Hillary Clinton should "stay in the woods," comedian and talk show host Bill Maher said in response to the former secretary of state, who said last month she was "ready to come out of the woods" following her low profile after her 2016 presidential election loss.
Clinton made an early appearance in the woods on a hiking trail near her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., shortly after losing the election. The event was marked with a single photo where she posed with a disappointed voter she met.
"Hillary, stay in the woods, OK? You had your shot," Maher said, The Washington Times reported Monday.
"The fact that she's coming back, it just verifies every bad thing anyone's ever thought about the Clintons, that it's all about them," Maher said Friday on his show "Real Time with Bill Maher." "Let some of the other shorter trees get a little sunlight."
Guest Neera Tanden, president of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, disagreed with Maher, saying Clinton had a right to speak out on issues.
"Yeah, but what did she speak about?" Mr. Maher answered. "She's speaking out because Bill O'Reilly made a joke about Maxine Waters' hair."
Tanden replied that she was speaking out "against racism and sexism."
"She spoke out about a joke," Maher countered. "You know what, this is why the Democrats lost the election in the first place. Because they cannot get their priorities straight, and they never fail to take the bait."
The referenced joke involved a recent comment by Fox News host O'Reilly comparing Waters' hair to a "James Brown wig." O'Reilly has since retracted his comment, yet Clinton called the joke "racist" in a speech last week.
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