Friday on HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher closed the episode with an attack on Democrats for proposed legislation that would require auto manufacturers to install a signal that would remind drivers they left kids in their back seat.
The so-called Hot Cars Act of 2017, a bill sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), drew Maher’s ire.
“[I]t’s called the Hot Cars Act because ‘turn around, dipshit’ was too on-the-nose?” Maher said. “But if someone’s too high to remember their kid, you think they’re going to see a little yellow light? There were over 17 million new cars sold in America last year. Are we really going to require them all to install sensors, the cost of which will be passed on to the consumer, to prevent something that is less likely than being struck be lightning? And should reminding you not to forget your baby really be Toyota’s problem?”
Maher said these efforts hurt Democrats because it takes their focus off of bigger problems and rewards Republicans.
“[A]ll this will accomplish is to feed into the Republican message that Democrats don’t want to help people — they just want to micromanage their lives,” he said. “It makes people hate us. It makes me hate us. And it prompts kickback. That’s how you get an Environmental Protection Agency headed by a man who cares nothing about environmental protection. And I hate to tell you, but we’re all in an overheating vehicle. It’s called earth.”
“That’s why I say to Democrats, ‘Either go big or go home,'” he continued. “No one is for leaving babies in hot cars. It’s just that common sense tells most people this is an issue of personal responsibility. Especially when the liberal solution to your human frailty is me paying for more shit that can break in my car. Thanks, government. We’ll get to gun control later. And that’s the point — we do need regulation. Oh yes, for big things, real things like guns, and carbon emissions, and banks. But when Democrats get to regulating everything, regulation itself a bad name.”
“And I don’t want to let the right-wing own freedom,” Maher added. “People want to drain the swamp, not ban Big Gulps. Yes, I understand you have a thousand good ideas for how I should live my life, check my privilege and sort my recycling. And we’ll get to that. But first we need to get some Democrats elected, and that’s hard when the movement to childproof the world has made Republicans the party of freedom and Democrats the party of poopers.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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