I stopped watching Bill Maher a long time ago, and it’s moments like this that remind me why he’s a waste of broadcast air time. Maher complains that we need to bring home the troops from World War II by pulling out of Germany and Japan, and gives us this pithy little “salute” to American fighting forces:

Forget about bringing the troops home from Iraq. We need to get the troops home from World War II. Can anybody tell me why, in 2009, we still have more than 50,000 troops in Germany and 30,000 in Japan? At some point, these people are going to have to learn to rape themselves. [boos] I’ll ignore that.

Recall, if you will, when Maher claimed that the 9/11 terrorists had more courage than Air Force pilots and/or Navy commanders. “We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from two thousand miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building. Say what you want about it. Not cowardly. You’re right.” ABC cut ties with Maher after that statement, leading to his HBO show.

Will HBO keep Maher around after this despicable comment? Probably, unless enough people complain about it. HBO has less pressure in its subscription model; with no advertisers to boycott, HBO won’t have to worry about lost revenue in the traditional sense. If subscribers start lining up to cancel and cite Maher as a reason, however, that could have some impact.

I don’t watch the show anyway, as I said before, so I don’t really give a damn whether HBO gives him a platform or not. Maher crossed over to despicable years ago. Maybe it serves a good purpose to have a spotlight trained on him; we can find more examples of how the Left hates the military, rather than hearing them insist that they love the troops while trying their best to keep them from college campuses and recruiters out of their neighborhoods.

Update: Commenter 1GoodDaddy offers this information, for those wishing to communicate their displeasure with Maher:

How can I contact HBO to express my opinions about their programming?

You may contact HBO’s Consumer Affairs Department at 212-512-1208 Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM Eastern Time. You can also write to us using the link below.

Feel free to go at it.  I think, though, that HBO will tend to see this as an endorsement of Maher’s relevance than any threat to their business.