

It's just a vague sense I've had, and probably a paranoid one at that.  And I've noticed, especially in Bill Maher's case, that neither of them is afraid of pushing the envelope.  Usually, it is the neo-cons who are the brunt of their jokes.  Can't blame them at all on that one.  :)
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