Bill Maher: ‘Republicans lack the empathy gene, except when an issue hits them right in their own home’

On his HBO show Real Time this week, Bill Maher gave one of his most funny and poignant monologues in recent memory, starting out by slamming the GOP’s hypocritical stance on immigration.

Focusing on the remaining GOP candidates for president, Maher ended his “New Rules” segment saying that “you can’t spend the first half of a debate bitching about how immigrants are ruining the country, and the second half on the uplifting stories of your immigrant parents.”

“And I must say, this puzzles me,” Maher continued. “Because while Republicans generally do lack the empathy gene… there is an exception to this; they do often get on the humane side of an issue when it hits them right in their own home.”

“For example, Dick Cheney is so conservative, he got an artificial heart just to make sure he never felt sorry for anyone. But he’s a big supporter of gay marriage – because he has a gay daughter and he needs to stay on her good side in case he needs a kidney.”

Maher also brought up the example of Jeb Bush, who is a bit softer on immigration than his GOP counterparts because his wife is Mexican.

“Jeb also had a fairly enlightened drug policy because his daughter had a serious problem with cocaine – although on the bright side, at least someone in that family is high energy.”

Maher’s point: “On so many issues, you can only get Republican support if it touched one of their own, which is not good news for the environment.”

“I’ve heard the question many times: ‘When will Republicans stop denying climate change?’ I’ll tell you when. When one of then can be convinced they personally suffered from it.”

Watch the segment in the video below: