I happened to catch an exchange between Bill Maher and Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View this morning and came away with one question: why does Bill Maher hate women? Elisabeth confronted him over a tasteless joke he made back during the Lara Logan attack, saying that we (the US) will send Elisabeth Hasselbeck to Egypt in exchange for Lara. What about that joke is funny? The implication is we'll send Elisabeth to be brutally attacked. Funny? I think not. Unless you're a blind liberal.
Remember the Gabby Giffords tragedy? Suddenly liberals were up in arms about the lack of civil discourse in our society and in politics, and were quick to point to Palin's campaign for using target symbols as the likely culprit for Jared Loughner's crazy actions. And there was NO implication of violence in Palin's crosshairs. There IS implication of violence Maher's tasteless joke.
I was shocked that the fellow co-hosts didn't stick up for Elisabeth. These ladies are supposed to be feminists and liberated women. These women are all up in arms about Herman Cain's alleged behavior towards women, yet they were silent on Bill's tasteless joke. Barbara insulted all women's intelligence when she told Elisabeth that she had to put up with "Baba Wawa" for years and she lived. Um, dear Barbara, please tell us what part of the "Baba Wawa" joke implicated violence, sexual, brutal violence, against you? Would you feel the same way if a conservative comedian "joked" that we'll take Lara Logan back and send Barbara Walters in her place. Something tells me the self-righteous Walters would not be happy.
So why didn't the ladies stand up for Elisabeth? Where is their moral compass? This is a huge problem that conservatives have with liberals: it's impossible to find their moral compass. Bill gave a weak argument that she is a public figure and he is a comedian on HBO, therefore his job is to flirt with the line and she is a public figure so she is naturally going to be a target. Joy chimed in that it's true that comedians do flirt with a line. The problem is, liberals don't have a clear line. That line moves depending on who is making the joke and who is the butt of the joke. Apparently when Bill Maher makes an awful joke about violence against women, libs, or at least the libs on The View, think this is a funny joke. I'm with Elisabeth; I don't understand how that is funny.
I hadn't heard about the tasteless joke at the time, and when I heard it this morning I was appalled. And I continued to be appalled that the ladies didn't stand up for Elisabeth, didn't recognize how tasteless of a joke that was. Those ladies seem to have no moral code, and their outrage over other issues rings hollow when they don't stand up for one of their own.
