Tags for this video have been changed from 'Bill Maher' to 'Bill Maher, tv, talkshow' - edited by Deano

My, how talkshows have deteriorated.

Conservatism is a form of mental illness.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/aug/13/usa.redbox

"A study funded by the US government has concluded that conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity".

As if that was not enough to get Republican blood boiling, the report's four authors linked Hitler, Mussolini, Ronald Reagan and the rightwing talkshow host, Rush Limbaugh, arguing they all suffered from the same affliction.

All of them "preached a return to an idealised past and condoned inequality".

Republicans are demanding to know why the psychologists behind the report, Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition, received $1.2m in public funds for their research from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

The authors also peer into the psyche of President George Bush, who turns out to be a textbook case. The telltale signs are his preference for moral certainty and frequently expressed dislike of nuance.

"This intolerance of ambiguity can lead people to cling to the familiar, to arrive at premature conclusions, and to impose simplistic cliches and stereotypes," the authors argue in the Psychological Bulletin.

One of the psychologists behind the study, Jack Glaser, said the aversion to shades of grey and the need for "closure" could explain the fact that the Bush administration ignored intelligence that contradicted its beliefs about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction."

And who do I place the blame on? YOU, Bill O' Reilly, who can create singlehandedly an army of psuedo-informed. (in a survey, those who stated talkshows and pundits were their main source of news believed themselves to be more informed than their peers but were among the least informed.) /

Great Interview and I love Henry's Friday night talkshow on IFC. These soldiers are indeed brave to have stood up and voiced their opinion. Thank you Jason and Paul. True American Heroes.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I think Conan can be good. He's good when he's kind of riffing. http://www.videosift.com/video/Conan-visits-Industrial-Light-and-Magic

He's not a good talkshow host though. He doesn't like to be the straight man - he wants to be the funny one. When he's forced to be the straign man, that's when he comes across as creepy - because he's not being himself.

DEAR GOD! American audiences will applaud ANYTHING! "She opened a jar!" Oh Wooo! Wooo! Look at that!

I've actually noticed a few celebrities when they're on Australian TV seem to feel a little let down when the audience doesn't applaud some dumb arsed comment or the like they make when on one of our talkshows.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Yeah, it's definitely a clip from a talkshow. I did an involuntary cringe at the laughter thinking they might have installed a laugh-track. But I know they wouldn't do that.