CNN LARRY KING LIVE: Interview with Bill Maher

CNN.com - Transcripts: "KING: That's, of course, from Fahrenheit 9/11. Michael Moore will be one of the guests when Bill Maher returns next Friday night at 11:00 on host -- he's the host of 'Realtime with Bill Maher.'

What do you make of that movie?

MAHER: Well, obviously, I'm partial to the cause of removing this president from office.

KING: Is it a fair movie, though?

MAHER: Well, it's a point of view movie. Of course, that's his point of view. Even the man Kerry wants to replace had nice things to say. It's funny the way people are like, you know, Michael Moore plays fast and loose with the facts. That's not okay in a filmmaker. In a president -- geez. Sorry. But, you know, he does do a service, I think, to this country by showing some things that we really need to focus on. Like that seven minutes President Bush took to get up after he was told the country was under attack. To me, this is an ultimate deal breaker in this election. And again, I would invite...

KING: It's that important to you?

MAHER: Don't you think...

KING: Maybe he was thinking, getting his thoughts together.

MAHER: Excuse me, Larry. We are living in the nuclear age. A guy didn't come up to him and say, sir, the British fleet is leaving England, they'll be here in three months. We are living in the nuclear age where ICBMs take less than an hour to travel thousands of miles.

Remember, Tony Blair said Saddam Hussein has got missiles that are 45 minutes away? Jets scramble to get in the air. This is not an age where a president can take seven minutes, and then another 20 to do photo-ops. This is unconscionable that this is not the ultimate issue in this election. This should be the issue.

And again, I would invite Republicans, independents, people who are thinking of voting for the president, to say to themselves, take President Bush out of this equation. Take him out. Just say a president is told by an aide, the country is under attack. Should that president, A, stick to what he's doing and not interrupt. Or consider that an immediate cause to get up and react?

I don't see how anyone can argue the reverse. And the excuse they gave. He didn't want to scare the children. This is the ultimate for the children, Larry. I mean, apparently 20 children in a schoolroom in Florida is more important than the fate of the country. That's how important children are in America.

Dick Cheney, who said about John Kerry, John Kerry has given us ample reason to doubt the judgment he brings to issues of national security. OK, the judgment he brings? So the aide comes in and tells the president, the country is under attack. And his judgment is, OK, country under attack. I don't know what that means. But I'm going to stay here so I don't scare the children.

Scaring 20 -- as if it would scare the children. You just say excuse me, president business, gotta run, bye. But OK, even say in your fantasy world it scares the children. That stacks up against protecting the country? It's astounding, Larry, that this is not more of an issue."





IMDb Discussion