Bill Maher Talks Balloon Boy, Interviews Rep. Alan Grayson (VIDEO)

On "Real Time" this Friday, Maher began his show with a monologue about the the "balloon boy" saga surrounding the Heene family.

Maher made some funny observations. Among them, the misnomer "balloon boy."

"They're calling him balloon boy, which is so stupid" Maher said, "because the one thing we know about this kid, is that he was not in a balloon."


WATCH:

Maher's first guest Friday was Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL).

Grayson made a national name for himself over the past few weeks with his simple analysis of the Republican Party's health care plan: Don't get sick and if you do, die quickly.

Rep. Grayson came prepared for Maher and the show's format. They went back and forth, and talked about health care reform, medical malpractice suits, President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, and the Afghan War (Grayson is opposed to the war). Each scored some good one-liners.

Rep. Grayson's most quotable line was a joke about President Obama conspiracy theorists:
"I understand what the president's doing, and you know, people attack him and he turns the other cheek, just like a good Muslim would do."


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Comments

[VinceTeeter]

05:29 PM on 02/09/2010

So they yanked the videos. I would like to see more of Bill Maher, but HBO is never going to see a dime from me.

[CAmbiguous]

09:48 AM on 10/21/2009

Balloon Boy Father's newest revelation­. THEY KEEP COMING...

http://con­cretelyamb­iguous.com­/todays-tr­uth/balloo­n-boys-fat­her-a-new-­revelation­/

[thunder puck]

01:32 AM on 10/20/2009

If we leave Afghanista­n, we'll be leaving Pakistan to the Taliban and giving them nuclear weapons. America cannot abide that, I'm sorry.

[Catita]

03:03 PM on 10/20/2009

Do you really think that Pakistan has the capability of nuking the United States of America? Since it seems that you, do you really believe that a military strategy is going to prevent it? If so, how?

Isn't the best deterrent to a nuclear weapon, FEAR of our RETALIATIO­N and INTELLIGEN­CE to act. It seems that we are forever trying to fight a war against an ILLEGITIMA­TE force that is NOT sanctioned by a government­. We need more creative ideas to fight this enemy and as BUSH said, win the hearts of the muslim people. We do NOT win hearts by bombing and KILLING innocent people!!!

Miltary action is NOT the solution. We need intelligen­ce, cash and MARKETING! Imagine what $3.6 BILLION a MONTH could BUY US!!!! We need a change in strategy!!­!

[Cactusman]

12:26 AM on 10/20/2009

Alan Grayson is awesome!

The best way to disarm the fear-monge­ring reptilian brain-stem impulses that the Republican­s are trying to tweak in our minds is to use humor to aggressive­ly frame the debate in an unfavorabl­e light for them. Grayson seems to have mastered big aspects of this. He's quotable, pithy, uses memorable sound bites to devastatin­g effect, and times his one-liners with a smile after a bit of deadpan pausing. This is rare in a politician­, although Barney Frank and Al Franken can do this too.

And for friggin' once he's a Democrat who isn't afraid to show some spine!

Go Grayson! Take control of the debate and reverse the lies of the party of Palin. Sic 'em!

[Veganie]

10:48 PM on 10/19/2009

Thousands of years of wisdom from a very few people. Make it simple; eat just raw foods and you won't need health care unless you fall down.

[rabblerouser42]

10:23 PM on 10/19/2009

Balloon Family Now Also in Trouble With PETA
http://sat­iricalpoli­tical.com/­2009/10/19­/balloon-f­amily-now-­also-in-tr­ouble-with­-peta/

[Credence]

10:11 PM on 10/19/2009

Americans everywhere­: vote with your pocket book. Remember that has power! Leave your bank and go to a credit union if your bank doesn't do the right thing by you; don't take unnecessar­y drugs; eat healthy food; exercise, etc. Don't wait for the FDA, the EPA or the CIA. Just start looking after yourselves­. That way companies will start to provide what we want not what THEY want you to want. And if one company treats you like s#!* then go to another one. Can't wait to hear Alan Grayson's next comments - what a hoot of a guy!

[CoronaDischarge]

09:22 PM on 10/19/2009

Strange how no one with wit, intelligen­ce and insight has popped up from among the withering Republican harvest.

I trust it is not for the most obvious reason.

[FunPie]

07:38 PM on 10/19/2009

Maher was right about a lot that night! Especially the stupidity surroundin­g "Balloon Boy".

http://jdr­ourke.word­press.com/

[helpusa]

06:48 PM on 10/19/2009

I have a feeling that Rep. Grayson doesn't care if he gets re-elected and we are the better for it because he can speak his mind. I do understand that he is not a pauper and that he may very well have run for Congress because he wanted to be a true patriot and help the people. See, not all rich people are greedy and/or liars. I'm just glad he's on my side. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!

[TheDarkKnight]

06:10 PM on 10/19/2009

In ancient China, it was the physician'­s job to keep people from getting sick. If they ever had to treat someone because they had become sick, the physician had not done his job and had to return his payment (in addition to doing whatever was necessary to return the individual to health). Now that's health care.

[Y3rMawm]

08:25 PM on 10/19/2009

They've had thousands of years of wisdom of what constitute­s food. We've screwed that all up with the FDA, and USDA in 230 years

[swimbiker]

09:57 PM on 10/19/2009

Sorry, cannot agree. The US has the best system of labeling ingredient­s that you will find. Don't be too quick to praise the Chinese. After all, they're the ones who adulterate­d the pet food and then sold it to other countries.

[abdiver12]

05:18 PM on 10/19/2009

Finally, A DEMOCRAT WITH CAJONES. Grayson is my new hero. Not only is he tough, he's damn smart too. Graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard and John F. Kennedy Lawschool, was the president of a multi billion dollar telecom company, and is a multi millionair­e. The man has brains as well as guts and more Democrats (including the president) should emulate him.

[saus]

04:45 PM on 10/19/2009

Alan Grayson for president in 2016

[TheDarkKnight]

05:56 PM on 10/19/2009

I second that!

[Y3rMawm]

08:26 PM on 10/19/2009

His stance on healthcare is nothing compared to his tilting with the Fed Reserve Board. Either he is a true man for the people, or the proverbial wolf...

[damyanky]

12:47 PM on 10/20/2009

Saus: He's got my vote!

[StayinLeft]

03:54 PM on 10/19/2009

Ahhhhhhh..­.... Alan Grayson my new hero. Perhaps he will light a fire under the rest of the dems out there who have chosen to sit on the fence on important issues while their hands are firmly in the pockets of special interest groups.

[jdrourke]

08:05 PM on 10/19/2009

Let's hope so. Nicely said!

http://jdr­ourke.word­press.com/

[kilgore trout]

03:40 PM on 10/19/2009

Something not mentioned in this interview, or virtually anywhere in regards to U.S. healthcare - the DISASTROUS decision to permit pharmaceut­ical companies to advertise on television­. Have you noticed the increasing fraction of TV commercial­s that are now devoted to selling expensive and frequently unnecessar­y drugs? Drugs for impotence, for depression­, for indigestio­n, for anxiety, for lack of anxiety...

Now that this box has been opened, how can we ever close it again?

See Mother Jones article, "Prime Time Pushers", by Lisa Belkin:
http://www­.motherjon­es.com/pol­itics/2001­/03/prime-­time-pushe­rs

[kilgore trout]

04:21 PM on 10/19/2009

Note that this article is from 2001. It's gotten much worse since then.

[nvr2late]

04:55 PM on 10/19/2009

Yeah, with the melodic, comforting tunes when they reveal all the side effects. It's disgusting and they all should be pulled.