Ted Cruz’s Democratic challenger for the U.S. Senate, Robert “Beto” O’Rourke, has sparked controversy and ire over his appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher over the weekend.
Early in the interview, Maher reads off several rude quotes from people like Sen. Lindsey Graham and former House Speaker John Boehner about Ted Cruz which they laugh about.
Later, Maher made the comment, “Well, don’t forget he’s a giant asshole,” to which O’Rourke replied, “That’s true.”Nice.
If one was feeling generous they could say, “Oh, come on. O’Rourke didn’t say it, he just agreed.”
Except there is precedence here for politicians appearing on Real Time being held accountable for things other people say on the show.
When Sen. Ben Sasse ignored Maher saying the N-word, deciding instead to simply move the conversation along, people were as scandalized by that reaction as they would be if he’d actually been the one who’d said it. Sasse later took to Twitter to apologize for not calling out Maher’s word choice during the interview.
When people who hate Ted Cruz typically list off why they dislike the Texas senator, inevitably his “style” is what rubs them the wrong way. People point at O’Rourke as being some sort of correction and preferred style over substance.
If that’s the case, then Beto needs to do better.
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