Liberal HBO host Bill Maher is no fan of Republicans but he sees hope in Gov. Chris Christie’s “brand of prick” because voters are becoming more media savvy and able to see through candidates like former nominee Mitt Romney “who are obviously full of shit.”

In a Monday column on his Real Time website, Maher recalled a 2007 video of Romney talking about Mormonism that surfaced near the end of the 2012 presidential campaign.

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“What’s notable about the video isn’t the content so much as that it shows Romney actually acting, well, human,” Maher wrote. “For the first time anyone in America can think of, Mitt Romney actually seemed to be telling a potential voter that he’s an asshole and he can believe whatever he wants, but that doesn’t make it true.”

“It’s also what Chris Christie does,” he continued. “But I have to say, I find the Christie brand of prick kind of refreshing… Because say what you will about Chris Christie, but the man is the most candid politician on the national stage today.”

Maher observed that many had tried to decipher Christie’s praise for President Barack Obama in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, but “the likeliest answer is that he’s an emotional guy and that’s how he reacted to an enormous hurricane.”

“Maybe the paradigm has shifted here. I think voters — though still largely clueless and uninformed — are far more media savvy and familiar with political bullshit than they were a generation ago,” the HBO host explained. “We’re not only living in the information age, but the Gawker and Buzzfeed era, where every public figure’s public statements are criticized and made fun of on websites and on Twitter from the moment they’re uttered.”

“The Mitt Romneys of the world don’t stand a chance anymore. This generation saw right through Mitt’s act.”

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Maher concluded: “Much in the same way I think there’s a real opportunity for a moderate Republican right now, isn’t there also a growing opportunity for someone who hasn’t had the ability to talk like a normal human being willingly stripped from them by political consultants?”