Bill Maher took it upon himself on Real Time tonight to analyze George Will’s prospective field of realistic Republican presidential candidates for 2012. In a development that will shock precisely no one, Maher didn’t seem overly taken with the field – although in a somewhat more surprising turn, neither did one of his conservative panelists.

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Maher, in fact, didn’t even know who everyone on the list was (Jon Huntsman, outgoing U.S. ambassador to China, tripped him up). He knew “department store mannequin” Mitt Romney a bit better, and was unable to muster much enthusiasm (or, to begin with, the right name) for Tim Pawlenty: “You want to hear an interesting story about Tim Pawlenty? So would he.”

And while former Republican congressman Tom Davis, appearing tonight on Maher’s panel, had kind words for other Will choices Haley Barbour and Mitch Daniels, fellow conservative guest Dana Loesch seemed underwhelmed by the lot, wondering “why immediately the women are discounted in the Republican Party.” She wondered why a candidate “who [doesn&

#8217;t] follow the whole Republican GOP formula” wouldn’t receive stronger consideration – Loesch said she didn’t mean for that to be construed as a Sarah Palin endorsement, but expressed admiration for Michele Bachmann, with whom Maher had nearly as much of a field day as he would have had Loesch praised Palin.

While Palin might not have won Will’s or Loesch’s endorsement, both Maher and guest Paul Begala fervently hoped she remained in the spotlight – if only because anything with palin involved is rarely boring. Video of the segment below, via HBO.

Tags: Bill Maher, Dana Loesch, Paul Begala, Real Time, tom davis