Season 7, Episode 9 - "April 24, 2009"
24 April, 2009
Guests: Randy Cohen, The New York Times Magazine; Bethany McLean, Vanity Fair; Howard Dean, Former DNC Chairman; Dana Gould, Comedian; Robert Baer, Former CIA agent On Torture I've spent the last 30 years inside prisons watching torture, watching that it doesn't work. It never works. – Bob Baer I don't understand why a country that faced down King George III, Jefferson Davis, the Kaiser, Hitler and Stalin, without resorting to torture, needs to do it now. – Bill Maher There are arguments that [torture] makes us a safer country. There are no arguments that say it makes us a better country. – Dana Gould I'm obviously not an expert on torture, except when I was practicing medicine. – Dr. Howard Dean If you're going to be a nation of laws, you have to enforce the law, even when it's inconvenient. – Randy Cohen On the Economy If this crisis really results in some long-term changes, that will be terrific. Because, that, I think, is the only way capitalism survives. – Dr. Howard Dean If the economy doesn't get better, I think it's going to make all of the rest of Obama's plans very, very difficult for the next bunch of years. – Bethany McLean On Gun Control The Democrats have a lot to answer for. There's been a spate of shootings, for example, in this country in the last month. And yet, where is this party on gun control? Nowhere. – Bill Maher Most members of the NRA that I know don't think you need an assault rifle to kill a deer. – Dr. Howard Dean The real NRA nut says, 'If the government can take our guns, then after that, they can come and take our freedoms.' But, what happened with the Patriot Act is the government said, 'No, no, no, keep the guns, just give us the freedoms.' – Dana Gould On the Environment How do we solve this [global warming] problem when the response of one-half of the people who should be helping is, 'I like turtles'? – Bill Maher Unlike the financial crisis, we can't avert this [environmental] crisis...all we can do now is ameliorate how bad it gets. – Dr. Howard Dean [Teddy] Roosevelt also showed that you could be pro-nature and still kill a lot of animals. – Randy Cohen Everything has to be presented as "fair and balanced," when really it's sane and insane. – Bill Maher On Health Care We have to have a wellness society instead of an illness model for health. – Dr. Howard Dean People tend to behave pretty much like their neighbors. So, this doesn't eliminate our responsibility. It means we have a responsibility to create good neighborhoods. – Randy Cohen We got our kids smoking, and they just tend not to want to eat as much. They're my 'Merit girls.' – Dana Gould
