On Friday night, Bill Maher hosted his first show of President Obama's second term. But based on the panel discussion which included the liberal former Vermont governor Howard Dean as well as conservatives GOPAC president David Avella and Republican pollster Kristen Soltis, one might think the election was still raging on.
Avella blasted Obama's inauguration speech. After pointing out that Obama made a direct dig at House Republicans by decrying "name-calling" despite doing his own name-calling just a week later, Avella was questioned by Maher exactly what name-calling Obama participated in.
"Well, he talked about right-wing Republicans..." Avella said.
"Really? That's a name-call? 'Right-wing' is a name-call?" Maher asked, to Avella's affirmation. "I got so many worse than that."
Maher asked for polite alternatives to calling someone "right-wing," to which Avella replied, "You could say 'conservatives,' you could say, 'my friends on the other side of the aisle.'"
Soltis agreed that Obama's speech was too partisan.
"The theme of this speech was 'you didn't build that,' but this time it's not a gaffe. It's the speech," she said.
Dean took issue. "I thought the speech was something Americans ought to embrace, which was equal rights for every person in this country," he said, to much audience applause.
"I thought it was American," he continued. "And it's about time the President of the United States stood up to all this crazy crap on the right wing."
Watch the clip from Friday's "Real Time" above, in which the panel also has a spirited discussion over Hillary Clinton's testimony about the Benghazi tragedy.
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