Bill Maher's Melting Ice Cap Costume: Help Out, Go Undercover

Salon gives space to Bill Maher to flesh out things that go bump in the night, as he twists up a little something to help take the edge off the fear.

Bill Maher scares his reader at Salon:

What's really scary this Halloween is that the same group of idea-free losers who won the last presidential election could win the next one by making us afraid of the wrong things. Which is why this year for Halloween, I'm going as something truly horrifying: a melting polar ice cap.

This week -- as every week -- all the Republican candidates talked about was who was toughest in the war on terror. While the country's most populous state literally burned. The Democrats, as usual, said nothing, because they didn't want to offend fire.

The Republicans, including the scaremonger in chief, sell themselves as protectors of our safety. But since they're all, except for McCain, armchair warriors, they're only comfortable protecting us from fears they made up. Like the way Iran is itching for a war with the United States now. Ahmadinejad is pure evil! Terror has a new name, and it's nearly unpronounceable.

Comedy, much like magic, is the art of misdirection. Giving your audience something they're not expecting is the key. After a promising headline, the rest of the piece is vintage Maher ; i.e., we've heard it all before, so it's neither surprising nor chuckle-inducing. Unless one is in the throes of an ether binge, ala Hunter Thompson.

Al Gore and his tales of melting ice caps scare Bill Maher; terrorists don't. Sounds like Bill's a perfect candidate for Kandahar. There, Maher could fight the terrorists he doesn't fear, even go undercover. Perhaps he could use his scary melting ice cap costume.

by Mondoreb
[image:priceclash]



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