by Josh Feldman
11:17 pm, October 5th, 2012
In his final New Rule of the night, Bill Maher
argued against the conventional wisdom that the economy is in a really
bad place, saying that the economy is actually better than all the
fearmongering would otherwise suggest. Maher acknowledged it’s a game
played by both Republicans and Democrats, even President Obama
himself, but said that politicians need to start being honest about the
economy and not perpetuating the idea that it is a “complete shambles.”
RELATED: Bill Maher Trashes Undecided Voters: ‘Ignorant Jackasses Bullsh*tting About The Election’


Maher opened the New Rule by saying that in order to help Obama make
an effective argument that the country is improving, the next
presidential debate should be held in a mall. Maher said that for the
most part, society is doing fine, and the people sleeping on the
sidewalks are just in line for new iPhones.
Contrary to what many Republicans would argue, Maher contended that
“it just doesn’t feel like Obama has ruined America.” He touted the Dow
Jones doubling under Obama, which he said the GOP considers “devastating
economic news.” Maher wondered why the Republican party is so concerned
with the economy being a “rotting compost heap” when, as he put it,
many of them don’t care about the middle class to begin with.
Maher acknowledged that Obama has to keep acting like the economy is
doing horribly because he does not want to appear out of touch. However,
he bucked conventional wisdom to insist that “we can keep blaming Bush”
for the economy, saying that just because people are sick of hearing it
doesn’t make it untrue.
Maher summed up Mitt Romney‘s pitch to voters thusly: “I’m going to fix the economy by restoring the policies of the party that destroyed it.”


Watch the video below, courtesy of HBO: