Real Time Episode 59

Premiering September 9, 2005 (HBO)
Guests: Walter Maestri, Joe Scarborough, George Carlin, Cynthia Tucker, Jim Glassman, and Kurt Vonnegut

On Michael Brown

"Michael Brown, the head of FEMA, has been relieved of his command. He has been asked to return to Washington immediately. He is expected to arrive in about a week." – Bill Maher


On Our Political System

"Elections and politicians are in place in order to give Americans the illusion that they have freedom of choice." – George Carlin


On Race

"There's a friend of mine who lives in New Orleans, is black, and I wrote down exactly, word for word, what she said, because I think it bears repeating. She said, 'After 9/11, I was American. Now I'm back to being black.' And I think among the feathers in George Bush's resume is that I think he has lost a whole generation of black people who might have felt that way after 9/11, and now are like, 'You know what? I can't believe I started to buy into that bullshit.'" – Bill Maher

"I think that class and race are inseparable in America." – Cynthia Tucker

"Black people in this country, are still disproportionately poor. It is also impossible to talk about what happened in New Orleans without some white conservatives focusing on the looting, the crime, instead of focusing on the vast majority of poor, black people who were law-abiding, who were frightened themselves." – Cynthia Tucker


On the Administration

"The administration does their old 9/11 trick 'It's too early to start apportioning blame. Let's get the bodies out of the water.' This is what they said after 9/11. 'Let's not politicize this.' Of course, it's the most political administration ever." – Bill Maher

"I am not only from the richest country in the world, but the dumbest country in the world." – Kurt Vonnegut