Bill Maher is an expert Bush basher. But don’t let it be said that the HBO talk-show host and political funnyman is incapable of showing a bit of love for the president. In an August 28 interview with Larry King, Maher gave Bush the thumbs up for his record on Israel.

“I mean, can you imagine if there was a terrorist organization that took over the country on our northern border, which would be Canada, and they started shelling us in our northern cities and Minnesota, and Bangor, Maine, was being shelled? What do you think George Bush would do?” Maher said. “I think he would nuke them before breakfast. And look, you know I don’t like George Bush, but he is the best president we’ve ever had on Israel because for some reason, he gets that.”

Don’t worry, though, Maher isn’t going soft. He wasted no time offering a suitably offensive explanation for Bush’s pro-Israel positions: “I think the reason he gets it is because he’s a crazy evangelical Christian.”

It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.

This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions. 

We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.

As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday! 

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Make a gift and our board will match it.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$129 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT