The mercurial Bill Maher, host of HBO's Realtime with Bill Maher, has done it again, with "it" being sounding like a mainstream Republican for a minute. In this latest example, the acerbic comedian blasted besieged Joe Biden, at one point comparing him to "that goldfish you get at the fair — don't get attached."
On Friday's episode, Maher began his monologue by addressing the elephant in the room: the release of the explosive Hur report on the investigation into Biden's mishandling of classified documents — and the devastating picture it painted of Biden as a feeble, elderly man with a failing memory who lacks the cognitive ability to stand trial.
Maher resurrected his favorite nickname for Biden, a reference to former Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who refused to step down from the court, despite pressure from Democrats that it was past time for the 87-year-old to hang up her robe. She refused — and died in 2020.
I said he was going to be the Ruth Bader Ginsburg of presidential politics… He stayed too long at the fair. Bubbling up this week… he won't do the Super Bowl interview, which is not a hard one, mixing up all the world leaders and then this report that came out.
Maher recalled Biden's comments during the 2020 presidential election campaign in which he referred to himself as a "bridge" for Democrats, insisting the comment was a "big hint" that he didn't intend to seek reelection.
Maher quipped:
He said ‘I see myself as a bridge’ that's collapsing. I see myself as a bridge.' I read that as one term. And I guess the question now is, is it too late? And I don't think it is because I still think you can do it at the convention. People have said to me, 'Oh, that's ridiculous. They'll look like—' They'll look like nothing. Nobody gives a f**k what they do at the convention.
Maher then reiterated his point, as if to assuage Democrats terrified by the prospect of cognitively declining Joe Biden as their 2024 standard-bearer.
You can switch him out at the convention ... If a guy says 'I can't run,' then you have to do it. Then it has to be somebody else. Then it's an open convention. We've had open conventions many times ... They make it up as they go along anyway. It's politics.
Ironically, Maher's was closer to correct about conventions than I suspect most people realize.
Maher returned to form, of course, largely dismissing the Hur Report — but he did take a final snarky shot at Biden: "We're not asking him to go on Dancing with the Stars."
The Bottom Line
As I asked in a Friday op-ed, "What Were the Democrats Thinking?" what were they thinking when they backed "Basement Joe" in 2020? What were they thinking as they continued to back Biden throughout the three years of one of the most disastrous presidencies in American history?
And now— now, as the 81-year-old Biden continues to disintegrate, both mentally and physically, before our eyes. What on earth are Democrat politicos thinking as they continue to pretend Joe Biden is just fine?
I don't know, but I do know a couple of things. One, they don't have a viable Plan B, and two, I've never seen either party so stuck between a rock and a hard place as the Democrats now find themselves — completely of their own volition.
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