Bill Maher argued that while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used “racist” re-election tactics, it is important to remember that Israel lets Arabs vote for “perspective” on Friday’s “Real Time” on HBO.
“A lot of people were angry at the way Netanyahu won this election. They said it was racist that he said, at the last minute ‘Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls.’ And I guess that is racist, in the strictest sense, he’s bringing race into the equation. But, first of all, like Reagan didn’t win races with racism? Or Nixon? Or Bush? Like they didn’t play the race card? Reagan opened his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, remember that? Remember Willie Horton?” Maher stated.
After former Representative Jack Kingston (R) and Republican Strategist Mercedes Schlapp pointed out that President Obama has played the race card, Maher responded “hello, he’s black.”
Later, Maher added, “I heard a lot of commentators here say, it would been as if Mitt Romney, in 2012, on the eve of the election said, ‘black voters are coming out in droves to the polls.’ But I don’t know if that’s really a great analogy. I think that would be a good analogy if America was a country that was surrounded by 12 or 13 completely black nations who had militarily attacked us many times, including as recently as last year. Would we let them vote? I don’t know. When we were attacked by the Japanese, we didn’t just not let them vote, we rounded them up and put them in camps.”
He concluded that Netanyahu’s comments did come “in a real democracy that lets Arabs vote. So, I’m just saying, a little perspective.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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