'I’m not saying that because that’s what I wish, although I do wish it,' Maher says. | REUTERS Maher: Mitt 'lost' election this week

Bill Maher said Friday that Mitt Romney’s chances of winning are “toast” and that the GOP presidential nominee’s response to the attacks against U.S. sites overseas “lost the election.”

“I think this is the week Mitt Romney lost the election,” the comedian said on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” “I do think he kind of made himself toast, I’m not saying that because that’s what I wish, although I do wish it.”


He said that Romney’s attack on President Barack Obama over a statement made by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo reminded him of former GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, suspending his campaign because of the 2008 financial crisis, which he said made Obama look “cooler and smarter.”

“It kind of reminds me of exactly almost four years ago when John McCain kind of lost the election when he looked unready when there was a financial crisis and he said, ‘we‘ve got to suspend our campaign, and Obama just looked cool and smart,’” Maher said. “And again this week, Obama just looks cooler and smarter — because he is.”

The embassy in Cairo released a statement Tuesday, condemning “continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims” — an apparent reference to an anti-Islam film that had ignited protests — and was later stormed by protesters.

Romney called it “disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions,” apparently not realizing that the protest at the embassy and the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, occurred after the statement was issued.