Julian Assange’s interview with Bill Maher is like a very friendly boxing match, with both guys smiling while launching a blow at the other person’s head from time to time. It’s got a lot of interesting avenues to travel down involving the DNC email hacks, especially when it comes to the intentions of Wikileaks, but Assange also does his best to defend the organization against the criticism. Maher points out that it is hard to deny the influence of Wikileaks over the years — even saying he hopes Assange can win the Nobel Prize at some point — but he doesn’t see much within the DNC hacks, keeping Assange to the fire a bit on the idea that the DNC release is full of groundbreaking revelations.
Assange is also quick to note that Wikileaks had done similar releases to various campaigns around the world over the past few years, but doesn’t discuss much about the players behind the leak itself. And despite all that’s out there painting Wikileaks in a negative light, you do believe it when Assange says they’re “working on” getting their hands on Donald Trump’s tax returns. You still get the feeling that information is indeed more important, even if the news swarming around the leak has been the stuff of a John Le Carre novel.
The Wikileaks founder does seem to lash out at Edward Snowden a bit, almost suggesting the whistle blower is seeking a pardon or at least an option that doesn’t involve execution. He is quick to note that both presidential candidates are pretty bad in his eyes.
Speaking of the presidential candidates, Rick Santorum was the resident conservative on the Real Time panel this week and it was his job to defend Donald Trump. This allowed Maher to bring up his point about “punting to play defense” once again.
He also gives a warning during “New Rules” to avoid allowing this campaign to fall into a rut against the “pet causes” that can cloud an election. This references the Al Gore tactic of distancing himself from the Clintons in 2000 and George W. Bush dragging the election into a battle against gay marriage in 2004. This leads to a clip of Obama saying marriage is between a man and a woman, all to get that distraction “off the table” to keep Sarah Palin out of the White House.
The discussion for Santorum on Trump continues into the overtime segment, which also gives Rob Reiner a chance to talk about his upcoming LBJ biopic starring Woody Harrelson. He looks good as the former president, but no word on if it will be able to top Bryan Cranston’s in All The Way. It is funny how former television sitcom stars turned respected actors seem to be the only people ready to play LBJ on the big screen.
(Via Real Time)
