Bill Maher Hammers Republicans over Zombie Lies

Last night on Real Time, Bill Maher took on Republican sleazebags (excuse the redundancy) for their non-stop spewing of Zombie Lies (so named because these lies never die).

“Remember ‘fracking doesn’t cause earthquakes?’ Zombie lie, so stop saying it.  ‘Voter fraud’? We studied it. It’s not an actual problem. Stop zombie-lying about it. Their entire economic philosophy — cut taxes for the rich and it trickles down — is a zombie lie. And all these zombie lies are still out there, roaming the countryside, neither alive nor dead — like Dick Cheney. Hungry for brains — like Dick Cheney...”

“They said Obamacare would use death panels. It doesn’t.  They said it was a government takeover, and the insurance industry is making record profits. They said it covered illegals. It doesn’t. They said it was a job killer. It hasn’t been.”

Republicans keep spitting out these zombie lies over and over, even after the lies have been disproved.  Bill Maher compared these zombie lies to President Obama's lie about being able to keep your doctor after you've signed up for Obamacare:

“He stepped up and said, ‘You’re right, my bad,’ because he understood there’s this thing called ‘observable reality.’”

Personally I think the same truth-in-advertising standard — whatever that standard would be — should apply to all political speeches and all advertising, whether it's commercial or political.  When a consumer falls for a deceitful commercial and buys a shoddy product, the company gets sued and suffers a PR disaster.  Millions of voters are conned into voting against their own interests, and nothing happens; nobody is held accountable.

Lewis Black already ranted about this a few years ago, and it rings true now more than ever.