Last night was Bill Maher’s last show until August 24th. He didn’t say who flaked on him, but there were only two guests on. This actually created a different dynamic than the heated altercations Real Time can occasionally digress into. With only three people, the discussion was more personable and productive, yet still passionate.

The conservative guest was P.J. O’Rourke, a contributor to the Weekly Standard, the White House-approved publication not fit to be used as toilet paper, which was founded by Kristol, and beat the drum for a war with Iraq right after 9/11. The liberal guest was actor and political activist Ben Affleck, who stared in Gigli, Paycheck, and Jersey Girl. These two men may seem equally deplorable on the surface, but Ben actually surprised me with how knowledgeable and undouche-like he was. Maybe acting’s just not his thing.

Maher’s first guest was Michael Moore, who gave his first interview in over 2 years to Maher to promote his upcoming movie Sicko (trailer available at bottom of page). Moore also snuck in an endorsement for Gore as the Democratic presidential nominee, but I agree with the former vice president that he’s doing more good for the world now than he ever did or could do in office. Had he run on the principles no one knew he had in 2000, he would’ve won in a landslide that not even Diebold, denied black votes, or hanging chads could’ve affected. Plus, Gore’s obviously enjoying his celebrity status too much to ruin it. Who wouldn’t prefer an increase in popularity without an equal increase in responsibility?

Maher’s second guest was Ron Paul, who got the biggest applause from a liberal audience than any Republican in history. Ever. Paul talked mainly about the blowback we’ve been experiencing by our failed foreign policy, and the summer reading assignment he gave Giuliani. It’s known that the human rights violations carried out against the Palestinians by Israel was used by Bin Laden, as well as our bombings and sanctions against Iraq to justify his attacks. This type of blowback can be seen not only with al-Qaeda, but with the Fatah al-Islam group we’ve been backing, which is currently fighting the Lebanese army. As is always the case, when these things come back to bite us in the ass we claim innocence and blame nations like Iraq, or Iran and Syria currently, for being the true backing behind our extremists without a shred of evidence to support the claims.

Lastly, Maher sticks it to Democratic capitulation. Enjoy.

h/t Live FOR the Revolution