Maher, Alan Grayson Divide GOP in 3: ‘Corporate Shills,’ ‘Jesus Freaks’ and ‘Gun Nuts’
As the government shutdown continues to tear the GOP apart, with right-wing conservative tea partiers on one side and the old-guard establishment Republicans on the other, Bill Maher and Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) split the party even further Friday night, creating three, or possibly four distinct groups.
The discussion started when Maher asked why more Republicans don’t support saving money by getting out of the war in Afghanistan instead of cutting smaller items like the EPA. MSNBC.com reporter Suzy Khimm noted that there are members of the GOP who are “anti-corporate, anti-business” and could be more amenable to those kinds of propositions.
But Grayson said “there are really 3 Republican parties: there are the corporate shills, there are the religious fanatics and then there are the freedom fiends, the ones who want to make sure you have the right to sleep under a bridge.”
Maher summed it up in his own words, adding one more. “So Jesus freaks, gun nuts, generic obese suburbanites, and let me add the super rich.”
Grayson said that right now the “corporate shills are in the minority” because “the other two have the votes.”
Finally, Carl Reiner weighed in, saying he’s still upset that the very rich refuse to pay even a little more in taxes. “Billionaires need more billions,” he said, “they’ve got nothing to do but collect more billions.”
Watch video below, via HBO:
[photo via screengrab]
— —
