During the online “Overtime” segment on his Friday HBO program, “Real Time” host Bill Maher did something rare: He defended Republican presidential hopeful former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
According to Maher, a “humorous” anecdote Romney told on the campaign trail, which was classified as a “gaffe” by many, wasn’t really a gaffe. Romney recalled how his father had taken jobs from Michigan and moved them to Wisconsin. That’s a far cry from taking jobs in Michigan and moving them overseas, Maher explained.
“I don’t know what made me think of this, but I was going to defend Mitt Romney on this show, and we ran out of time,” Maher said. “But he got caught this week with what the liberals — with this ‘gaffe,’ his joke about how his father had transferred jobs from Michigan to Wisconsin. And everyone said this showed him to be bad.”
The “Real Time” host chalked it up as a liberal misunderstanding of what CEOs actually are supposed to do.
“I don’t understand why that’s such a horrible gaffe, you know? He didn’t send the jobs to China,” Maher continued. “He changed jobs — that’s what CEOs do, figure out a way to make the most bang for their buck. They went from Michigan and people in Wisconsin benefitted, I assume. The jobs went there. Why is that bad? Liberals aren’t against anybody being fired ever, are we?”
This controversy, Maher claimed, was a product of the “liberal bubble.”
“His father was a CEO,” Maher said. “This is what CEOs do, and when they do it in America, as opposed to India or China, I think that’s something to be at least somewhat thankful for. You know, like I said — there’s a liberal bubble, too. They get mad at shit I don’t understand.”