Liberal comedian Bill Maher on Friday night said it was wrong for Democrats to have portrayed former Republicans as villains, explaining that they “cried wolf” when it wasn’t necessary.
The “Real Time” host contended Donald Trump, the current Republican presidential nominee, was truly dangerous for America, on the other hand. He lamented that liberals had previously described other Republicans in similar terms, a move he said weakened their ability to get individuals to heed their warnings this time around.
“I know liberals made a big mistake because we attacked your boy [President George W. Bush] like he was the end of the world,” Maher told panelist David Frum, a former speechwriter for Bush. “He wasn’t.”
Maher continued: “And Mitt Romney, we attacked that way. I gave Obama a million dollars, I was so afraid of Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney wouldn’t have changed my life that much, or yours. Or John McCain.”
“They were honorable men who we disagreed with. And we should have kept it that way. So we cried wolf. And that was wrong,” Maher said.
Watch the clip below (warning: it contains inappropriate language):
The HBO host's comments jived with a column National Review Online editor Charles Cooke published earlier this week. In his column, Cooke said Democrats have exhausted all language to attack Trump.
"When the rhetoric used to describe Donald Trump and Mitt Romney is indistinguishable to all but the most tuned in, something has gone seriously wrong in the culture," Cooke wrote.
Others, however, expressed disagreement. Business Insider senior editor Josh Barro contended in a column that liberals did not give Romney the "Hitler treatment," arguing that Republicans were unfairly trying to assign some of the blame for Trump on Democrats.
