BILL MAHER - MAHER FINALLY GETS HIS FREE SPEECH

MAHER FINALLY GETS HIS FREE SPEECH

Bill Maher finally got to make the remarks on religion that he claims he was barred from making on the CBS Evening News as part of its "Free Speech" segment two weeks ago. He made them Wednesday night on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News telecast. Maher prefaced his remarks by saying, "Look, I think they should drop the segment, because it was billboarded as free speech. ... But it's a little disappointing when they say we're going to have free speech and then every night it's the most agreed upon speech you could ever imagine. Last night they had someone who took the stand and said it was good to have football back in New Orleans." O'Reilly then responded, "That's he way they run the network news operations." Taking O'Reilly up on his invitation to speak about religion, Maher described it as "a mass psychosis" and argued that the U.S. cannot succeed in Iraq "because there are two religious sects who are basically at each other's throats." Maher went on to say that he disagreed with Rosie O'Donnell's equating Christian fundamentalists with fanatical Muslims because "nobody takes [preachers like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson] ... that seriously here. In Saudi Arabia, they speak out against homosexuals and then chop off their heads."

28/09/2006