Bill Maher Dismisses Sean Hannity's Criticism: He's Just "Terribly Sexually Repressed" (VIDEO)

During Howard Kurtz's interview with Bill Maher today on CNN's "Reliable Sources," Kurtz played a clip of right wing Fox News host Sean Hannity saying that Maher had become "an angry, bitter guy" as an example of Maher's lack of popularity with the cable channel. Maher dismissed the criticism as Hannity just "projecting" what he feels onto somebody else:

I'm a happy, single guy. He's a repressed, typical Republican. I'm sure just terribly sexually repressed and it comes out in all their sorts of hatred and vile and bile -- why would I be bitter? First of all, our side won.

Watch the clip below (transcript below the video).

KURTZ: You seem not to be the most popular guy on Fox News these

days.

Sean Hannity --

MAHER: Really? What changed?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I see this with Bill Maher. Bill Maher's become an angry, bitter guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Story continues below

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MAHER: No, he's an angry, bitter guy. That's called projecting.

That's called taking what you feel and giving it to somebody else. I'm a happy, single guy. He's a repressed, typical Republican.

I'm sure just terribly sexually repressed and it comes out in all their sorts of hatred and vile and bile -- why would I be bitter? First

of all, our side won. You know, their side is in a wilderness like there's been before.

So --

KURTZ: Hatred. I mean, he's arguing for what he believes in.

MAHER: Well, you watch it. I don't.

KURTZ: It's my job to watch everybody.

Comments

[RIConservative]

Hannity is correct about Bill Maher. He has become angry and bitter. When I saw his HBO special back in the Clinton days I laughed my butt off. I didn't agree with his politics, but Bill was funny and even though he made fun of the president he did so with respect. He also made several references to what a great country we live in. His next special, during the Bush years was basically an hour of him throwing unfunny insults and personal attacks against the president and the country. It wasn't just that I disagreed, it was that it felt angry. It wasn't comedy, it was a tirade.

And now, instead of a comedian, he is a democratic party spokesman? I guess you would have to have a sense of humor to want to speak for that organization.

[JohnWilliam]

Maher hasn't changed, the person who he's be criticizing has. Don't fool yourself, that's what changed your opinion of him.

[JohnWilliam]

Sorry, I meant to say "been criticizing"... that's a really bad typo actually.

[mivogo]

Whatever shortcomings Hannity and Maher have, at least Maher gives independent points of view that displease his following. Hannity just parrots Republican talking points, over and over and over...

[Velocitor]

I don't understand why "angry" is necessarily a slur... there's a lot to be angry... to be genuinely enraged about. It shouldn't take over one's persona, but how can you not be engaged in current events and not be angry these days? To expect everybody in the public forum to be perpetually sunshine and roses is a ridiculous expectation, and it shows how much of the "news" is just P.T. Barnum showmanship.

[JohnWilliam]

It's not that angry is an insult, but that he simply isn't angry. Seriously, he's really, really, really laid back--to call him angry is just ignoring the truth.

[Ian Douglas-Hamilton]

Bill Maher isn't showing any class by countering an Ad hominem with another Ad hominem.

[Jay Adler]

I have always over the years, evaluated Bill Maher as a gutsy, new age, inventive television personality. I seem to remember him doing an open mouth insert foot some years ago on some program but I do not recall the details of what is most commonplace for individuals in his line of work. I do not understand how Maher knows that Hannity and the Republicans are sexually repressed unless he knows how to run a telescope into someones bedroom. I do agree that as a comedic figure, Bill Maher has the right to make nonsensical remarks according to his implied poetic license as an entertainer. I suggest that he should have been positive on this one and told us what we know, that is there have been in recent times many Democrats who certainly and for sure were anything but sexually repressed.

[RIConservative]

Good points. I would just add that Bill Maher is only a comedian when it is convenient for him. His self righteous, pompous political speeches show who he wants to be, but when he is faced with any opposition he makes jokes instead of defending the actual position.

[doodlefarbe]

They both seem fairly angry, bitter, to me.

[EJMalyn]

Always enjoy lisenting to Maher, he speaks the truth. Hannity's hate for liberals comes across loud and clear...what is that about...Fair & Balanced? Move on to CNN

[BeachBubbaTex]

If by "repression" Maher means "fear of exposure" then I agree.

I don't know (nor want to know) what lies in the heart of these angry Fox people, but one thing is clear: they are feeding a steady diet of lies to a segment of the country that neither wants nor can handle the truth.

Should their audiences attempt to find information for themselvese they might see just how self-serving Sean and Rush and Glenn all have been. Given how well-trained their networks are at creating firestorms, how easily this distracts their audience, and they turn just about any issue into morality plays about God, patriotism, liberty, or socialism, I'm resigned to the fact that they will never go away.

The real problem is when real emergencies arise. Clearly Iraq and 9/11 show how easily these shills can be turned to the service of the state. In a modern "risk society" it seems these these fear profiteers will always find an audience.

[Jazzyhue]

I like your term fear profiteers- if you go back to the beginning of FOX, you see that this is the company that put out all the black and white horror movies. For decades they profited from scarring people for entertainment purposes. It would seem they simply moved this fear form of entertainment from the movies to the news.

[RobbStoneStar]

Has anyone been considering how ridiculous all of this is? The opinions of dueling gas-bags being played out and discussed, then commented on--with comments made about the comments... Have a care People! Socratic dialogue has been replaced by Individualist diatribes.

[CherokeeGirl]

Good point Robb. I prefer the dialectic, but there's nothing like a place to have a good rant, too. :)

[OKSunny]

as for the sexually repressed part--that is DEAD ON, Republican men want their women to be virginal and pious (and Republican women fall for it), but when they actually get into the bedroom they go NUTS and it makes them feel guilty and dirty, they then blame the woman and it’s just a vicious cycle…..I mean, come on, look at Republican men…do they look like have any clue at all about what to do in that department????
Can you imagine Glen Beck…..LOL !

[wthomas]

Uh please, just finished eating ewwwwwwwwwww........................

[LaLaLand1973]

EEEEWWWWW! That was a visual I didn't need. LMAO!

[2008FedUP]

don't forget the cheating and the young women on the side...Newtie

[ramal]

The closet is a terrible place to live.

[JohnWilliam]

Okay, but Spitzer was one of ours. As was Bill Clinton.

[SpaceCadet]

KURTZ: Hatred. I mean, he's (Hannity) arguing for what he believes in.
--------------------------------

So was Hitler.

The media has decided it must give equal time to hate mongers like Hannity so as not to appear to have a liberal bias. The lies that hate mongers like Hannity tells must be given equal time with the truth, and hacks like Howie Kurtz aren't going to let their viewers know they're being lied to.

Hannity, of course, is now infamous for showing he's too much of a coward to stand up for his beliefs when he refused to let himself be waterboarded after saying it wasn't torture.

[MichaelMcKLA]

Maher's remark seems on target to me, but I am quite sure it applies to many others of similar ilk as well. You know who they are. Mostly shrill, screaming, angry, puffy-faced male blowhards. I am thinking of one emaciated blonde who no doubt also belongs in this category. Chill out. Go to Craigslist. Reply to one of "those ads." Have some fun. Geez.

[Juanita Johnson]

Thank you, thank you, thank you...for the video on Hannity...more hate has been spewed than could ever be done by another inhuman being. OOoopppss, for got Limbaugh.

[dianhow]

Maher is a comedian- but does at times make good points. same for the Daily show.
Our Fat cat anchors / corp owned news media have let us all down.
Most are too soft on the lies and mis satements made by the Bush / Cheney admin for years.. Bush was the good ole boy - lots of joking ' with the press. who was covering him - not a good situation. Too cozy. Cheney is till going lying and revising the facts- no one asks tough follow ups or calls him on the lies. Its really sad when comedians tell the truth more often that the media.
Overpaid fools, Keith O & Maddow are exceptions- they actually criticize Obama and often.
That is what I call FAIR & BALANCED

[David Campbell]

Bill Maher's Real Time is the best and most intelligent discussion show on television and the most direct, honest show. He asks the questions no one else will touch. While we can respect everyone's right to believe any silly, stupid belief, we are not obliged to to respect those who utter such rubbish.
Republicans are a group of people who hate things and others who are different. This last week he mentioned one such problem-how can seemingly intelligent people still describe themselves as people of "faith?" Gore Vidal described that contradiction best.
When I meet a true believer I mmediately lose interest since that person has stopped thinking, which is the definition of faith. There is no basis for discussion with such an individual for we have someone who has denied reality and reason. When a child talks with an imaginary friend it is sort of cute, but when an adult does such, it's embarrassing.

[bmickey31]

Wow so all people that have faith in a God, do not have reason or logic. I believe you need to brush up on your philosophers. I believe and I live my life within reason and logic. If you can present a logical argument to disprove my beliefs then please help me.

[fastpathguru]

You haven't stated your belief, but for the sake of discussion we can assume it's a belief in something supernatural.

That's an extraordinary claim, and requires YOU to provide evidence if you wish to be taken seriously by rational folk.

As for your claim that you live life within reason and logic: It is not inconsistent for someone who lives in an illogical world to A) claim they live in a logical world and B) be wrong.

As for your request for a logical disproof of your particular supernatural belief, whatever it is:

In a logical world where there are nevertheless multiple flavors of supernatural beliefs, each with adherents claiming that adherents of other flavors are wrong/illogical, the only truly logical perspective is the one that says they're ALL wrong/illogical.

[hideousmonkeyman]

First, I don't think that David was stating that "people of faith" are completely illogical in all ways, just about their belief in god.

Second of all, claiming belief in something and requiring someone to disprove it is a backward way of developing a system of beliefs. That would be the equivalent of me being sick and then drinking various chemicals under my sink, "assuming" that they will heal me until I'm proven that they won't.

[booboo111]

I can't "disprove" there's a Santa Claus.................doesn't make him real, tho.

[keepitreal50]

Well I think he means limited. Because there is very little reason or logic about believing in such an absolute-(can't be any other way) way in a deity that has never been seen or proven beyond a doubt to exist. Or one who claims to know all things and deems all life sacred but then goes off and kills everything on earth but a select few. Didn't he know what was going to happen? Did he make a mistake? (There's Doubt) I think when there are obvious contradictions and changes and updates need to be done to adhere a teaching to the times, there is plenty of room to question and seek out the truth which most believers in God, fear doing. They are taught not to question the word of God which is in-and-of-itself, self limiting and cultish. That's what cults do. So I know that Christians are not cults but many of the tenants they follow don't make complete sense and that is what a philosophy you use to guide your life should do, make sense. Have practical reasoning to answer life's issues and to allow the follower to do so with complete freedom, not fear of going to hell. Frankly, life in many places on earth - is hell. Just ask someone from darfur or Korea. You don't need to die to experience hell. So what's to fear again about seeking the truth?

[booboo111]

Gore Vidal has always had a brilliant way of putting things.

[FrankenPC]

"The Best Man" was brilliant. And SO relevant.

[hackerblaster]

I agree with you. The bible was written during some horribly ignorant times and it is bizarre that people still believe in this crap. A guy drops to his knees and prays to an imaginary god he is religious however another guy talks to someone inside a wall he is a mental case. What is the difference? Both are not in reality.

[justoverit333]

He's absolutely right about him projecting
his issues onto others. I just love Bill.