Bill Maher addresses terrorist attacks in Paris: 'Why do they hate us?'

A somber Bill Maher pressed his Real Time panel to explain the unfolding terrorist attack in Paris Friday night by posing a simple question: "Why do they hate us?"

Maher, whose distaste for Islam is well documented and led to extraordinary exchange with actor Ben Affleck who told him his hatred of the religion was "gross" and "racist," was relatively subdued -- possibly because of the ongoing horror in Paris.

"We don't have every bit of information, the last body count I heard was over 150," Maher explained to the panel made up of Dylan Rattigan, Jay Leno, and Michael Steele. "When the Charlie Hebdo thing happened the week after everybody said 'Je suis Charlie.' But not really. They didn't really stick with them... I'm gonna ask you this question that people asked after 9/11, because I don't think we really know the answer: Why do they hate us?"

After a pause where a laughing Maher said "I stumped the panel," Rattigan laid the blame on the U.S. presence and financing of the regime in Saudi Arabia that allows them to "oppress the the population that does not have power in Saudi Arabia."

Former RNC chairman Steele, noted that the "so-called Bush doctrine" of importing democracy into the region "has been rejected," while taking a few shots at the party he once headed.

Watch the video below from Real Time: