Bill Maher rips Democrats: 'You gave people health care, not herpes -- own it'

Bill Maher ended Real Time on Friday by blasting Democrats for their apparent refusal to highlight their party's successes in the midterm election campaigns.

"You gave people health care, not herpes -- own it," he said. "Instead of chasing polls, move them."

Maher argued that Democratic candidates' penchant for distancing themselves from President Barack Obama made him feel more sympathy for the president than his party mates.

"Sixty-three straight months of economic expansion," Maher said. "A depression averted. A deficit reduced by two-thirds. A health care law that's working and lowering costs. Two women on the Supreme Court. [Osama] bin Laden's dead. Stock market at record heights. An unemployment rate that dropped from 10.2 [percent] to 5.9. If you're a Fox News viewer trying to do the math, that's less. Gas prices are down. Is it really that hard a record to get behind?"

He singled out North Carolina congressional candidate Clay Aiken for saying he didn't need Obama to campaign with him because he was "doing well."

"No you're not," Maher said. "You're gay in North Carolina. Have you looked around? Half the state is redneck. Which is a huge improvement -- it used to be all redneck."

Aiken's reluctance to appear with Obama, Maher said, cost him the chance to connect with the state's new liberal base.

"Democrats are always doing this," Maher argued. "And that's why they're just like Clay on American Idol: happy to come in second."

Watch Maher's commentary, as posted online on Friday, below.