Does Bill Maher ever listen to the nonsense coming out of his mouth to make sure he doesn't contradict himself from one minute to the next?
On Friday's "Real Time," the host paid his respects to Steve Jobs by claiming how liberal the Apple founder was adding "He was not a corporate type" only to minutes later accurately note, "Apple makes their s--t in China. And they could still make it here and make a big profit, but they make more of a profit by making it in China" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
BILL MAHER: I want to say one other thing about Steve Jobs, and just agree or don’t, but, I know that he’s one of the few people who liberals and conservatives both like, you know, in this partisan country that we live in. And I just know that the right-wingers are going to try to claim him because he was a giant success. Please don’t do it, right-wingers. He was not one of you. He was not a corporate type. He was an Obama-voting, pot-smoking Buddhist. He wasn’t one of you. So don’t try to claim Steve Jobs.
He really wasn’t. He got fired by corporate America. Remember? He got his ass thrown out because he was a little too innovative, because he didn’t play the game the way they do.
Yeah, that sounds hip, but only five minutes later, when the discussion moved to the Occupy Wall Street protests and how jobs are leaving this country, Maher observed, "Apple makes their s--t in China. And they could still make it here and make a big profit, but they make more of a profit by making it in China."
That is correct. In the fiscal year that ended last month, Apple earned $14 billion on revenues of $65 billion. That's almost a 22 percent profit margin.
The much-maligned oil company and Wall Street CEO's would love to have that kind of a profit margin.
As for Apple, it most certainly could manufacture all of its products here, employing far more Americans, and still be profitable.
But that wasn't the business philosophy of this "not a corporate type...Obama-voting, pot-smoking Buddhist" that "didn’t play the game the way" right-wingers do.
He wanted his products made in China so he could "make more of a profit."
Be advised that I am in no way criticizing Jobs or Apples' business model. I have nothing but respect for him and the company he created.
It's just that despite his support for liberals and liberal causes, he was just as interested in the almighty dollar as anyone on the other side of the aisle.
This is true of all wealthy liberals, including the ones like Maher who regularly accuse conservatives of being greedy.
On this day, it only took five minutes for the hypocrisy to be exposed albeit unintentionally.
If Maher would only listen to himself he'd spend far less time with his foot in his mouth.
