HBO funnyman Bill Maher’s late-night comedy didn’t carry well with the dayside ladies of “The View.”

Or maybe it was the light-hearted reference to gay murder that didn’t work.

In an appearance Monday, Maher joked about the likelihood of Hillary Clinton’s run for the presidency (“she wants to run like a tic wants blood”) and claimed Republicans are already smearing her.

Maher cited a statement by Karl Rove that Clinton might have health problems – including the suggestion that she might have suffered a brain injury from a fall last year. To Maher, legitimate concern about the health of a potential president of the United States came across as a political smear.

Kind of like accusing someone of murdering their homosexual lover.

“This is what they do,” Maher said. “She’s used to it, I mean look what Karl Rove did to her a couple weeks ago, bringing up brain damage and just saying, ‘well, I’m not saying she does, I’m just putting it out there.’ I wonder if Karl Rove’s gay lover that he murdered …”

The “joke” got a nervous reaction from hosts and audience.

“Oh, I’m not saying that’s definitely true, I’m just putting it out there,” Maher said, trying to salvage the line.

He dug the hole a little further when he was asked if he’d voted for Clinton in the Illinois primary in 2008.

“No, I voted for the boy who won,” he said, getting even more disapproval at the potential racial slur.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it that way,” he said.

Maybe he should stick to his night job.

Check out the appearance here. The politics talk starts around the 2 minute mark.

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Joe Saunders

Joe Saunders, a 25-year newspaper veteran, is a staff writer and editor for BizPac Review who lives in Tallahassee and covers capital and Florida politics. Email Joe at [email protected].

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