Bye Bye, Politically Incorrect

It looks like ABC is finally Cancelling Politically Incorrect.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I used to love the show back when Bill Maher was still a Libertarian and was willing to give airtime to people like P.J O'Rourke, Dave Barry, Harry Browne, John Stossel, and Andrew Sullivan. Back then, Bill played an honest game, pitting genuine intellectual leaders against each other in a forum that provided the only access many of them had to a mainstream audience. Back in the 'good old days', a typical PI lineup would be someone from Congress, an intelligent dissenter from the fringes, and then a couple of Hollywood clowns to rev up the entertainment factor.

Some time ago, Bill went wobbly. His libertarianism started to give way to Naderite doo-gooding. One suspects that exposure to 'big Hollywood' probably did him in. The Road To Serfdom goes right past the Playboy Mansion, and Bill hopped off and frolicked with the bunnies. Ever since, he's been caught up in a weird mixture of exuses for personal excess and hypocritical pandering to the left. The only thing he ever stayed libertarian on was his right to party in any way he chose.

Once Bill found himself floundering in the ideology department, the show quickly followed suit. Instead of bringing on intellectual heavyweights from the conservative and liberal camps, he brought on the people that could be counted on to simply boost the ratings. The conservative voice was routinely provided by whatever attractive, leggy female with a shrill voice he could find in the Republican party, and the left was represented by half-wits like Michael Moore and Alec Baldwin. Throw in a couple of Hollywood gadflys for comic relief, and let them all shout at each other for 22 minutes. This is what Politically Incorrect has become. This is a random quote from Friday's episode, in which they discuss President Bush's qualifications for office:

Bill Maher:
He didn't know who Leonardo DiCaprio was.
He didn't know what a vegan was.
He had never heard of "Sex and the City."

Frank Bruni: The television show "Friends." The list goes on and on.
Yeah.

Bill: And about Al Gore, he said, "The man dyes his hair.
What does that tell you about him?"

Frank: I don't know for a fact, by the way, and I don't know that he knew for a fact that Al Gore dyes his hair. It was kind of a curious thing, and I once pointed out that we did know that Ronald Reagan dyed his hair, and that kind of --

Michael: What?
[All talking at once ]

Michael McKean: Yeah, I'm sorry -- I'm sorry to break it to you. I just thought he was prematurely orange.

Alec Baldwin: I thought he was prematurely eggplant.

What can ABC be thinking, cancelling quality television like that?

So hoist a glass for the old Politically Incorrect, which for a short year or two looked like it might give a voice to those outside of the mainstream, and do it in an intellectually honest and entertaining way. But while you're at it, congratulate the management at ABC for pulling the plug on the 22-minute crapfest it has become.