Bill Maher: Democrats Are in Danger of Becoming a Ghost Brand
“A ghost brand, that’s a company or a store that, like Sears, still exists, but only as a pathetic shell of its former self.”
Bill Maher offered a warning to Democrats during his show on Friday night, suggesting that if they don’t do something different, they are going to end up obsolete like so many brands that no longer exist.
In one moment, he uses the example of Playboy magazine, which lost a massive amount of its readership when it decided to feature trans women on the cover. It’s an ironic and fitting example.
Partial transcript via Real Clear Politics:
BILL MAHER, HBO: And finally, New Rule. Since it’s Halloween, I must tell you all a ghost story. And this one is really scary. It’s not about the kind of ghost that rattles your chains or turns your lights on and off or, you know, lends a sensual helping hand with your pottery.
No, this kind of ghost sells dishwashers. Or at least it did. Yes, I’m talking about a ghost brand.
A ghost brand, that’s a company or a store that, like Sears, still exists, but only as a pathetic shell of its former self. The brands that make you say, oh, they’re still making that? Because they screwed themselves out of relevance, and now their logos haunt us, wandering, neither alive nor dead, like Mitch McConnell.
I’m talking about brands like Kodak, Polaroid, Radio Shack, GE, Atari, and RCA. They still have value, because name recognition is a huge asset, and so is nostalgia. You trust Hitachi to make a magic wand, because Mom had one.
And let’s leave it at that. But it’s not where you want to be as a business, barely surviving on old customer habit, with just enough juice in the name to still slap it on something and sell it somewhere. That somewhere being a street vendor’s table in Chengdu, where you can get a Playboy keychain for a dollar.
Yes, the cautionary tale of the ghost brand is an important one, because it applies not only to business, but also to politics. I fear the Democratic Party is at risk of becoming a ghost brand, too. Like Sears, it used to be mighty and ascendant and popular.
Sears once accounted for 1% of the entire American economy, and 41% of the appliance market, and built the country’s tallest tower. Democrats once controlled Congress and the Supreme Court, or were at least competitive. But now, even at a time when President Trump is turning 250 years of democracy into jeans shorts, the Democrats have their lowest rating in 35 years, 63% unfavorable.
Watch the whole thing below, but note – this monologue is basically rated R. It’s not for kids.
Democrats did this to themselves. They need to adapt or face eventual extinction as a party.
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
Raunchy monologue, but it’s got a lot of wisdom in it.
We enjoy RVing to explore all the small towns in Arizona and New Mexico. Whenever we come across a Radio Shack marquee (not the decaying ones, but on live stores) we snap a photo and send it back to the kids. (They always respond with “They’re on the march!” or “I found the mimic, don’t go near it!”) However, in all cases, the live store is not a Radio Shack — it’s a T-Mobile, or a car audio installer, or once even a UPS and mailing shop. (Found one two weeks ago in Ajo that was a phone and appliance store.) These places are trading on the nostalgia of the existing signage to engage customers of related product lines. And we consider this just a quirky form of small-town nice.
The Democrat Party should do the same — remodel all their state and county headquarters into places where the faithful can drop in and watch a drag show, or get a free hit of heroin and an Obamaphone, or make a large donation to a needy Ukrainian official or impoverished black revolutionary group, or enjoy “axe throwing” with Molotovs.
I’m currently drawing up reno plans for the HW in Maricopa County, We want to turn it into a childcare facility that offers a free sex change for any kid who can sing all the lyrics to “Mmm, Mmm, Mmm, Barack Hussein Obama.”
There is a genuine, operating Radio Shack in beautiful small town Ely, Nevada. The owner is nearing 80 so I suspect it won’t be with us much longer.
Just in case you want to stop by and check that off your bucket list.
There was a radio shack in my town until about 10 years ago when the owner died.
The unfortunate truth is that you need two viable political parties for any sort of representative government to work. Without a viable Democrat party, the GOP will quickly descend into the same morass from which, in truth, they have only just emerged. Imagine President Romney if you need a visual.
Depends. The Dems have always shifted left and the end point is communism. What what is the end point of Republicans? I’d put that as being fully Constitutional… not a dictatorship. Part of this, is the individuality within the Right and not as seen on the Left.
Not ghosts. Zombies.
“No braaaains for you, you’d only waste them again!”
Radio Shack used to be the funniest store. They sold knock-off products at twice the price of the real ones. It was impressive in its retarded arrogance.
But Radio Shack survived because wherever you needed various electronic parts it was the only place you could find them, and the margins on those items was out of this world!
Radio Shack was also the first place that started harassing me for my phone number when I just wanted to pay $12.63 in cash for some little part.
Have you ever bought nuts and bolts or other hardware form Lowes/Home Depot
They got their pricing structure from Radio Shack.
I stopped shopping there for that reason too – they didn’t just politely ask for your number either – they were really pushy about it, if I didn’t want to fight about it, I just gave the 867-5309…
That is funny. Hadn’t thought of that, but in a pinch I suppose I could use the number for my high school…. every kid in my school knew the last four digits, 3825…. if you look at the letters associated with those digits, you’ll see why every kid had it memorized. What a mnemonic!
Why do I get “Please accept cookies to allow this content” on all imbedded videos on this site?
I wonder if Bill Maher’s show also has a “use before” date on it.
No, Bill, Dems are in danger of regular people finally understanding them.
That’s all Maher cares about.
I am so SICK of people posting something he says critical of the left like he’s having some kind of awakening.
He’s a committed far leftist and always will be.
His objection is never that what they’re doing is wrong.
His objection is that it makes Democrats look bad and makes it harder for them to win.
He doesn’t care that the translunacy has been rejected by everybody not an insane leftist. He doesn’t care that a clear supermajority of people want immigration enforced.
All he cares about is that Democrats pushing those policies are losing political power.
Maher’s sticking point is that he still believes the J6 insurrection hoax. Will he ever figure it out?
So getting elected fairly then working to do what you said you would while getting elected, using the existing legal powers of the presidency is subverting democracy?
Despite being on the short end of a host of 80%-20% issues the Communists are poised to possibly sweep the Virginia and New Jersey elections tomorrow. An antisemitic jihadist Communist will likely be the next mayor of NYC. The Communists may possibly capture one or both houses of Congress next year, although that is looking less likely than before. The Communists maintain ironclad control of academia, media, the Federal bureaucracy, and have an army of #Resistance Federal judges that have successfully overturned parts of the Constitution and seized control away from the executive and legislative branches of government.
For being a “ghost brand” the Communist Party sure seems to have a tremendous amount of power and influence.
After zohran gets elected, there is going to push from left wing to rename as Democrat Socialist Party?