Maher slams Tea Party, defence spending, American empire

Last night's Real Time with Bill Maher witnessed one of the greatest New Rules segments ever. Maher not only took on the Tea Party movement, but also Americans in general for not being realistic and honest about the bloated defence budget, and the costs of American empire.

The problem with the tea party movement, besides their almost universal rejection of dentistry, is that they want money for nothing and chicks for free. They want a deregulated free market and their jobs to stay here in the US; they want guaranteed health coverage regardless of preexisting conditions without a big government mandate; they want to call themselves teabaggers and people to keep a straight face. And of course they want big tax cuts along with deficit reduction. I can't even think of a suitable analogy for that disconnect--it's like thinking getting a handjob will clean your garage.

Maher observed that regardless of a $12.8 trillion national debt, Americans don't want cutbacks to social programs, the defence budget, or to space exploration.

Maher specifically targeted the Tea Party movement on defence spending:

Everything that goes into defense costs us about a trillion dollars a year, most of which goes into fighting the Russians in 1978. Fighter planes for all those dog fights we get into with the Taliban, submarines to foil their evil plot to blow up our ships with car bombs, and space lasers to shoot down their exploding underpants...scream about handouts, this is what they should be protesting.

Bravo.