The HBO comedian argued Biden shouldn’t do more interviews since he ‘f—s up’
“Real Time” host Bill Maher made a distinct argument suggesting that President Biden should curtail his public appearances, despite his impressive performance at this week’s State of the Union address.
Maher began his opening monologue on Friday night by commending the “proof of life” demonstrated during Biden’s speech on Thursday night, ultimately concluding, “The state of the president is feisty.”
However, during his panel discussion, Maher emphasized that Biden’s winning strategy ahead of the election is to “appear occasionally.”
“When I first said he was going to be ‘Ruth Bader Biden,’ and I still think that may be the possibility- I think we still would do better with a younger candidate, but ok, maybe not. We’ll see.
He did well last night,” Maher said. “I said, Well, I don’t think he’s doing a bad job as president. He can do the job. I don’t think he can win the job because it’s a grueling thing to run for president.”
“And then we said, ‘Yeah, well he can’t do what he did last time, because there was a pandemic, stay in his basement.’ Yes, he can,” Maher continued. “No one gives a s— about that.
The chattering classes will talk about it. And the public will be like, what do I care?! I don’t want to watch this all the time anyway! I don’t need to see him every day. He doesn’t need to go around the country. Stay where you are. Every once in a while, make a speech like this.”
Puck correspondent Tara Palmeri pushed back, telling Maher he should be “doing more interviews,” “more press conferences,” and “actually facing the press.”
“No,” Maher moaned.
“Why not?” Palmeri asked.
“Because he messes up,” Maher admitted. “C’mon, that’s a terrible strategy. This was great. It was on the teleprompter. And once in a while, [Republicans] played right into his hands. You know, somebody heckles him. He can riff because he’s not too feeble to do that. But being on the campaign- I mean, come on. One bad piece of fish, one slip on the ice, one slip of the tongue which he does all the time.”
“But that doesn’t inspire confidence. And people want confidence,” Palmeri doubled down.
“I don’t think they care,” Maher responded. “If you strategically see him every once in a while in a good light. That’s what they would do if it was in show business!”
Palmeri went on to argue that the longer Biden is out of the public eye, the more the “right-wing media ecosystem” can continue to create the perception of the president as a hiding “zombie” controlled by “faceless bureaucrats in lanyards.”
“I think it’s better to have them say that you’re a zombie than to look like one,” Maher said before moving on.