Former Florida Congressman Alan Grayson appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher last night and presented a clear, articulate case for the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Conservative humorist and former National Lampoon and Rolling Stone contributor PJ O’Rourke (and Maher himself) dismissed the protesters as a bunch of pot-smoking “hippies” who have no clear agenda and no idea what they’re talking about. Former Sarah Palin handler and GOP strategist Nicole Wallace seemed to mostly object to the protests on the grounds that there weren’t enough porta-potties provided, saying “We (Republicans) can do logistics”.

ADVERTISEMENT

Grayson came to the demonstrators’ defense, “Let me tell what they’re talking about. They’re complaining about the fact the Wall Street wrecked the economy three years ago and nobody’s held responsible for that. Not a single person has been indicted or convicted for destroying twenty percent of our national net worth accumulated over two centuries.”

O’Rourke said that Grayson should take his shoes off, get a bongo drum, and “forget where to go to the bathroom”, and the role of spokesman for the demonstrators would be his.

Grayson responded, “If I am the spokesman for all the people who think we should not have twenty four million people in this country who can’t find a full time job. Who should not have fifty million people who can’t see a doctor when they’re sick. That we shouldn’t have forty seven million people of this country who need government help to feed themselves. We shouldn’t have fifteen million families who owe more on their mortgage than the value of home, OK, I’ll be that spokesman.”

Watch this video, embedded via Medaite, below: