I'm not thinking of the South Park guys. I'm thinking about the host of REAL TIME, a show I never miss. I also never missed Politically Incorrect, until SINCLAIR took it off the market in DC...then I had a friend tape it and send it to me.
http://archive.salon.com/ent/tv/feature/2001/08/01/maher/That Maher calls himself a libertarian could be taken as yet another joke if only Maher weren't so serious. Recently, he welcomed libertarian talk show host Larry Elder to the show with fist-pumping enthusiasm. And while they agreed on the issue of the day (privatizing Social Security), they have had plenty to disagree about. Elder is against the minimum wage and affirmative action and in favor of abolishing the Department of Education. Maher has routinely staked out contrary positions on these and other issues.
In conservative chat rooms, Maher has been called "a tax and spend politically correct liberal who's a-okay with the Leviathan state as long as he gets his Hustler, his hookers and his hash." Vanity Fair once described Maher as a "throbbing boner libertarian," while Vogue once called him a "conservative pit viper." Brill's Content weighed in by calling him more of a libertine.
Maher clearly revels in all the controversy. Though his positions are no different from those of many liberals when it comes to legalizing drugs and free love, Maher's questionable political labeling is clearly a politically savvy move. It's gotten him libertarian guests like Browne, Charles Murray and Russell Means -- not to mention a bevy of conservative panelists like Ann Coulter, Floyd Brown and Dennis Prager.
Whether they believe him to be an actual libertarian is anyone's guess, but like any astute politician, Maher's well aware that a little hyperbole can go a long way. ...See, that is how HE defines himself. Just because he comes up "correct" on one or two issues doesn't make him a liberal in toto. His views on social security and capital punishment alone knock him out of the box as far as I'm concerned. He backed Bob Dole against Clinton in 96. That's no "liberal."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_MaherMaher describes himself as a libertarian<4> and a liberal and is a reliable proponent of the Minarchist school of libertarian thought, claiming, "government is really there to do the things that people absolutely can't do for themselves." <5> However, some have questioned the validity of Maher's self-proclaimed libertarianism.<6>
Maher favors partial privatization of social security, ending corporate welfare, and legalizing gambling, prostitution, generally favors Israel, pornography, and all drugs (he is a member on NORML's Advisory Board, an organization which supports the decriminalization of marijuana).
Additionally, Maher describes himself as an environmentalist, and frequently alludes to the topic of global warming on his show Real Time.
He supported Bob Dole in the 1996 U.S. presidential election on the basis that Dole was a war hero (<7>) and the kind of "old-fashioned" Republican he appreciated, as he stated numerous times on Politically Incorrect: "A mean, old man who will guard my money!"
Although he told Libertarian Party candidate Harry Browne at the end of a Browne appearance on Politically Incorrect that Browne would have his vote, ultimately he said he instead voted for Ralph Nader in the 2000 U.S. presidential election.
He has expressed disdain for many of the liberal positions regarding hate crime, sexual harassment, etc. as being "things that make women nod." In addition, he remains a strong supporter of capital punishment in the American judicial system.....Google Bill Maher and libertarian. Your impression will be corrected. ... just because he espouses a few liberal positions does not a liberal make.
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