I'll keep this short and sour.
Bill Maher's pronouncements about Islam gave aid and comfort to the xenophobic rightwing, who took to the airwaves to crow that "even liberal atheists" agree with their bigotry against Muslims.
Now bigots have a new reason to celebrate. On Friday's edition of Real Time, Maher provided cover for conservatives who want to tag Michael Brown with their favorite code-word for "scary black man." During a discussion about the pitfalls of promoting false narratives, he said, "I’m sorry, but Michael Brown’s people say he was a gentle giant. Well, we saw that video, of where he was in the 7-11 [sic]. No, he wasn’t a gentle giant. He was committing a robbery and he pushed that guy. He was acting like a thug, not like a gentle giant."
I suppose we should be grateful to Maher for conceding that Brown "certainly didn’t deserve to be shot for it." Meanwhile, conservatives are rejoicing -- again.