Maher's new rule for Republicans: admit Bush presidency happened

According to Bill Maher, Republicans have found a new thing they're eager to deny ever existed: the presidency of George W. Bush.

On his show Friday, Maher said that Republicans, in addition to denying such concepts as evolution and global warming, are now trying to pretend that there was no such thing as the Bush presidency. Noting that the party was loathe to mention Bush or embrace members of his White House during last week's Republican convention, Maher said it was as if the party was trying to pretend the whole thing never even happened.

"If your party can run the nation for eight years, and then have a national convention and not invite Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Karl Rove or Tom DeLay, you’re not a political movement. You’re the witness protection program," he said.

Though Jeb Bush and former Secretary of State and Bush foreign policy architect Condoleezza Rice spoke at the convention, the week-long event was noticeably light on mentions of the last Republican president. Jeb Bush, for his part, did defend his brother at the convention, saying the President Obama was unfairly blaming Bush for the sluggish economic recovery.

Maher also joked that Republicans, in wiping Bush from their collective memory, were essentially acting like, "the world ended" when Reagan left office.

"Like, in 1988, we just all fell into a deep sleep listening to Pour Some Sugar On Me, and when we woke up Monday morning, Obama and his negro army had wrecked the joint,” he said.

Watch the clip below: